This seemed like fitting commentary regarding the state of things in America today.
The country just feels like it is going in the absolute wrong direction, and on so many levels. It really is almost staggering, how wrong everything feels.
Money rules, trumping everything. I thought this was the case already back in the eighties, which many people cite as the real beginning of the excesses that we see now. But these days, things just seem so much worse, and the grotesque, obscene levels of inequality that, to my understanding, have not been seen in a society since the days of the French Revolution, is really just offensive (at least to anyone paying attention).
We have a relatively weak field of Republicans. The perfect example of this is that Mr. Ego himself, Donald Trump, currently is leading the field, according to some polls, while in a strong position as second in other polls. One way or the other, this ridiculous, racist loudmouth with a false sense of entitlement is garnering all sorts of attention, and is thus seen as a "serious candidate."
In the meantime, a man with real ideas and true convictions, Bernie Sanders, is regularly dismissed by the major news media as being irrelevant, failing to be a "serious candidate," even though he is drawing thousands of people to rallies, and seems to be closing the gap in a tightening race against Hillary, who talks the talk of being against the big banking institutions and corporate America, but is actually in leagues with them big time. Remember, she did not gain prominence in the American political field for no reason, and neither did she herself become a member of the 1 % for no reason. There are very clear reasons for this, and all you have to do to see it is look at who the top ten biggest sponsors of each campaign, Clinton's and Sander's, to see it. The difference is clear right away.
Yes, I think it is far past the time to say that the political system in this country is broken. Kaput.
It no longer works for the people, and the perfect example of that would seem to me to be all of these prominent politicians lobbying for the legal status of personhood for corporations. Yet, even if we grant corporations the rights afforded to regular citizens, to regular people, they would be in the tiny, tiny minority, even though their interests are very well attended to, to the point that it comes at the expense of the rest of us.
In the meantime, racism seems to be a problem that appears to be getting worse. We are having race riots again, for the first time in decades, since at least the LA race riots in the aftermath of Rodney King.
At least there is some real debate about the meaning of the Confederate battle flag, which was first truly popularized in the early sixties as a sign of defiance and resistance to the Civil Rights Movement and the push for desegregation. It always felt to me like a clear-cut symbol of racism, far more than mere heritage. It was used as such back in the sixties, and continues to be used as such right to the present day.
Now, finally, it is being widely recognized for the racist symbol that it always was. I dedicated a blog entry recently to it, and you can read for yourself some of the blatantly racist sentiments held and stated by prominent Confederate figures, including President Jefferson Davis, as well as by the designer of the "real" Confederate flag himself.
Mix all of that stuff in with a ridiculously militarized police force that is increasingly looking and acting more like an occupying force, and you have yet still more evidence that this country is in a bad way. Add to that the deterioration of our infrastructure, the crumbing schools and education system (which I suspect is deliberate, as one more means to emphasize privatization), the bloated military industrial complex budget, the decline of benefits and sorry state of the healthcare system (yes, even with Obamacare now in place, having overcome numerous obstacles), and finally, the steady destruction and blatant disregard for the environment, and you have a country that is decidedly going in the wrong direction.
Here is one man's take on the sorry state of things in this country as he sees it on a video. I recommend viewing it. It makes you think:
Gary Younge: Farewell to America by Gary Younge, July 1, 2015:
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