state of disunion

(Reposted from Facebook)

The more I learn about American politics, the more I learn that there is a wide gulf between conservative citizens and conservative politicians. The former oppose what they perceive as government overspending and inefficiency. They believe strongly in limited regulation and privatizing everything. Or, to put it another way, they believe you can have whatever you want so long as you can pay for it. If you can’t pay for it, you’re poor and you don’t deserve nice things anyway. Meanwhile, politicians are using this perspective as a blunt instrument to benefit their lobbyists. Sometimes it’s for job creation in their districts, which is nice, but sometimes it’s just money in their pockets. Big Pharma, the Insurance lobby, and the Military Industrial Complex are all real things. The fossil fuel lobby is a real thing. They have immense influence. This influence has been building for generations.

And now these rich old white men have stepped out of the shadows and into the seats of power directly. We voted them in, ironically, when we got fed up with politicians corrupted by corporate influence.

And now they’ve discovered that they can pretty much do whatever they want. They can spout nonsense and a substantial number of Americans will buy it for no better reason than that they are saying it and a lot of people seem to be upset about it.

They are betting that the propaganda machine will outlast our will to resist. And really, we are discovering that our only power to resist is in the courts. The Democrats as a party have lost touch with reality. Biden? Really? That’s your big play? Have you learned nothing?

So we have the Law on our side. And for the first time in American history that’s where this will play out: an all out war between trump’s financial subjugation of the system, and the system’s ability to defend everything that actually does make America great.

If more conservative citizens can come to understand how they are being manipulated, we will overcome. Maybe even begin to build the wall we really need- between good government and corporate greed.