POLITICAL HEARTBREAK
People of all walks of life have experienced heartbreak in some form or another. There are different levels of heartbreak. Just to name a few; there’s losing a favored item such as a toy, game, that one piece of food that hits the floor that you knew was the best part, and an event you planned for a few weeks in advanced that cancelled. Another level of being heartbroken would be that of an emotionally invested character dying in a role-playing game, or on TV such as Glenn from the Walking Dead, or nearly anyone from Game of Thrones, or outside of TV, a beloved car being totaled, or growing friendship suddenly dissolved. On the heavier side of heartbreak, we have long-term relationships that end with cheating, an addiction, or that one irreconcilable difference that neither can find equal ground within. There is also the pain of the family pet being killed to put it out of its misery, or a trusted friend hurting you without a reason or simply because that person felt like it at the time. These heartbreaks are epic within their own right and to the individual experiencing them. However, the majority of these have one similarity. They can be replaced by something else. This leads to the topic at hand.
Politics are a game. There are not anything else. Politicians are pieces in the game. The buyers of the game are the corporations. They buy the game and setup house rules. We are not buyers of this game, and we are not pieces in this game. What are we then? We are spectators that suffer the consequences of perverted and poor game play. Think of when you were a kid or as you are today, an adult. There may have been a time where you played spades, dominoes, backgammon, basketball, soccer, volleyball, football, dress up, and more. These games have rules presented on the inside of the box or in a folded piece of glossy paper. You read the rules, play accordingly and when you get the hang of it, get others to join; if they are not learning with you. For some reason, when a game becomes familiar, the owner and/or players begin to do what? If you said, “get bored” you’re wrong. If you said, “Start making up new rules,” you would be correct. These are called “house rules”. 2 of spades is trump. 2 of hearts is trump. If you pass “go” you get 4 or 6-hundred bucks. What you could do now, is think about those games and understand that you are the buyer, the pieces are the players, and anyone looking on or hearing about it, suffer the consequences of the actions of said game. Each trump card taken sends a friend to prison. Passing “go” drains 4 to 6 percent of total income from someone watching or listening. Each space you move increases the odds by 1-percent of some spectator going fully bankrupt.
In seeing how the US government is broken into pieces moved by big money donors, the spectators begin to see how their lives are jeopardized by those who they personally voted for to do one thing: make life better for the people. Question: How does a person change their world view from, “make our lives better” to “help us get ruined by making the wealthy wealthier”? You think that’s not a thing? It is. It’s a grand trick and it’s simple. Have you heard the speeches from Republicans who want to make America great again? The same people who want to end hunger for hard working Americans. The same politicians who want to make sure that every American citizen’s rights are upheld by the law at all costs. See, these talking points are great as the subject, as Republicans logically latch onto it. It does make sense. There’s a problem though. These are the same politicians who will also talk about the free market, and making sure corporations’ taxes are lowered so that they can sustain job growth. They say that while demonizing democrats as the job killers, the people who want to give everything away to people who don’t work; to people who don’t want to make a hard-earned living. That language sets in the minds of Republican voters that one must work hard no matter what, and to look down upon anyone who doesn’t preach the same rhetoric, they cite as “values”.
If you need to, read that last paragraph again. The reason being you’re going to need it to understand something that happened to the Republicans. The Republican voters are tribal, and they are not alone. I just want to focus on them for the moment. I’ll dig into the Democrats soon enough. You see, partisan republican voters will only side with their own while denigrating “the left”, “the liberals”, “the leftists” and whatever else they can think of to express a full-on division in “values”. In time, it happened. George Bush attacked a country that had nothing to do with us, and sunk everything into the war efforts. Backed by the tribal republican voters, it was easy to push the wars the US started in the Middle-East. The US jobs were few and far between, gas prices soared to 7 and even 9 dollars a gallon for PLUS, while Premium hit levels of 12 to 20 dollars. People were so broke that card collectors used their stock market and turned in every card they could to stay afloat. Yes, George Bush was hated by those who woke up to see what he did, but those who cared about charisma and a goofy smile were enamored by their President and beat the tribal drums.
Most of these republicans took notice and did not leave the Republican Party. Instead they simply either didn’t vote for Obama, or voted for him because “Never a republican”. Obama ran against Hillary and then against anyone in the Republican Party and crushed them. He was the hope and change we all legitimately needed. Our desperation was as high as our debt and we placed everything into a man who claimed, “We don’t need more of the same. I’m rich. I got money. I don’t need any more. You need it. Wall Street doesn’t need it. That’s your money.” Before he was elected the racists on the Republican side came out in droves while Democrats asked on numerous occasions before and during his decimation of Hillary, “Where did he come from?” The Republicans were in a fit, and the Democratic voters were ecstatic. In fact, all other nations were just as pleased, as they held their own election; even voting against their own leader. Most Republicans were so angry at George Bush, they voted for Obama; the man who swore there would be no “Golden Parachutes”.
After Obama filled his cabinet with people dictated by large financial groups, he bailed out the banks with tax-payer money with little to no return required, and what was returned was used as a tax write-off. After allowing Russia to wrongfully invade Crimea after boasting he’d intervene, and citing whistle-blowers as traitors to the very nation he allows corporations to remove jobs from, Obama was no longer simply hated for the color of his skin. Still, for black people, he was Bill Clinton 5.0. While Bill Clinton was beloved by the black people, he made sure that those same black people were incarcerated for with the three-strike rule. Obama had 10-times the love from black people, who he gave no aid, while they were murdered by civilians, cops, and correctional facilities that use people in general as slave labor. Nothing lasts forever. It always gets worse.
After Obama took office, the Republican voters took to the streets and social media emotionally preaching that Socialist, Muslim, Antichrist born of Africa with ties to the Illuminati was ruining the country. Everything that George Bush did, they declared originated with Obama. They even went as far as to claim that Obama, not Hillary, was responsible for Benghazi, and Hurricane Katrina. They blamed Obama for the lack of services and to this day, at least 37% of Republicans do. For Republicans who are ashamed of these people, they are already stuck in their partisanship and thus have two options: Stay and say nothing while not voting, or becoming an Independent. Very few chose the latter.
For not just black people but the country as a whole, Obama was about incremental change; change that is ok until time runs out and it’s back to business as usual; irascible pun intended. Just 6-months into Obama’s second term, Republicans were begging for money from big donors to get ahead of Democrats who would do the same level of begging from the same donors just 2.25 years later.
Republicans experienced heartbreak and took their anger out on the easiest target in the country; minorities. They blamed Obama for what Bush Sr. and his son did. They blamed, and to this day blame, unarmed black people who are slain by unprovoked cops for their demise. As the murderer of Michael Brown was asked “What weapon did he have,” the cop answered, “His body.” The few rational Republicans could only lower their heads in shame and due to their social programming, at best offer, “Both sides need to be heard in a court of law.” This looms in the air as well as oil pipelines running through sovereign native lands which is uselessly protected by a treaty supposedly upheld by the Judicial Branch of the United States of America. While this goes on, the next election takes place and it was the election that could have, and in a sane world, would have awakened people to their own misdeeds, and poor choices. This is not hindsight, or partisanship talking. Just keep reading. Trust me: it’s worth it.
On the Republican side, we have Trump versus 16 high-profile political officials, who while on stage begged for him to give them money for their (at the time) current campaign. With one of them having sold debris of the fallen twin towers, thus selling pieces of a place that took the lives of over 1500 loved ones. While another had allegations of rape that just vanished, and all of them used tax-payer money to live lavishly. The partisan republican voters had that baggage with them, while Democrats had Hillary Clinton and a few unnamed people. Do you recall that month? I do. I don’t like the Democratic Party and even I knew beyond a reasonable doubt, that she would win the big office and be like Obama; increased jobs due to having more executives, and underlings in corporations and restarting old jobs for infrastructure; claiming them as “new jobs”. So the great question: what happened to make her lose?
Listen carefully. There are tons of people on social media who will espouse who to blame for Hillary’s loss. They will declare so many different avenues, but I’ve set the tone for the only answer that truly matters, and I will back up my claim. She broke the hearts of forward-thinking people. There is no other answer that will due. Think back to the election and even think about it now. Do you know what “partisan” mean? I’ll put it here.
par·ti·san
/pärdəzən/
a strong supporter of a party, cause, or person.
synonyms: supporter, follower, adherent, devotee, champion, fanatic, fan, enthusiast, stalwart, zealot, booster
Partisan voters are not forward-thinkers because they are stuck where they are and will find any excuse to stay there. They will lash out against anyone who attempts to express something different. Coupled with the Backfire Effect and you got a raging beast that information bounces off of like frogs on a hotplate. WAIT. You might be a bit angry at what I said. I humbly ask that you hang in there as I will get to what supports my claim. You have my word. If it’s not enough now, it will be soon.
Hillary was running and before that, people wanted Elizabeth Warren to run. She kept her silence for a month and then bowed out of any further dealings with the future election. Just a few weeks later, Hillary announced her presidential run. Hillary had nothing to say other than she’s fighting for women, and the country. There was no other substance than that. In fact, she didn’t hold interviews, rallies or anything for many months, until someone stepped into the race; Bernie Sanders. The Independent man of Jewish faith who was demonized by the Democratic party as a socialist, and a person who was against women because he’s running alongside Hillary against the few remaining Republicans, and it was stated by Hillary and the paid-media, that he did not have the experience. No one ever questioned, “Experience in what?”
Bernie was a long-term Senator and sat shackled with black people who were arrested by cops. The man is so peaceful; a bird landed and listened for a while. If you’re religious, you can’t get a better sign from God. The DNC and RNC accused Bernie of beating his wife, cheating on her, and possibly having ties with the Russian government. As I wrote that last line I thought of something. Trump raped his wife, molested others, while Hillary was cheated on by Bill, and all of them have a tie or two with Russia or some other extra governmental entity. That would be called, “projection”.
When it comes to Bernie trying to get a spot on the debate stage, it was done at night when most were in bed or not caring about anything. Larry Lessig was running before Sanders and he needed one million dollars, and 3% of the vote. He did that in record time and the goal was changed to three million dollars and 10% of the vote. Now in debt, Lessig had to dropout, and that is when Bernie exploded onto the social media scene. You might be asking, “How is this related to being heartbroken?” This is called timing. Here goes.
See, Democratic voters knew Hillary was a done deal. The problem arose when Larry Lessig joined the race because he knew Hillary had bad baggage. Also, she refused to release her tax returns and it was pushed out there on social media that not only did her husband and she put into play the three-strikes rule to aid in over-incarcerating black people, but using the term “super predator” during a time where MS13 was not on the lips of anyone. Rodney King’s beating was still fresh in the minds of everyone, and the subject was on inner city kids. It narrowed it down fast and that made people think. That was just during the summer as she was still not doing interviews or rallies. Hillary was the single greatest hope in the majority of Democratic voters and she wasn’t looking good. That is when Lessig amped things up, and before Bernie entered the race.
After Lessig dropped out, and Bernie was on the scene, it was nearing Halloween and something else had come up just weeks before hand: Who donates to Hillary? From then until late December, it was discovered that the Clintons used The Clinton Foundation to funnel money for charity into their pockets. It was discovered that Hillary gave speeches to big banks at roughly 400K per speech. She was supported by Obama, who took money from those same entities. People wanted to know if she would do right by the people despite the money given to her. The people wanted to know if she was racist. To prove to the people she was not bigoted, she went on a black radio show and spoke of carrying hot sauce with her at all times. This couldn’t be more racist than her husband playing the saxophone on a late night black TV show. Politically, this is pandering 101. Rationally, this is blatant racism, ignored by people impressed that someone white knows about playing the blues and carrying hot sauce.
Spring was full of disappointment as politically heartbroken voters didn’t know what to do. The media covered Hillary and Trump so much, that on CNN, while Bernie Sanders was there to be interviewed for his campaign, the host only asked him about Hillary and Trump, while showing pictures of Ms. Clinton behind him. For the majority of people, that was something not to think about. They didn’t know that while they heard Senator Sanders speak, they saw Hillary, heard him talk about Hillary and Trump and that was subliminal programming to ignore the person right in their face. No one even asked, “What experience does he not have?” Yes, that was said earlier. I just want you to think about claims as they come out and begin to question them.
It was not long during spring time when the transcripts came out. It was just a few months after the Koch Brothers, when asked about donating to Hillary, said, “We’ll support her if her actions are different than her rhetoric.” When the transcripts quoted Hillary double talking to the bankers saying that she will let them do as they wish; considering they know how to run themselves, it was highly damning. Then, when she said that there is the political side and the public side of things, where she claimed that publicly, one must say what they can to get where they want to be, and politically, the money is what matters, people were devastated. This was the moment. This was the time. This was the place. Everything could have come together. Why did nothing come together?
The Democratic voters were primarily in lockstep to vote for Hillary because, “To hell with Trump.” They were in lockstep with Hillary over Bernie, because he was willfully rejected as a legitimate candidate by most of the voters on either side — let alone the Democrats. There were two movements going on from early spring to mid-summer: “Bernie for Life”, and “I’m with her”. It was stated by a religious political leader, “If you’re not with Hillary, there’s a special place in hell for you.” On the streets, both sides screamed at each other with neither being heard and both declaring they were right. This was the birth of Democratic Socialist movement that spawned Justice Democrats, Our Revolution, and a few other Progressive / Social political groups.
Hillary had a ton of baggage, but what did her in, was that baggage being known. She lost the Electoral College vote by a wide margin as delegates and super delegates sided with Trump, despite the numbers being in Hillary’s favor. Hillary won the popular vote by just over three million votes. Keep in mind, the Electoral College is to see where the voters are swaying and vote accordingly. They did not.
When it was all said and done, it was discovered that Hillary bank rolled the DNC and since they were paid by her, they did what she wanted. Suppress the black vote by making sure early voting was limited, voting booths closed earlier than usual, and new voters or those changing from independent could not vote and/or their vote would not count. While Bernie fired the guy who stumbled upon the bug that gave access to Hillary’s team’s information, the Clinton Campaign sought to publically shame Bernie and his ilk as saboteurs; despite Bernie doing nothing of the kind.
The true problem with political heartbreak rests in the partisan tribalism of the voters supported by the backfire effect. Hearts were broken, with both political parties vying for the big donors and doing their bidding, people are too dogmatic and indoctrinated into these very parties. The thought of a new party is folly to them. The rationale behind starting a new party meets their “wasted vote” belief. When the Republican Party started, it was against the racist Democratic Party. There were some whites that voted, but all former slaves voted, or tried to. Some of those votes were torn up. Few votes were used with a blunt object to beat a black person down and show why voting was dangerous. Those practices are not fully eradicated. They have just evolved with the times. They are not patriot-checks to make sure your fellow man agrees with you no matter what. They are lectures from family, friends, and popular social media groups that refuse to aid in a new party.
At the end of it all, it proves one thing and one thing for sure, “The more things change, the more stay the same; unless you make it change.” Individually, we can make change; true change. It’s up to each of us to break free of our emotional political tethers and seek a new ground to build on. Infiltration is great, but we’re honey bees trying to invade an Africanized hive.
Thank you for reading.