It's not just Bernie Sanders trying to warn us all that we are being ruled by the oligarchs. Even the oligarchs agree. Let that really smart billionaire Donald Trump tell you his real idea for immigration and he'll describe some crazy plan to gobble up 11 million people, send them back to Mexico (or wherever they came from), and then find a way to expedite their return because president Trump will be creating a whole lot of jobs that those 11 millions Mexicans will be needed for. This won't endear him to his conservative colleagues during the upcoming debate but he'll be the man in the big chair, not them.
Teflon Don-ald
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| BTW Trump is not very conservative! |
Trump has defied all political punditry and risen regardless of his so-called gaffs. The more substantive gaffs are soon to come. For example, Trump keeps warning us that republicans won't like the fact that Donald Trump believes in helping people that are poor in more ways than GOP tough love. This probably means he'll be repealing ObamaCare and reinstating it under TrumpCare if you press him on the question. Soon he'll be pressed on a whole lot of questions which could be the moment in which potential republican supporters determine that "The Donald" does not actually lean to the right at all and was a registered independent before trying to assert his voice within the republican arena back when Fox news first became entertainment thirsty enough to seriously recognize his commentary. Sanders is hardly a democrat either, which makes his running as a democrat as peculiar as Trumps misplaced republican approach to the White House.
The truth is that third party options are still mostly laughable simply because not enough Americans actually vote. Voting apathy not only allows for voter suppression, it ensures a system that is rigged for the money and the support to be driven behind predetermined talking heads representing an invitation only, party of two where the party plan and the keynote speakers are dictated by Super PAC's, a new methodology of America's oligarchs. If a PAC don't back you, then you really aren't a candidate at all, which is why Vice president Joe Biden could struggle as a candidate, unless of course president Obama is preparing to publicly back him since the Obama's are a Super PAC, especially Michelle, and their influence could mean that Biden won't need another PAC.
Donald's early threat to be a third party alternative made me think he didn't get into this thing to actually be the president of America since third party candidates can't win yet. Now, even Trump is trumpeting this refrain by telling republicans recently that their best chance is with him as a republican. The best chance for The Donald to actually win the presidency is as a republican, but does that also mean that the best chance for the republicans is The Donald? General election polling says no way, and soon both Trump and Sanders will have to determine if their displaced, long-shot campaigns have the legs for the long hall. Bernie's populism message and Trump's fear mongering will have a voice in this race, though each of them are long odds to carry it beyond the primary season. That duty will likely be left for the more electable candidates to accomplish
It's Not Too Late For A Cross Party Debate.
Sanders and Trump could collaborate on a debate and force a conversation that Fox News, or whichever network that has the next debate, can't control. Bernie needs to elevate his populist ideology by arguing it against a contrasting conservative anyway, which no longer applies to Bill and Hillary's rhetoric. Trump, on the other hand, needs to remain entertainingly toxic without trying to prescribe policy points from off the cuff, like deporting all of the Mexicans and then expediting their return somehow; probably after he assigns them a president Trump card (I couldn't resist). A cross party debate would be just the thing for both candidates to break away from the oligarch's (PAC's and network television) control over the political process.Since Trump is soon to be uncovered as the real RINO (republican in name only), more right leaning republicans who aren't happy with fighting for a chance just to flank the poll leading Trump on the Fox debate stage, will soon be chomping at the bit to bite at Donald. Trump won't take kindly to being bitten and the whole scene promises to be something that I will eagerly watch, but only so that I can say that I witnessed one of the lowest representations of America's democracy during my lifetime. Hopefully this is our lowest point.
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| Is any American politician free from the negative impression that most Americans have of the process? Do WE believe in any politician or are they all just who WE get to choose from? |
Unlike dirty laundry, ours is the democracy that we boldly reveal before the world and then hold it against Cuba for not following in our footsteps. A democracy that sends open letters to the Ayatollah of Iran in the middle of nuclear negotiations. A democracy that allows an extremist video to ignite yet another attack against Roe .v. Wade, but also blocks all productive legislation in Congress in the fear of giving the sitting president too many legacy points. A democracy that reaches out to deal with the challenge of a middle eastern nuclear arms race and Cuban normalcy with a political war at home that promises a swift end to diplomacy in both Iran and Cuba if the wrong party wins that war.
Can You Call Yourself A Democracy Officially With only 36.4% Voter Participation?
This is a democracy that doesn't really vote in mass because voting, as it stands, doesn't help to avoid "do nothing" elected officials. In our democracy, WE still have 600,000 citizens of Washington D.C., the nations capital no less, who pay taxes but live without real representation because they can't vote and neither can their lone representative in congress who has limited voting powers. Instead of national ballot initiatives that give every American the right, privilege and duty (maybe legal if necessary) of a real democracy and not a broken representative one, our democracy insures that gerrymandering and guns remain a right while education and voting are privileges with embedded hurdles that really old people and ex-cons are finding harder and harder to surmount.
Our democracy sucks you up and spits you into a category of its choosing. You can fight and claw your way out of economic slotting, but you had better dig in deep to pull yourself to the top of the the social casting system which demands Oprah like wealth or Rush Limbaugh/Bill O'Reilly influence to counterbalance the weight of casting. Regular Joe's (or Barack's) often make their social climb using political power plays, but find themselves handcuffed by the oligarchs or caving to lobbyists who are enlisted by the oligarchs. These are aspects of our version of democracy, but for some reason WE often hope no one mentions those ugly parts while insisting that others be more like US for the sake of business considerations.Reports Say Castro's Struggling To Swiftly Embrace Change
If Cuba is resisting normalized relations and hesitant to implement change, it might be the kind of democracy that has Donald Trump on every news channel that's driving their fear. If you remain on the channel past the five minutes of Trump, and take a deep dive into poll numbers of our current president and every candidate for our next president, it becomes clear that even WE don't really care for any of these candidates even though we know one of them has to be the next lead representative of American democracy. What Cuba and all nations adverse to U.S. democracy must realize is that capitalism is bigger than all of us. Americans- even Donald Trump- do business in China because we have to not because we really want to. China and countries worse than China have done business in Cuba throughout our 50 years of Cuban sanctions and will continue to make their way to Cuba to do business in the event that hard line republicans in congress force the U.S. to remain not as welcomed in Cuba simply from continued toxic rhetoric. Can you imagine what happens if Marco Rubio somehow actually wins the presidency?
No, rambunctious Rubio and tenacious Trump are not the only reason that Cuba and many people around the world examine the American pride in for our version of democracy and snicker just a bit. On balance, this great nation has accomplished too much to deserve such an indictment against our politicians or our version of democracy. But WE can't keep ignoring the sound of laughter. Can WE?
