I'm quitting the conversation.
No, this isn't a "GBCW diary." All I'm doing with this post is admitting that there really is nothing more to say about Joe Biden or Donald Trump that I or someone else hasn't already said before. So I think I'm going to shut up about the Presidential race at least until there arises something new that needs to be said.
What brings this about? Well, over at Common Dreams the nice liberals with big egos and comparable resumes have put together an open letter: "Open Letter: Dump Trump, Then Battle Biden." 'Course, the ability to "dump Trump" is granted in our system to swing voters (i.e. voters who could "go either way") in the swing states, while the rest of us are allowed to cast votes in statewide races for electoral votes which are more or less decided beforehand. Are any of these swing voters in swing states going to say "hey this group of liberals signed this petition saying 'Dump Trump, Then Battle Biden," so I guess we'll vote for Biden in November?" I doubt it.
Now, I suppose that all the nice liberals with big egos could phone-bank for Biden, but they'd probably have to do it through MoveOn. (Does MoveOn phone-bank? Don't answer that -- I don't care. I have no idea what I'd say to tell people to vote for Biden. I'd probably screw up and tell the truth. Phone-banking is HARD!) As far as I know, Joe Biden's campaign doesn't knock on doors. You down with that, dog?
The point, as I've discussed previously, is that there is really very little of any sort of opportunity for liberals or leftists or for most anyone else to affect the Presidential race. We must, in short, go back to organizing for ourselves. We should focus on local races, issues organizing, and anarchist, horizontal organization building. To what extent is that happening? It certainly isn't happening in discussions of the Presidential race.
We are, in fact, invited to be really cynical about this open letter. Dump Trump, and then battle Biden. Is that what we're going to do? America had eight years of a Barack Obama presidency, during which Obama was held to account for nothing while the Democrats surrendered all branches of the Federal government, 12 governor's seats, and 900+ seats in state legislatures to the Republican Party. It was an underwhelming Left performance in a record-breaking sort of way. Now we're ostensibly going to elect Obama's feeble VP, presumably because we want some peace and quiet while society collapses and the rich make their homes in New Zealand bunkers. What is to prevent a repeat performance?
It's not like dumping Trump and electing Biden will create any real sense in which all the nice liberals with big egos are going to have the power to stop saying "we must support the Democrats because the Republicans are worse." The Movement for a People's Party would create that power, by creating a party which would empower us, which we could rationally support. But what is to prevent them all from saying "the People's Party is only a spoiler party so we can't support it"? They told the Greens to stand down. It is hard not to feel that a Biden victory will be devastating for anything that calls itself "the Left" today. That is, after all, what happened to the Left when Obama won.
There is, then, a philosophical contradiction at the heart of the politics of the nice liberals with big egos. I connect it to Trump Derangement Syndrome. Trump Derangement Syndrome is all there is left of the idea of dumping Trump. Of course, the fault with this, the reason for this fact, lies with Joe Biden, who promises us nothing more than a return to the conditions which gave rise to Trump, in a campaign designed to lose to Trump. And Trump Derangement Syndrome appears to me as a genuine mental disorder.
I am afraid to provoke it further for fear of losing more friends. In short, in the election run-up, a primary time of opportunity usually, everyone seems to have lost their heads, and thus the opportunity disappears. The Trumpies do it in in their usual way (I have a neighbor who posted a cardboard sign amidst the damage caused by a climate-change-fueled wildfire which destroyed more than a thousand buildings: "Climate change is a hoax!"), the anti-Trumpies, through Trump Derangement Syndrome.
This nonsense about how Trump won't respect the election results, for instance, is Trump playing the anti-Trumpies, as Snoopydawg pointed out. "Trump doesn't respect democracy, he's a fascist, he's mishandling COVID, he's destroying our society, he must go." Very few of the people making this argument are actually going to phone-bank Biden, or move to swing states and go door to door for Biden. (And to be honest, Trump is only a Teevee Fascist, he's doing it in the run-up to play the liberals, the Democrats in power actually support him, and his response to the COVID was to throw it to the states, more a matter of ineptitude than fascism.)
One of the big slogans for this year's Trump campaign is "Make Liberals Cry Again" -- it's not, then, about any sort of real Fascism, but rather about punking out the liberals, who are dutifully performing according to script, panicking, and energizing the Trump base in doing so. The state of panic I see everyday in my Facebook feed is palpable. "Trump's re-election will mean the end of the world!" says one TDS-sufferer. To which the Trumpies would no doubt say, "feel free to commit suicide in case our candidate wins re-election." Much as I might sympathize with the disgust the TDS-sufferers feel at Trump, I cannot agree with their arguments, because most of them are full of mischaracterizations, miscalculations, and other nonsense.
One creative argument is made in this regard by David Sirota, who had a piece up about how "the toxic slime will end us." Sirota, whom I respect greatly for his qualities of honesty, argues here (as I interpret it) that Trump must go because when Trump goes, so also will go Trump Derangement Syndrome and the things it freaks out against. Here is what Sirota argues that convinces me of this version of his argument:
Unlike the other leaders in our modern history, Trump aims to sow anxiety, fear, instability and division all the time. He is a troll, but more than a troll. He is a chaos agent. He is trying to hack into everyone’s brains to amp us up, worry us, scare us, freak us out and drive us crazy at every minute of the day — and not in service of any cause other than his own power and narcissism.
Perhaps dumping Trump would be a good thing for me, personally in that regard, because I would stop losing friends when I point out that they have Trump Derangement Syndrome. And perhaps it would be a bad thing, because the political quietude which will spread under a Biden administration might be just as deadly. Either way, as I see it, I have damn little in the way of a choice in the matter. My post of the last day of July stands. And my sig line stands: My slogan from here to November will be the one in my sig line: "Faith in philosophy means the refusal to permit fear to stunt in any way one's capacity to think." -- Max Horkheimer. Trump Derangement Syndrome, in this regard, grants its sufferers' fears a broad permission to stunt their capacities to think.
Okay? Okay.
Comments
I found myself
literally shaking my hand as if to cool down a burn. Your commentary in singeing in a powerful and striking way. Thank you.
Spot on.
That is all...
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
Glad you joined me, sir!
Not only do I not discuss the election, I write essays of pure drivel about Couples Cooking just to get away from the horror.
Write about whatever comes to mind, Cass.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
I discuss the election still--
but only in the sense of its cultural and psychological impacts. IOW, I talk about what the election is really about--fucking up our culture, morals, and manners--rather than talking about it as a contest, which I'm not sure it is, or a fair and honest contest, which I'm sure it's not.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
something new that needs to be said
There will be "something new that needs to be said". Count on it.
I, too, face the burden of being one of a very few people in my life who doesn't suffer from Trump Derangement Syndrome. These people treat Trump as worse than Stalin, which he is not. Trump is a bloviator, yes. And an egotist. But when you exempt the image/style crap from consideration, Trump's only shortcoming in the Presidency boils down to mediocrity. As a Republican, he can't throw money at any problems; there goes any real leadership response to either infrastructure or the coronavirus. But Trump has started NO NEW WARS. O'Bomber started what, 19? Yet all I hear in "real" life (IRL) is that O'Bomber was our best President evah, and we need to be rid of Trump by any means necessary.
I'm weary of war. And with the (neo)liberal Democrats' invention of credentialism firmly established in our labor markets, forcing us ever further into non-bankruptible debts (thank you, Joe Biden!), I now need that social safety net into which I've paid for years. Right now I face taxation without representation, as there's no longer a Presidential candidate which can represent me and those like me. I've never made enough in a year ($100,000 after taxes) to afford conservatism.
Therefore, in my own humble opinion at least, Cass, you'll always have something to add to the Presidential election conversation. And a hearty "Thank You" for saying what you already have.
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
Indeed...
Even Stalin isn't worse than Stalin.
Well put! Probably, will continue
to discuss some aspects of the upcoming election--especially, my concerns about Dems' further attempts to convert Medicare to a 'managed care' healthcare system.
That is the purpose that HHJ's (Hidey Hole Joe's) public option would serve. He's wanting it to compete with both Traditional/Original Medicare and Medicare Advantage. That should be of great concern to Medicare beneficiaries (if not Everyone).
Other topics--like COVID-19--are beginning to wear on me. There's simply too much disinformation and misinformation circulating about, at this point. Mr M and I are lucky to have two immunologists in our orbit, now, so, we're relying on them, and on our own physicians for all of our info. The rest--especially on Cable teevee--is mostly noise.
While I agree that talking about the Presidential horse race is pretty useless, I am concerned about the 'hysteria' being driven by the corporatist MSM--especially, CNN. Yikes! Regarding a possible "civil war," that is. Don't think it helps anything, in the event that there is a contested election.
Personally, I never take anything online all that seriously. That goes 'triple' for social media.
(I only read Twitter, anyway.) So, what I read and/or see rarely causes me distress. If something I read is concerning, I check out other sources, which is helpful.
Take care; stay safe.
Mollie
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
My TDS neighbor quit speaking to me
after I asked her why she was giving Trump so much space in her brain and he wasn't even paying rent for it.
There's still a remote possibility that this election could present some surprises. So, I'm staying tuned in.
LOL!
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
Well said Cass.
It’s easy for me to stay above the fray. I don’t have it blasted in my face all day and night everywhere I go. I have to go looking for something to get outraged about. I don’t though. It makes no sense to waste precious time when there is nothing I can do to influence this election or the people all caught up in the idiocy. I can be of more use doing what I can do to help people I live near. They actually deserve and appreciate a peaceful life and their neighbors.
Take care everyone. I’m not going anywhere. This, too, is a worthy community.
"Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now..."
good point of view
and helping your neighbors is even better.
I am of the opinion that forewarned is forearmed, not in the shoot-em-up sense, but from the perspective that the only way to solve a problem is to be fully informed about all it's aspects.
I work for the public, listen politely, and am beginning to do that here, as well. At least people here understand the insidious influence of propaganda, unfortunately tagged by Trump as "fake news." It is fake, he just doesn't say from what sources, or the intended purpose, and he, too, gets the benefit from fake news that goes in his direction.
Bottom line: Cass is right about talk about the presidential candidates is going to be old news, day after day.
What we need to talk about is how to get people to turn off their tv, or to get them to stop cutting down forests.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Exactly what I have done.
Quit the conversation.
I do not understand why people who are supposedly from the Left do not leave the Democratic Party to the Democrats.
The Democrats love their Party. They know who they are and what they want out of life and politics. It is to the detriment of the Left when they try to occupy that Party and twist that Party to serve their own political goals. By submitting themselves to the Democrats, the Left sabotages its own integrity. It's undignified and degrading.
To the Left I say: Stand up. Stand away from the two Parties that revile you. Declare yourselves sovereign and unattached to corruption and compromise. Be true to your ideals. Gather with others who share them and who share your vision for the future.
The Left must accept that they have no place in the 2020 election. The only choices offered are candidates who will betray the common people that the Left are committed to protect. They must stop certifying the legitimacy of the United States' non-representative democracy with their votes.
to tell the truth --
There is a small fragment of the Democratic Party which has been "taken over" by "progressives." I was thinking of including a discussion of this group in my diary. Perhaps they are our last best hope, and perhaps AOC will become President in 2024. The problem, of course, is that the neoliberals still run the party, and the nice liberals with big egos are still sucking up to said (D) neoliberals. They are, after all, still better than (R) neoliberals.
& to be honest, the AOC vision of a better world is still not radical enough. But at least if AOC were in charge the government would care one shred about us. Currently our Congress contemplates going on vacation until after the election.
I'm not going to comment often in this diary, because I live across the street from a burn zone and a few dozen houses that were burned to the ground in intensely hot fires that blasted through southern Oregon two and a half weeks ago. So I am using the Internet of a friend.
(update: okay Internet is now back up at home. Next: waiting for neighbors across the street to remove burned-to-the-ground car from their driveway, the one I see several times a day)
The ruling classes need an extra party to make the rest of us feel as if we participate in democracy. That's what the Democrats are for. They make the US more durable than the Soviet Union was.
AOC will be no use as long as
she continues to vote for Nancy Pelosi--or anyone allied to her--as Speaker of the House.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
TDS is NOT a mental disorder
We are seeing the predictable results of covert manipulations of our electoral process through a pervasive and targeted effort to divide the population in such a way as to prevent any threat to those now in power from arising. Billions are spent every year to manipulate what passes for news today to keep the population divided and fearful. Our limbic system is being placed on high alert 24/7 by a barrage of subliminal cues that trigger fear, anxiety, hate and depression.
Trump Derangement Syndrome is the result of only one aspect of a larger campaign to keep the population in a perpetual state of divisive fear and uncertainty. Such a population is effectively neutered as a source demanding change or calling for revolution. Such a population is easy to control.
Those who continue to immerse themselves in the streams of manufactured narratives that pass for News and masquerade as The Truth today will have a very difficult time coping with one derangement syndrome or another.
Best to limit your intake and spare yourself the limbic system overload that so many are now suffering from.
“ …and when we destroy nature, we diminish our capacity to sense the divine,and understand who God is, and what our own potential is and duties are as human beings.- RFK jr. 8/26/2024
TDS IS a mental disorder; as is all obssessive-compulsive
thinking: ODS, CDS (in the 1990s), Russiagate, etc.
I agree with Marie.
I am, however, not inclined to make a big issue of it. I recognize that my way of thinking about people emphasizes the fragility of the human brain, its susceptibility to various species of disordered thinking. Check out Cordelia Fine's book "A Mind of its Own."
I have a friend, a very good and loyal friend, who believes in Never-Trumper garden variety Republican politics and who has fairly good rationalizations for it. He also believes in a fair number of UFO and conspiracy theories. He's a citizen in good standing and contributes to the affairs of his local church. This mix of beliefs is, I suppose, his search for a rational posture toward life after, much earlier in life, he was briefly confined to a mental institution.
It isn't a mix of beliefs to which I subscribe -- but, then again, I am not interested in equating popular or "normal" modes of thinking with rational thought after, previously, "society" thought me insane. People are looking for rationality -- they don't always find it, however, and their tendencies to fool themselves are manifold, as Fine points out in the book I recommended.
The ruling classes need an extra party to make the rest of us feel as if we participate in democracy. That's what the Democrats are for. They make the US more durable than the Soviet Union was.
I am trying to comprehend the subtle differences between
"... a perpetual state of divisive fear and uncertainty ..." and a mental disorder. To me they seem one and the same?
I’m simply attempting to differentiate
a condition caused by random circumstances beyond ones control and a condition caused by the intentional manipulations of others. The source of the trauma in the latter is, intentional and pernicious. It is more like ongoing psychological torture than a simple trauma. This differentiation may be irrelevant clinically but it is quite important if one is to understand the nature of the cause and find a path that brings some relief.
“ …and when we destroy nature, we diminish our capacity to sense the divine,and understand who God is, and what our own potential is and duties are as human beings.- RFK jr. 8/26/2024
I can hardly imagine the clinical implications of either,
but I think they are equally significant, sadly.
Bravo!
Quitting the conversation regarding Identity Performative Presidential Jubilee made for TV
bs, makes perfect sense to me.
On the other hand, there are some topics still worthy of discussion. Here's some I thought of:
My state, New York, led by the atrocious Governor Andrew, the Lesser Cuomo, intends to delay counting its ballots for as long as possible. "Michael Ryan, executive director of @BOENYC, says during a City Council hearing that counting all absentee ballots in NYC could take up until early December.
He says the board currently does not have a shortage of poll workers."
That seems worthy of a mention.
It's also becoming clearer and clearer that "herd mentality/herd immunity" is a pipe dream right up there with unicorns and pink ponies. The Virus is mutating and you can contract it multiple times. OMG
NYCVG
No need deciding which side of the same corporate coin is best
Sorry you are losing friends though. May need them in the times that are coming.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vW-ImCVDsWk]
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Right on, Cass.
The light at the end of the tunnel is Maine's ranked choice balloting.
Instead of organizing the Peoples' Party now, a futile exercise IMHO, the focus should be in getting ranked choice voting in all states. Imagine a 10% Green or Peoples' first ballot cut in California or Illinois. It would put fear into the (D) party, maybe pull them Left, maybe encourage more to vote (G). Ranked choice would pull (L) voters out of the (R) party too. A true multi-party system would result.
Thinking of IL which I am most familiar, I can imagine a first round 10% G, 45% D, 45% R. That would strike fear in those complacent Democrats. How about 11%G 44%D 45%R ? That would tell the Democrats that they cannot win without the Left. Now they know they can rely on the Left no matter how bad/corrupt the D's are because (fill in the blank) is even worse, a Hitler! Trump saying that Bill Clinton gave him the idea of running at a cocktail party tells you all you need to know about the duopoly.
Ballot initiative, that's the first step.
We don't agree on everything, Brother, but we are marching in the same direction. Just your goal is further Left than mine.
And for something other than Biden v Trump to think about, here's a link to the Greatest President Evah!'s response to a crisis. Smart Bird, here we go again
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
Ranked choice on Ballot this fall in MA
It’s the only reason that might get me to the polls this year.
“ …and when we destroy nature, we diminish our capacity to sense the divine,and understand who God is, and what our own potential is and duties are as human beings.- RFK jr. 8/26/2024
Go to the polls
Vote for the amendment. Leave the rest blank or do whatever you want with it.
I'm voting for the graduated income tax in Illinois, all Greens, then filling the rest with (R). Not because I want (R) but it's my only chance to vote "not (D)" Especially Durbin. I forget his opponent. I think it's some knuckledragger, but I refuse to let him win a large majority.
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
and the war goes on
from Caitlin Johnstone-
" War is the most insane thing people do "
You compare it to an individual flipping out and killing strangers.
Wrong analogy. it's more like criminal gangs fighting over turf and dominance (hence money). In both cases theft and paying ransom are at the heart of the process. It's very rational from the power brokers point of view.
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
The quote is from Caitlin, not me.
It seems to me she says (correctly,imo) that our warring is not the same as an individual "flipping out", but is murder as a business tool.
She does think that killing millions of people for money is insane.
thx.
Election insanity
I've had it with so called progressives, Democrats who preach moderation, moderates and lying pols. Fear and hatred is every where. Meanwhile the rigged manipulated politcal beat goes on and on. Even local city and state Dem pols are all in the bag. Isnt it a pity. The electoral system is broken. It seems so obvious and yet I get grief if I speak my mind. Social media has lost it's collective mind. Fear and loathing are being manufactured to obtain consent. Thanks Cassiodoros.
How are your lungs?
When I was evacuated from southern Oregon I took a drive through Portland on the way to Seattle. Ouch.
The ruling classes need an extra party to make the rest of us feel as if we participate in democracy. That's what the Democrats are for. They make the US more durable than the Soviet Union was.
Dems Won't Give Up TDS
I love Sirota's on-going efforts to push Dems left and call out their bullshit, but I disagree with him about TDS going away with a Biden win. Dems created TDS as a way to keep the spotlight off of policy or any analysis of their repeated failings to deliver relief to the working class. They basically created their own Tea Party centered around identity politics as a means of controlling the narrative on the "left." When Trump is gone, they will just find another boogie man to scare up votes and quiet dissent. TDS is too valuable a tool for them to give up.
THIS
I caught on to this right after Trump became president. Republicans were busy rolling back last minute things Obama passed as he was walking out the door and hadn’t gone into effect yet. This was during Trump’s 1st 100 days. But the democrats and the media only focused on the things Trump said and did and not many people knew about it. Lots of centrists still don’t know about it nor the many things he’s doing right in front of them. I haven’t seen one diary about Trump deregulating just about every damn thing. Of course democrats and the media won’t cover it either. Nothing about how much money the banks are getting either. Nothing like when Bush was president.
And of course democrats have failed us just as much as republicans have, but they don’t get blamed for it. Mean old 'Moscow' Mitch.
If the media doesn't focus
on the dismantling of government functions, how can we? By the time it's discovered and commented on outside of the media, it's old news and done deals. If we have anything it's conservative media derangement syndrome.
The problem with dems and the left is that they keep claiming the mantle of the left (FDR, blah blah blah) when it suits them, and turning on the left to please their donors at every chance. It's how they pretend to be the adults in the room. If the democratic party were a person, they would resemble that my pillow guy more than anyone else.
The Trumpers sustain TDS.
It allows their favorite scapegoats, liberals, to perform according to script. Just think -- a whole population you hate rather helplessly complaining about your candidate! Now, imagine how feeble it would all be if Bernie Sanders had been allowed the nomination.
The ruling classes need an extra party to make the rest of us feel as if we participate in democracy. That's what the Democrats are for. They make the US more durable than the Soviet Union was.
Totally agree, AJ42, when you say,
Excellent comment.
(a little late) Welcome to C99!
Mollie
"The leaders of this new movement are replacing traditional liberal beliefs about tolerance, free inquiry, and even racial harmony with ideas so toxic and unattractive that they eschew debate, moving straight to shaming, threats, and intimidation."
~~Matt Taibbi, The American Press Is Destroying Itself, June 12, 2020
"I know, I know. All passion; no street smarts."
~~Captain West, 1992 Rob Reiner/Aaron Sorkin Movie, A Few Good Men
“If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die, I want to go where they went.”
~~Will Rogers, Actor & Social Commentator (1856-1950)
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
Ditto!
n/t
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Thanks!
I don't comment often, but I've been around since the Ides of March decree at The Other Place and follow the discussions regularly.
Glad to hear that, AJ42. I've had
to keep a low profile, off-and--on (lately)--probably why I didn't see you earlier. Don't be a stranger!
Mollie
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
I am afraid under Biden admin TDS become PDS
Regardless if Trump or Biden wins, America is in a near terminal collapse. At this point neither democrats nor republicans will do even simple temporary UBI or even rent moratoriums with aid to landlords.
For democrats and their media allies and even for many gop establishment figures, I am afraid that under such circumstances the diversions of TDS will morph in Putin Derangement Syndrome.
It is not hard to imagine where that will lead.
Not the Onion -
In the posted photo, Ms. Rittenhouse is happy, happy, happy. Well, suppose at least she's not a hypocrite and is proud to have a son that kills people (and other living things).
Note, this is in Waukesha Co, WI -- a state that Biden needs to win.
Is it really *Trump* who's doing this?
Unlike the other leaders in our modern history, Trump aims to sow anxiety, fear, instability and division all the time. He is a troll, but more than a troll. He is a chaos agent. He is trying to hack into everyone’s brains to amp us up, worry us, scare us, freak us out and drive us crazy at every minute of the day — and not in service of any cause other than his own power and narcissism.
If so, he sure seems to have a lot of help.
once again, I'm fighting Demogorgon, and the two heads won't admit they're attached to the same body.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Bill Hicks:
The ruling classes need an extra party to make the rest of us feel as if we participate in democracy. That's what the Democrats are for. They make the US more durable than the Soviet Union was.
fighting Demogorgon
He does. That's the beauty of it: almost everyone in the mainstream media world helps him do this, and for free at that.
[video:https://youtu.be/hbPWt5yzDLE?t=80]
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
The abyss has no political affiliations.
Yah, I am at this point watching and simply noting events. I don't believe any polls and read headlines to get a sense of latest propaganda drift. The proverbial die is cast and as Nader once noted, you can only choose how fast you hit the wall, and hit the wall you will.
I discuss the election, but
I discuss the election, but at this point, only because others insist and I find myself doing what I never thought I would. I lie. To all of them.
"yes, Trump is awful" "of course we have to vote him out"
I don't say that it's a joke, Biden is just as bad (in his own way) and that I plan on voting Green even though I'm in a battleground state. My family and friends are deeply propagandized and legitimately terrified of another four years of teh Donald, so I take the path of least resistance. I love them and I don't want to be ostracized or hated for not having their world view. I don't actually say I'm voting for Biden unless I have to, but I'll even do that to keep the peace. They care so much about this election and I care so little..I feel like it balances out.
"even though I'm in a battleground state"
It grinds me up that people will vote Green only when it doesn't matter.
Battleground states are ground zero for stopping the DNC.
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.