Thanks for responding, Rob. All very good points! I really appreciate your willingness to engage in a calm, rational, and respectful manner as opposed to the ALL CAPS vitriol that seems to consume a growing number of readers on Medium.
You are 100% correct that the Democratic and Republicna parties differ primarily on social issues -- and therein lies the core of the hustle they have been running on the American electorate for more than a century. Both parties stake their flags on social issues trhat appeal to the "fringes" -- and by that, I mean issues that matter profoundly to those on the extreme (or even mid-extremes) on the politcial spectrum, but aren't embraced by 99.99% of the electorate.
As Edward Bernays -- the father of modern public relaitons, i.e. propaganda, wrote in 1927, the goal of modern democracy is to provide the illusion of choice to the masses and persuade them that they are benefiting from self-actualized change, while simultaenously -- and without their conscious awareness -- moving them in a general direction dictated and determined by elites. This is why, no matter which party is control or who we elect, society at large and the lives of 99.99% of Americans continue to deteriorate in the following ways:
We see more homeless people on our street
Our foreign policy keeps us mired in wars
Our government plunges deeper into debt
Our infrastructure continues to deteriorate
The quality of our food and water continue to worsen
Broken antitrust laws continue to allow industries to consolidate into the hands of a few and reduce the number of decent paying jobs
Banks continue their predatory practicesT
he surveillance state continues to expand and gut our civil liberties
The media continues becomes increasingly concentrated into the hands of a very few, further enabling censorship of dissentign thoughts and ideas
Our fantasy of retirement continues to dwindle
Lobbyists and corporations continue to give obscene amounts of money to both parties to“influence” the people we vote for -- which allows all of the above to happen
In the face of all this, the differences in stance on "social issues" amounts to wiping a single gnat off a windshield that is covered with gook. But it's the process of wiping off that single gnat that convinces the American electorate that one day -- somehow -- we will be able to come close to cleaning the entire windshield.
But we never will -- not as long as we give our allegiance to two parties owned and controlled by elites.
Regarding affordable healthcare and education: I agree that these "solutions" can't possibly work -- because there really are no vianle "solutions" in our current financial system. It's completely unrealistic that 300+ million people, trapped system that is efefctively a debt-based Ponzi scheme, can enjoy affordable and quality healthcare or education. The system is simply too bloated to allow this. One out of every 3 Americans receives some form of government assistance, and most of the remainder are barely getting by. Any public option will require the government to take on unfathomable debt which will ultimately deteriorate the quality of American life in many other ways.
What debt giveth with one hand, he taketh with the other. We have run out of room to continue to make this Ponzi Scheme work. It's collapsing, and neither party wants to admit it.
So honestly, I can't give much though to social issues right now. There arae much bigger fish to fry, IMO.
I happen to be black and gay, and I've often told friends that it matters little to me if I can marry my partner and enjoy the benefits held by white people if I (like white people) have no chance of retiring, my son has no chance of attending college, inflation outstrips my ability to survive, I can't afford decent healthcare because the economy is too bloated by debt, we're both always a paycheck away from living in an RV, and my ability to freely voice my thoughts is increasingly narrowed. This isn't the life I want, regardless of who I sleep with or the color of my skin.
A plurality of parties is our only possible salvation at this point. Otherwise, we're all dead men walking and whistling past the graveyard.
The "revolution" we need is one in our minds. We have the power to walk away from the madness and elect people who serve us. A critical mass of people simply need to reject the mass gaslighting.
