Written November 9th, 2016

Today I woke up feeling nauseous. The morning of November 9th 2016 has my stomach in knots, because Donald J. Trump–the orange, xenophobic buffoonish billionaire and media mogul turned “politician” was just voted in as the 2017 President Elect.

The host of “Celebrity Apprentice” is now our leader.

It feels like a cruel sick joke, or even a movie honestly. One of those movies about a pre-apocalyptic future that no one ever thought would happen, but did. And therein lies one of the main reasons Donald Trump was elected–no one really believed it could happen. Well, let me rephrase that. No Democrats, CNN/MSNBC media pundits or establishment elites thought it could happen. When Trump announced his candidacy, they laughed. When he started winning states in the primaries, they laughed, albeit in amused disbelief. From where these elites backing Hillary Clinton sat, no one in their right mind could possibly vote for a bigoted lunatic celebrity for President of the United States. But unfortunately, these “omniscient” elites sit on silken cushions in whichever of their three mansions they choose to reside in that day as they speculate about the political climate and possible election outcomes.

They saw it all as entertainment. The godforsaken mainstream media loved it:

“Our ratings are skyrocketing! Did you see his most recent Tweet? We’re gonna make bank off of this guy! When can we have him back on? I mean there’s no way he’ll actually win, so we might as well milk this while we can.”

This was a YUGE mistake on their part and a gross misinterpretation of our political climate and of the overall psychology of the American people in the current state of affairs. These pundits, these wealthy elites of society, the Clinton donors and the loyal Democrats who blindly follow this neoliberal doctrine, are so out of touch with average American life that they could not fathom this as a plausible outcome.

The average American is angry right now. More so, the average working class American is angry, but the lower income working class has become so large of a population that you can actually feel the tension in the air if you really stop to observe and talk to the people around you. The people of the US hold our government in contempt. They are (rightfully) disgusted by our politicians and their lack of integrity–their lack of balls in the face of ever-looming, ever-demanding, ever-greedy special interests. The American people aren’t buying the charade anymore. They may have been systematically “dumbed down” over time, but they are not blind enough to think that our government actually works for us anymore. Our government kowtows to and bleeds for corporations and money.

So, needless to say, I am frustrated when I see my college-educated liberal friends so quick to blame anyone other than their beloved Democratic party for the debacle that is occurring. Yes, Jill Stein of the Green Party, who got about 1% of the popular vote–its her fault that Hillary Clinton lost. Or wait no, its Gary Johnson the libertarian candidate’s voters who robbed Clinton of “her turn.” Because anyone who voted 3rd party, which is by definition an anti-establishment stance in the political sphere, would have definitely voted for Clinton, the physical embodiment of establishment politics, over Trump if there had only been two choices.

Note my sarcasm here. This logic that neo-liberals have is completely bananas and it takes all the restraint I have not to start a comment war on Facebook in the midst of all this idiocy.

Not to mention that there are plenty of women out there who are convinced that their darling Hillary lost because she has a vagina. They actually think this happened because of good ol’ sexism. They don’t think it could possible be because she was involved in more scandals than I can count on my two hands since she was First Lady in the 90’s, including Travelgate, Whitewatergate, Emailgate, Benghazi, the smearing of Monica Lewinsky….no it couldn’t be because of any of that that she lost. In fact, plenty of liberals actually think those scandals were “made up propaganda” by the right wing. Maybe if they looked up and read about a single one of those scandals they would see they were not created out of thin air by the alt right loonies.

So no, it was sexism that cost her the election. It couldn’t because she’s untrustworthy to over 50% of Americans, it couldn’t be that she profits from weapons deals with Saudi Arabia, a country that still stones women to death and executes gay people. It couldn’t be because she not only voted for the Iraq war, she pushed for it and told George W. Bush to look at it as a “business opportunity.” Yes, a business opportunity that destroyed the lives of thousands and thousands of Iraqi civilians and the lives of American soldiers as well.

And lets not forget her domestic policy. Throughout her campaign, she was silent on issues like the North Dakota Access Pipeline and supported dangerous methods of energy extraction like fracking because she has been getting donations and blank checks from the fossil fuel giants. She doesn’t support the legalization of marijuana or the de-militarization of our police force, which includes the disproportionate violence inflicted on African-Americans and Latinos by the police, because she has been taking money from big pharma and the Private Prison Industry.

Remind me again how this person could possible be anybody’s feminist icon.

I guess for some privileged white females who haven’t done their research, Hillary is great. People like Lena Dunham and Amy Shumer think she’s just dandy and rebuke anyone who could possible disagree. But then again, when was the last time either of them worked 60 hours a week on a 7.50/hr salary just to survive? Their version of feminism is what has been aptly dubbed “white feminism.” It only includes the comfortable, the well-off, the educated women of society who are not struggling financially. The rest of the female population who either voted third party, Trump, or not at all? Well, these women are an “embarrassment” in the white feminist Hillary voters’ eyes. Because nothing, and I mean no issue whatsoever, is more important than Donald Trump catcalling women and “grabbing them by the pussy.” Nothing could be more important to people’s every day lives than this reprehensible language–when your biggest problem is whether to buy the Louis Vuitton bag or the Coach shoes.

That’s the devastating crux of the “lesser evil” paradox we just saw in this election. People were so desperate for change in this dying economy and in our incompetent government, just like they were in 2008 when Obama was elected on a campaign that promised change, that they went all in on Trump. He tapped into what they felt the most–financial struggle and impending doom. And meanwhile, those who were sipping their lattes and going to Bonaroo had their heads so far up the asses of the corporate media echo chamber agenda that they were actually shocked when Trump won.

Its time to wake up, neoliberals. This is the state of the country, and you’re not going to fix it by burning the American flag (though I will respect your right to do so) or by telling Trump supporters that they are racist pieces of scum. That will backfire. It backfired again and again throughout Hillary’s campaign–calling half the population “deplorables” who “live in their parents’  basement” doesn’t exactly make them want to vote for you.

No, now you have to listen. Even if it pains you, you have to listen to what the Trump supporters are saying to you, to Hillary, to the Obama administration, and to establishment politics.

Because what they’re saying is a resounding “You’re fired.”

 

 

 

Going Green: Finding a Political Home in 2016

It was 4:15pm and humid in Durham, NH on September 13th. I timidly walked up the steps of Huddleston Hall at the University of New Hampshire, suspicious of the lack of activity near the campus’ presentation spot. An older man with a long white ponytail was sitting on the stairs holding a sign that said ‘Jill Stein, Green Party Candidate for President @ 5pm’. I smiled at the man as I walked past him, assuring him that yes, I was headed into the hall to see Dr. Stein. He smiled back and held up his pointer and middle fingers, then said “Peace and love!” I said it back, and the words felt strange to me. It dawned on me that I had never exchanged that phrase with someone so easily, so warmly before. After I passed by, the man continued his job of sparking interest in the soon-to-begin event, casually asking students as they walked by—would they be interested in hearing the Green Party candidate for president speak tonight? In the few seconds I listened to him on my way into the hall, I heard mostly silence or ‘no thank you’ ’s coming from the passing students. How odd, I thought, to be so firmly disinterested or set against such an exciting campus event.

I took a seat in the third row near the center aisle, not wanting to be too close to the podium but still hoping to get a great view. Only a few of the other fifty-ish chairs were filled so far. Then I noticed some bold neon signs up front near the podium that had relevant activist phrases written on them with permanent marker, phrases such as “Black Lives Matter”, “Water is Life”, and “Stop the North Dakota Access Pipeline.” What a breath of fresh air to see these kinds of voter-made signs at a campaign rally, instead of the tired “Make Donald Drumpf Again”, and “Hillary for Prison” signs I’ve come to know so well from the rallies for both the Democratic and Republican nominees.

I wasn’t sure what to expect as far as a crowd, which was why I arrived 45 minutes early. While I waited for the rally to start, I quietly observed Jill Stein fans around me as they found their seats. An old couple sat to my left, a man in his 20’s sporting rainbow dreadlocks a few rows behind me. A single dad with two young girls who couldn’t have been more than five years old in front of me. A woman in a wheelchair, who I later learned had Muscular Dystrophy, to my right. People of all ages, races, shapes and sizes. A couple of them introduced themselves and told me how I could volunteer for the campaign, which they had already been doing for months. They also told me they had recently achieved a great victory in the midst of their hard work—getting Jill Stein on the ballot in New Hampshire.

As the clock on my phone struck 5pm, I nervously looked around. Where would Dr. Stein be entering the room? Who would introduce her? Then someone a few seats down from me said quietly—“Look, there’s Jill!” I swung my head around, feeling more excited than I thought I would. It took me a minute to spot her among the crowd that was still seating themselves because I was expecting her to be wearing green. Instead she was wearing an electric blue blazer and was sitting in the back of the room in a guest seat, shaking hands and chatting with the people around her as if she’d known them for years. She smiled at them. She took selfies with them, making the peace sign with her hand. She was radiant.
After several minutes of meeting and greeting, and a short introduction from a college student who had recently switched from the Democratic Party to the Green Party, Jill went up to the podium and started speaking. Although the crowd was on the smaller side, you could feel the energy and pride in the room, and almost everyone stood up to greet her, cheering loudly.

Like a bud soaking up sunlight, I soaked up the words of her speech, if you could call it a speech. I usually think of a speech as a tediously prepared or pre-written text that was most likely written by someone other than the speaker. But as far as I could tell, not a single word she said was doctored or prepared—it was mostly extemporaneous to the point where I felt I was witnessing something rare. She talked about the North Dakota Access Pipeline and how we must become less dependent on fossil fuels and fracking. She talked about halting our pointless interventionist wars that put our citizens’ and foreign citizens’ lives on the line in order to “protect” us. She spoke of the crippling debt that college students have, and how young people should not have to “gamble their money away for the chance at economic security later in life.” She went into detail about her proposed Medicare-for-all program, which would eliminate discriminatory practices in our healthcare system, and about her “Green New Deal”, an investment into renewable energy systems that would not only create thousands of jobs, but help transform a populous that stays sick for healthcare corporations’ ever-rising profits into a populous that is healthy, while also saving the environment from further destruction and neglect.

She passionately voiced how broken our two-party political system is, how it runs on corporate money, and how it is the prime example of how capitalism has run amok in the US. And she reassured us that we should never be bullied into believing a vote for a third party is a waste of a vote or a “vote for Trump”, as many of us have been told. She said that fear politics only beget more of the same, and voting for the lesser evil only promotes the idea that yes, evil is ok as long as it’s wearing blue, as long as it’s not “that Republican.” Additionally, she reminded us that if she hits at least 5% in the polls this November, the government is legally required to fund the Green Party in the next general election to the tune of at least 20 million dollars.

When she finished speaking, there was a short question and answer session, the hardest hitting question being raised by a member of a local New Hampshire newspaper. The question addressed Jill’s lack of political experience, as she has never held office. She answered quickly and readily with a twinkle in her eye—noting that the kind of experience she doesn’t have is the kind that involves closed-door back room dealings and bowing down to corporate donors. She even got the chance to shut down a question about her being “anti-vacc”, reminding the questioner that she does in fact believe that vaccines are beneficial, however, she does not agree with all of the FDA’s decisions in regulating them. She was cool, confident, and unafraid to answer questions directly in a way we could understand.

After the question and answer session was over, all 40 or so of us surrounded Jill and the podium for a group photo. Then Jill said loudly, “All right! Time for selfies!” I anxiously waited in the short line for a couple of minutes until I was up. Feeling starstruck, all I managed to say was how happy I was to meet her. She smiled, genuinely happy to meet one of her supporters, and we took our photo, both of us holding up the peace sign again.

I left Huddleston Hall feeling fulfilled, and reassured that I was making the right decision with my vote. I felt proud to have spent the last 2 hours in a room full of idealists and people who know they deserve better than what they’re being offered by the mainstream media and our pay-to-play government system. I felt proud to have met my candidate, a person free of scandals, free of dark money donations and hateful racist rhetoric. As I sit here writing this now I am shaking my head, incredulous that more of the eligible voters in this country aren’t considering Jill Stein as their candidate, no doubt because of the widely held notion that “third party candidates can’t win.” It only goes to show how brainwashed we’ve become as nation, forever returning to the parties that have abused, tricked and cheated us, only to be cheated again. We have the illusion of choice, actually thinking a D or an R makes a difference in policy in the end. Until you see the political sphere for what it is, until you break out of that mold, trust your gut, and vote for what is right, until you realize that you have more power as an individual than you know, you can never see the moral and right decision that is Dr. Jill Stein.

I can proudly say I have broken out of the mold, while it may not be a popular choice and it may not be a “cool” choice in this election cycle, as we scramble to prevent a xenophobe and a liar from taking office. I am a fish swimming upstream in a river of other fish who tell me to turn around out of fear of causing ripples. I have found a new political home, and it is the Green Party.

The State of Democracy: Lifting the Veil of Ignorance

The year is 2016. Nothing is at as it seems at first glance. The truth is evident, it is right there before us. It surrounds us like a black cloud, but it is only visible to those who seek it. In 2016, one must peruse and ultimately study dozens of publications, editorials and even opinion pieces amongst a plague of falsehoods and misrepresentations in order to obtain a holistic view of the truth—which is the only real truth there is.

We have to turn off the TV. Cable television is no longer something we can count on for reliable information. Mainstream media sources such as CNN and Fox News, that emerged as opposite-leaning outlets in the 80’s and 90’s, now have mirroring agendas due to the fact that they are owned by the same over-arching corporations and appallingly wealthy elites. Both channels are paid handsomely to manufacture viewer consent, to allow what they deem appropriate into the public stream of consciousness. And yet, their respective left and right wing viewers remain unaware of these facts and thus stay fundamentally divided. Generally, Republicans watch Fox and Democrats watch CNN, but the information those voters are provided with is so skewed to fit the corporate narrative that the issues and opinions that are being discussed become irrelevant when they are really broken down and evaluated for substance. It is a sad day when one realizes that there is more to learn from what is not being said by Anderson Cooper or Wolf Blitzer, than from what they decide to share with us.

Some might even argue that televised journalism is now officially dead, and that it is only survived by corporate zombies who make their salaries by reporting bought-and-paid-for distractions. Distractions that steal our collective focus from the real issues facing the nation and the world. Something is wrong when a person must squint to read the tiny text at the bottom of the screen about North Korea’s progressing nuclear plans or the ongoing Flint Water crisis, while front and center, the spotlighted show hosts discuss Justin Bieber’s new album.

Once one understands this massive betrayal that is American journalism, it is easier to see why these same “news” sources conveniently choose not to cover the monumental protests, rallies and marches that have been and are presently taking place throughout the nation. Any event that doesn’t fall into the corporate narrative, that doesn’t follow the establishment’s permitted information, is “blacked out” or skewed by the mainstream media, even if for all intents and purposes it is a historic event that would, one would think, be covered extensively and honestly by professional journalists. For example, in April, hundreds of people protested outside of the CNN building in Los Angeles. The protesters were angry that CNN had been handily ignoring or glossing over any news related to 2016 Presidential Candidate and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. What a strange irony that a newsworthy event that is occurring right outside of a building containing a staff of “professional” journalists is not covered by a single one of them. It was almost worse not to acknowledge that it was happening, as it suggests that CNN’s staff knew the protesters were right. And that is just one example of the many demonstrations that have been completely, laughably, ignored by a major news network.

The knowledge that this kind of corruption and manufactured information is still affecting the beliefs millions of people have in this nation is daunting. But if we, as a people, look in the right places and decide to ignore the corporate media, we can see the overwhelming formation of organized demonstrations against the broken status quo that are popping up left and right. We can see impassioned groups supporting insurgent, fringe 2016 POTUS candidates, who have given the American people hope for disestablishment leadership among a tightly knit group of establishment elites. Through non-corporate media sources, we got a glimpse of the brazen protests against the despicable Citizen’s United in April, which resulted in hundreds of arrests. We saw and continue to see empowered groups of Black Lives Matter activists demanding respect and justice from an oppressive system.

The collective mindset of large gatherings of citizens cannot be wrong. Whether one likes it or not, these protests are ultimately comprised of individuals who, deep down, want the same things—liberty, justice and the pursuit of happiness. Food on their tables. Affordable healthcare. These people understand that we are not just on this earth to pay bills and die. And they are (rightfully) angry that their constitutional rights have been and are each day being ripped away from them by those that see them as a way to raise profits and nothing more.

Protests are not occurring because these individuals are “crazy.” We the people have had it with the status quo. The status quo, no matter how your standard politician says that it “can work for you”, and that we must settle for “incremental change”, is no longer acceptable, and most of us know this. Enough is enough. And the normalcy of corruption in our government paired with the harrowing discovery that we can no longer trust the sources we once counted on for information begs the question—what essential information are we not privy to as average American citizens? What else is hidden under wraps? In 2016, the answers to these pertinent questions can most easily be found on the internet. With the world wide web, specifically social media, the millennial generation especially has begun to uncover what was previously concealed from the general public. Any conscious citizen using this cutting-edge, ever-growing database of information will start to notice a pattern, a disturbing over-arching connection that propels every action and every event we witness today. One thing, one idea controls everything we stand on, everything that occurs in our everyday lives. That thing is the compulsion of greed. Corporate greed that stemmed from a capitalist system. What you have is not enough. If you’re not first, you’re last. If you have not reached success, you are not trying hard enough. You are less than those who have more than you do.

These subconscious messages are exemplified in the capitalist system we have in place. Capitalism, if balanced with a responsible government hand, can be a successful economical system in which individualism and healthy competition are encouraged. But when government officials and representatives are no longer morally inclined to represent their constituents and instead are the puppets to wealthy special interests and their agendas, a capitalist system no longer works for the majority of citizens. We have now reached the point of no return, and oligarchy is rearing its ugly corporate head. Money is king and lives are small. Greed runs rampant at the cost of millions of lives. Healthcare is not affordable because hospital executives profit off of the sick. Marijuana is not legal because if it was, pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer would lose profit. Private prisons who make money from disproportionately black and Latino people being arrested and thrown in jail for small Marijuana offenses would also lose money, and thus their power. The education system is now intimately tied with loan companies, scraping money from students that don’t have it so they can profit from interest rates.

The information is there, clear as day, black as night. You have it—but it is your choice what to do with it. But if we all lift the veil of ignorance that has hidden what’s really there for so long, we can see the world for what it is. And we can finally change it. See you in Philly.

Weeds

Finding your own voice in a sea of words and sound is not easy. Maybe that’s why I haven’t attempted to get my thoughts written down for so long. I’m only a person after all, one individual who undoubtedly has the same thoughts and opinions as at least one other person on this planet.

I have more questions than answers, anyway. Every piece of information I learn just expands the space in my mind that contains what I don’t know, what I will never know. Every new fact I learn lingers for a second, then categorizes itself somewhere in my brain while the questions I have simultaneously multiply like weeds. No matter how many dandelions I pick, more keep popping up. This makes me feel full of hope but also full of despair, depending on how I am choosing to view the world on a given day. I have only touched the tip of the iceberg in what I know to be true, and no matter how fast I get my thoughts down on paper, there are more pushing at the floodgates.

There is something to be said for a valiant attempt, though, which is what I will make. Perhaps among the plethora of dandelions that are my thoughts, there is a tiger lily or a wild rose. But even if there isn’t, just because dandelions are many does not mean they are any less beautiful in kind. They were all once seeds that were watered and nurtured by soil, later becoming something greater.

That is how all great ideas start out. As small, meek seeds. They cannot blossom and spread to form a garden until they are planted in the first place.

And nobody objects to beholding a garden in a world of copper and steel.