Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Rant against the Machine

Okay so I am not a leftist heavy metal rap band, but every now and then your brain explodes.

It seems the people most needing to do something for themselves is the people doing the least and still accepting the Democrat and Republican party machinery dictating to them what is best for them. And this is done with a helpful dose of media befuddlement. Yep the media is just now starting to understand why Mr. Donald Trump is so popular and Bernie Sanders is capturing second fiddle honors

It isn’t his platform, it isn’t his experience, it isn’t the money, it isn’t anything they want us to believe, because if it was something they would be able to figure him out. Nope it is because he is throwing up one large middle finger at the establishment of DC, the two parties, the media, and a host of other institutions the country is tired of lying to them. I really do not think he is what his fans think of him, however, he has convinced many he is the anti-establishment candidate. Mr. Sanders is making the same noise and has a platform which will continue to appeal to a wide host of liberal idealists.

And after all this time you are starting to see articles in the press that admit to this idea. Vox.com had an article that the Republican party is broken. The Tea Party knew this years ago they just couldn’t get the party to recognize it. The right and the far right are more engaged so they are responding to what Mr. Trump is offering. They do not care that he does not have a viable platform. The more the establishment winces at Mr. Trump the more they adore him.

I am not a fan of either and am jealous of both. I still hold out hope the middle class and the middle of the country will recognize what the machines of both parties have done and remove the shackles of the two party dominance. The middle class is its own worst enemy. They love life. They love softball games on Sunday, or movies on Saturday, their kids performing in the high school play, fighting for a playoff spot on their basketball team, watching their child in dance competitions, eating dinner with family and friends. The young like hanging out at bars, playing video games, working out, eating at chic restaurants, and doing many other things they cannot afford because they want a good life.

All see living paycheck to paycheck as dangerous and yet watching more each year being deducted from their paycheck for health insurance and their copays going up also. Rent goes up every time they renew their lease. After 7 years of people trying to convince us to buy a house again, many are skeptical or are hoping things are getting better like they are being told. They scream: Please do not confuse me with multi trillion dollar government debt, or ISIS, or trade balance, or what kind of job I may never have or a host of other problems that if not solved will be the end of the idea of middle class living in a democracy. No please tell me things will be good so I do not have to worry about my future.

Things aren’t going to be good with politicians telling you they are going to be good, and yet the middle class will not open their ears and minds to reality. The politicians, the press, wall street  etc are lying to you. And as long as you buy the lies; things will not get truly better. The machine thought they won years ago and put their message on a recording that the middle class will not tune out. And as long as that message is playing the middle class will wither away.  

Time to wake up and realize the reason Mr. Trump and Mr. Sanders are popular because they found an audience that is tuning out the machine. Unfortunately, neither is going to benefit the middle class. Mr. Sanders cannot expect the federal government to continue to solve all our problems, it is too daunting of a task, yet he is convincing his followers it can. Mr. Trump is awakening an ugly giant of right wing fanaticism that could roll over Mr. Trump unless he continues to take on even more extremist verbiage and then at some point he may actually have to act. If he does or doesn’t the resulting fall out will be ugly.

And the middle class will look to the machine and say what happened. And will be lied to again. Unfortunately, it may be too late for our country. 

We do not need a revolution, we do not need a new government, we do not need extremism; we just need to pay attention to the quiet voices in our heads that say when things are not what they seem; we need to make them right.  We can keep softball games, our children’s activities, our lunches, our families, our friends, we just need to spend some time with each other to right this ship before it breaks into three pieces with the middle sinking to the bottom of the ocean and the two sides branching off into hysterical pseudo populism.

The machine has failed; only you and I can rebuild our dreams


I still plan on finishing up the Social Security thoughts because if we ever get it together we got some work to do.


Cheers

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