Ignorance is bliss they say. I might have agreed once upon a time, now though I believe otherwise and find we must stand against ignorance as something to be hated and fought with all we are and all we have. This is not a finger pointing campaign against only one side, no indeed not. This is looking across what the universe has offered us in the way of choice for our next President and thinking to myself, “What in the Hell have we gotten ourselves into?”
Truly we are lost, we have spent so many years self-destructing we are now at the end of the fuse we lit with the election of a B grade movie actor and now our nation is ready to explode. On one side we have the leading candidate under Federal Investigation and she may well be indicted, but she doesn’t want to talk about it. On the other side we have a Reality TV star who plays on the fears, hate and worst inclinations of the American people. I do not take these things lightly, I do not look at these candidates and smile, thinking to myself well it is a choice between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea as it so often is during election season. Indeed not this time, on one side the fix has been in since 2008 when she lost to the current President, this time we never had a chance at a valid and legitimate choice. On the other side there was a busload of choices at one time, those who might have been reasonable choices never got traction and the American public are left with a Fascist in the making, a Dominionst/Anarchist and two Right-Wing Theocracy nuts, though to give it to Kasich he hides his leanings very well.
Honestly? No matter who makes it to the White House in November, the next four years will be Hell for the American people and we have only ourselves to blame. We created this terrifying disaster in the making. We, yes that is all of us no matter which side of the aisle we fall on, every single last one of us, we are at fault. We failed to understand Washington is our house, all of it. Those we send to Washington, they are servants of the people there to do the bidding of the people. We failed to demand they serve us, sitting back and whining when they behaved badly or failed in their jobs but sending them all back time and again. We pointed and laughed at their childish antics, but sent them back. We made up Memes to post on social media, but sent them back. They disrespect every last one of us, but we send them back time after time.
Our infrastructure is failing. Our schools are failing. Our young people are leaving university saddled with debt they cannot pay. Our economy is stagnate and incomes have failed to rise in decades. Jobs continue to flee the country, embedded in ‘Free Trade’ deals that lift every boat but ours. Immigration programs committed to driving down wages and putting Americans out of work continue to expand (H1B, H2B, L1), along with outsourcing, off-shoring and near-shoring. States are poisoning the waters and with it their people, stealing pensions and cutting off access to health providers and no one cares. There is not one real candidate talking about how they will solve these issues, not one. Yes, they are talking about them when asked but when pushed they don’t have solutions, go on read their own words.
We did this! We did it through apathy. We did it through our own willingness to sit it out and hope others would pick up the slack. We did it when we continue to simply color in the circle with the (D) or the (R) next to a name instead of demanding more and better. We did it when we continue to send back to Washington the same useless, thoroughly corrupt snakes term after term rather
than demanding term limits in Congress, rather than standing up and firing every last one of them from the jobs they have failed to perform for decades. We did this, on the left when we allowed that Twat Waffle Debbie Wasserman Schultz to completely corrupt the nomination process and we did not demand her resignation as head of the party. We are at fault. We own all of it. We deserve the government we have. We deserve the breakdown of this nation, we built this and the cracked foundation is ours to repair at a horrifying cost.
Sept. 6, 2012. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Now the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea are lapping at our heels and laughing. Fear, violence, anarchy and the potential for Fascism is just around the corner. Depending on the November outcome, every single small step forward this nation has taken toward equality, civility and a society based on the one person one vote, secularism and the rule of law will be wiped out for one hundred years. The sad fact is, there is a growing segment of this nation praying this will be the outcome.
Is this the nation you want? I can tell you, I am deathly afraid this cycle. I am not just afraid of the Republicans, I am afraid of the Democrats too. I am afraid we have become so corrupted we cannot see beyond the demagoguery, ideology and soundbites to do what is right for this nation. For once, stand up and find a solution push past our prejudices, fears and ignorance to find the right solution. Demand from our public servants and those who would sit in the Oval Office more than they are giving us today.
No, Ronald Reagan was not the best President in our lifetimes. Stop it.
No, Jimmy Carter was not the worst President in our lifetimes. Stop it.
No, George Bush (either of them) were not to blame for every single bad thing ever in the past eight years. Stop it.
No, President Obama is not the Devil and is not to blame for every single bad thing in the past eight years either. Stop it.
Do we have problems? Yes, yes we have massive problems. As a nation, as a people we need to start demanding Congress and especially those who wish to be sent to Congress in this election cycle understand those problems and have real ideas about how to fix them. We need to demand of the candidates who want to lead the nation, they have real ideas about working with Congress to address the problems of this nation, the real problems of this nation.
Make America Great Again? Okay, how?
QBG_Tilted Tiara 
I see little hope for optimism for future.
Yes, yet it is my nature to hope. I so want to continue to hope.
Astute as usual, Val! It does get worse and worse as the campaign goes on and both sides promise what they knew they cannot deliver. If people don’t vote, America deserves the president we get. I have never see such ugliness in politics.
I know it has been this ugly before, but not such primal ugly. I know it has been this nasty before, but not I think so violent.
I fear for all of us, I truly fear for all of us.
Long ago I stated (on numerous occasions to people) that Bill and Hillary weren’t the two problems in Washington … neither was it Bill & Al … nope … not W and Cheney … .and nope again, bot Obama and Biden … But, all those people have two problems in common – the Democrats and the Republicans are the same two problems then and now. … but there’s also a third wheel in that problem – and that’s the voters who continue to send back incumbents. Voters give Congress very low approval rating, but re-elect incumbents by 85% rate or more. Term limits don’t protect voters from corruption – they protect voters against themselves.
Meanwhile, the presidential candidates continue a long standing practice of bobbing, weaving, and not saying much beyond partisan taglines … and voters buy it … the very same partisan voters who cast a vote based on the D or R identifier – and nothing about issues. Absolutely nothing …. and yes ,,,, it’s very sad.
Frank, as always you are dead on the mark. Term Limits are only the start of protecting voters from themselves. I firmly believe bringing back Civics to the classroom would help, just a smidge but it would help.
Young people are probably more informed than many adults because of the classroom. On the other hand, once they grow older, staying informed is another story.
I’m so dismayed by all I see. I don’t get it. You lay it all out so logically in your post, still I’m baffled. But none of the other candidates has been as much a wild card as Trump. Last night in Chicago, today in Ohio. How can he say he is blameless and that only the protestors are a disgrace? Well, if that’s the case, then I’m a disgrace, too, because I support the protestors. Perhaps we should ban all protesting. I’m sure Trump would love that. Anyway, Trump says the anger of his supporters is justified because so many of them have been unemployed for ten years. They’re justified in their anger and punching back. And Trump has nothing to do with that even though he offers to pay for lawyer fees for any supporter who attacks a protestor. I am stymied and terrified at a Trump presidency. He incites this hostility and violence and then acts innocent and blameless. I don’t get it.
I am also stymied and horrified. Yet, a friend of mine looks me dead in the eye and says, ‘protestors should stay out of the rallies they are asking for trouble’. I can’t actually argue with his points.
If you go into the rally planning to disrupt, knowing what the temperament of those around you will be, well you are asking for trouble. Stay outside, protest outside. It is a terrible world Monica and the violence we are seeing is escalating.
These are dangerous times we live in.
Yes, yes they are. Getting more so. I wonder when we will hit bottom so we can begin to climb out.
“Twat Waffle”? LOL! I need to remember that one!
There is a ‘real’ definition. Check Google. 😉
As a neighbor, I am worried as well. Deeply worried.
I know Tess. All our neighbors should be.
*sigh*
we did it through apathy and blame, and corruption of power and greed. No one has a plan, no one thinks ahead, not sure anyone has a thought in their head anymore. We also did it by accepting mediocrity, or worse, accepting idiocy as the norm. It doesn’t have to be this way
Your are right, it doesn’t have to be this way. It seems though, we are all good with what we have and are willing to accept more of the same.
Frightening.
Kudos! Right on! From the educational standpoint, the parents have a lot to answer for. They raised the kids to feel entitled….to everything…and superior to their teachers. Once, parents listened to the teachers and taught their children to be responsible for their actions. Now, the teacher is wrong and the student is right. Educational pundits…businessmen and politicians …who were ignorant about what a real education means, decided they knew how to “fix” the system to the point where it is now a complete shambles. No one ever considered gathering a group of top-notch, proven teachers and let them devise a program that works. We have bred a bed of vipers in every division of government. Yes, it is terrifying.
Yes, and yes again. Entitled is a problem across the spectrum.
Reblogged this on It Is What It Is and commented:
“This is looking across what the universe has offered us in the way of choice for our next President and thinking to myself, “What in the Hell have we gotten ourselves into?” …. I’m deadly afraid of this cycle too!!
Passionately stated dear Val.. As you know I look only from my limited lens from what we are shown across the Pond.. And I have to agree to at least one of those Devils between the deep blue sea, it does not bode good.. In fact I get the shivers when I think about the ego’s at work here..
And all the while people blame and point fingers and do nothing to Change themselves.. Society means ALL of us…
And I am reminded here of a Quote ” Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated”.. Confucius
Love and Blessings dear Val xxx
Wonderful quote.
I think we must begin to demand public service be true to its form. If we don’t do this we are doomed. Perhaps we are doomed to a revolution from within anyway, perhaps our government needs a true shake up and we the people will need to suffer through this to come out better, but I predict it will be worse before it is better.
Yes I agree with your there Val.. same here.. We have junior Drs striking as Government are imposing conditions in new contracts.. The Unrest is visible and people are going to go through some uncomfortable times before it gets better.. We are only just seeing the outer edges before it all implodes..
We stopped caring about civics, and our civil society crumbled as a result. Where do we go from here…
strong piece, Val. I won’t say “good” though. Sigh.
Yes, I suspect you are correct. We stopped teaching Civics in the classroom replacing it with something, do you know what? I surely do not know. We stopped teaching anything of relevance actually. Our young people are leaving school with useless BS stuffed in their heads, all too often being forced to take remedial courses in the basics simply to keep up if they go to University. Worse, none of them are even prepared for what is coming.
Gawd, we are terrible. We are I think the first to leave our children worse off rather than better.
Reblogged this on The Militant Negro™.