#this just goes to show that the american education system -- despite its flaws -- is still world class

[a-god-in-ruins-rises]

[stormy-caffeine]

Needed more space for my thoughts than replies allow and didn't wanna bog down the thread, this is related to my last reblog (about South Park being terrible and people shitting on its fans).

___________

I genuinely love watching South Park.

If I need something on in the background or just something to watch and turn my brain off to, I will always choose it.

Does that mean its any good? No.

Does it have good rep for minorities? No.

Does it have any good messages directly stated literally ever? No!

Some episodes are pure satire on modern society while others are just intentionally mean, either to a group or only one person, and I feel like both routes are pretty clearly done in each episode. It's fairly rare (though not impossible, obviously) to find an episode of SP in the recent seasons that isn't an identifiable satire on a situation or political climate or pop cultural /thing/ going on. Also rare to watch an episode and not understand exactly what they're making fun of: racists, homophobia, religion, politics, health fads, rich people, bad parenting, poor government oversight, failing education systems, the list goes on.

Keep in mind, even when they're making fun of something objectively bad, like racists and homophobes, they usually only have one (1) voice of reason MAXIMUM in the episode. If any, at all. The rest of the town, or some one-off characters, are usually going to perpetuate some terrible thing related to the plot that day. They may even make it look like the town agrees with the bad take, potentially even making it true for the rest of the series. Canonically, the entire town is extremely judgemental and xenophobic, there is literally no argument for them not being that way. It's shown multiple times.

The reason I don't mind any of this is because zero characters in South Park are inherently good, non-flawed people. Even the "good guys" in the show are very openly displayed as pieces of shit multiple times throughout the series.

Whether it's from the earlier seasons and all the kids are just snot-nosed kids who don't know any better or in the later seasons where the adults, who are supposed to be the good examples for them, make horrific and baffling decisions on how to handle even minor inconveniences in the town.

EVERY person in South Park is a flawed, usually downright terrible, human being. And. That. Is. The. Point.

If South Park wanted to be Family Guy and have "good" protagonists, they would keep all of the flaws in their main cast but back-fill each one of them with relatable and well-meaning traits also. They would be normal, classic, non-malicious but still very flawed and destructive people, just like in Family Guy and American Dad and every rip-off of them ever made. Some characters have that, sure, but sparingly. Most don't even get a single good quality about them, or if they do they somehow take it to such an extreme that it's almost worse than the bad qualities entirely.

They don't want to make a show with a great message every episode (despite also parodying that in some earlier seasons, when the kids acted more like kids), they wanted to make a comedy show that depicts the absolute worst, hell-spawned, unjustifiable, batshit insane town of people that still clearly represent everything wrong in our modern society.

Yes, they have racism directly in the show. They WANT you to see that it's racist and bad.

Yes, they have ableism directly in the show. They WANT you to see that it's ableist and bad.

Yes, they have "insert-literally-any-ism-you-can-think-of" in the show and very proudly display it for all to see and critique and shit on. Because they want you to see it and shit on it and know it's bad.

That is the intention of each and every minute of every episode.

Even in the episodes where it ends with a message that should be encouraging, "just be yourself" "treat others how you want to be treated" "despite our differences we're all the same inside" etc, it's usually undermined by the context being so warped and otherwordly that it basically can't be applied to a normal scenario anymore. The characters learned something but they and the town didn't improve as people or a collective. They are too flawed to ever be redeemed, because they are only ever going to be our worst aspects.

Again, does that make the show inherently good? Absolutely not! You can hate the show, you can get sick of its bad jokes and bad representation, you can wish it stopped airing by now and you can wish that it was never made in the first place.

But shitting on people who even passively enjoy the show is just not a good take. People like things for different reasons.

If someone loves South Park because they feel joy from seeing someone be a racist bigot, yes absolutely call out that person. But liking South Park at all is not a sign of this.

If someone loves South Park because even the worst jokes still point out how insane it is to think that day's -isms are justified somehow, in a lighter tone than we currently get while doom-scrolling, I see nothing wrong with that.

Every day for at least the last decade has seemed like a parade of terrible news and horrific people rising to power or enacting some terrible law/getting out of justice for violating the law. It's mind-numbing and terrifying to think about for extended periods. And sure, we can't avoid the bad shit going on, but at least digesting it in a lighter tone for a short time makes it more bearable while you're still thinking about it.

Aside from literally all of that... It's just a show. It's not trying to be something great and important, it's there to entertain people. LET people be entertained by it and give the people having to sit down and animate it a paycheck.

If you don't like it, just ignore it. Don't watch it. Don't follow people who watch it/post about it. Don't seek it out just to shit on it more. Just. Ignore it.

Even me, someone who likes the show, knows that inevitably it will have to stop being made at one point. There will be a last episode and no more channels/streaming services running it one day. Just wait it out and you'll have one less thing to be mad about.

In the meantime, let people who can find a spark of joy in the bleak void just... have it for a moment. It's not a big deal.

[pip-n-flinx]

Among Us

So this is going to get long, this is going to get personal, this is going to be about prejudice and race and self-serving bad-faith arguments and flawed rhetoric. And for all of these reasons I’m going to leave the rest of this under the cut.

As a few of my friends will know, earlier this week I was delivered an ultimatum from my landlord/roommate. He disguised it well, telling me he was ‘concerned for my mental health’ that my ‘negativity was dragging the whole house down’ and that I was simply too filthy to live with. I won’t pretend I’m a neat freak, and I can honestly say that I have taken some pains to clean more since, to his surprise and delight, though its particularly hard to take coming from him.

“You’re always so down. It’s making you lazy and thin skinned” You know its funny you should say that, now specifically, because I’ve actually been on the up and up this last week and you didn’t mention this at all in January when I was actually at my worst, or February when I was afraid I was going to have to quit my job, or back during the holiday season when retail work was breaking my back... Only now do you think to check in on me?

“You left a pair of gloves, a letter, and a small wooden trinket on the table!” Indeed I have, as you have left your pair of gloves, well over 21 letters, and regularly set your packages on this same table, including today two packages to be returned to amazon. I didn’t realize I didn’t get to use the table the same way you do.

“You don’t do dishes! except that you did this week, which is cool I guess but still!” You do realize that I actually hand-wash every dish I use within 24 hours of using it, right? And that often the dishes you come to me bitching that I never cleaned are in fact your fiances, yes? Ok good, next question.

“You’re always complaining about work. I don’t mind that you vent, but its all you talk about anymore!” I have either lost or walked away from 4 jobs in this last year, and that has not been easy, or fun. I have worked essential retail jobs the entire pandemic thus far. Additionally, in the months leading up to you storming out of your 75k a year salaried sales job, I had told you to leave it because I could see that it was killing you. You got so fed up with the job that for 4-5 months before you left your grandma-paid-off-my-second-mortgage capitalism-knows-best-pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps-ass spent more time playing valorant and league of legends on the clock than doing actual work. Need I remind you that every time I stepped into your office, or simply stepped upstairs to get ready for work, you would complain about how awful your managers were, or how shitty someone had been to you over the phone? DID I EVER BELITTLE YOU FOR ANY OF THESE THINGS????

The real kicker was that the spark, the moment that started this (at least for him) was me trying to explain why racism and ‘cultural supremecy’ was bad. I had brought to him something I thought we could both agree on, that we could both laugh at. I brought him a series of tweets about how problematic Van Gogh was for studying and imitating traditional japanese painting techniques. He took this, and immediately turned into a piece of the culture wars. Now, I agree, this is an egregious example of trying to ‘cancel’ someone. How cancelling a long dead artist who couldn’t sell his art while he was alive is important is beyond my comprehension, its not as though the market value of these comes up very often, and almost no-one will ever have a chance to buy or reject a Van Gogh. But to him this was emblematic of ‘liberals’ cancelling Seuss and Rowling.

He even went so far as to say that Van Gogh probably ‘did it better’ than the artists he was studying/imitating. Now, this is a huge red-flag to me because this is straight out of the Nazi playbook. This is William Shenker, proposing a theory of music to proof ‘German cultural superiority.’ This, if you will pardon my language, is the real culture war: trying to supplant other cultures art and history with western figures and events.

Now, for those of you who don’t know who I’m talking about, this man is sexist. He doesn’t believe women are equal, complains about women’s sports, and rejects a woman’s right to choose. This man is a transphobe, questioning the logic of ‘safe-spaces’ and allowing people to change their pronouns. This man is a Trump supporter, and voted for him twice. And all of these things I found out years after we became friends. I have in the past contemplated what it would take to cut him out of my life wholesale. Despite our wealth of shared experience and our shared interests, we’ve been drifting apart as he drifts further and further to the right. And he has been drifting. He’s parroted more bad-faith arguments from Ben Shapiro and Tucker Carlson in the last 6 months then he ever did when I first moved in with him.

I have been trying to push back, especially when he says the quiet parts out loud. I try to let him know that it is not acceptable to say he would rather an unarmed black man die that risk that a police officer might be injured. When he compares the people in control of Seuss’ intellectual property and works choose to stop printing less than 6% of his published works to the book burnings in Mao’s china. When he says that its more important to protect teacher from students trolling them by changing their pronouns than it is to protect trans or NB kids. When he espouses his belief that trans and NB kids are ‘just mentally ill.’ Whenever he says any of this shit, I have pushed back. I have tried to halt, or at least slow, his descent towards eugenics and white supremacy and fascism.

It has been to no avail.

And to be honest its exhausting. I wanted to believe that he would trust me, not just to be a moral and thoughtful person, but to be educated and informed on these issues. We went to school together, spent countless hours solving homework and trying to crack games together. If I don’t know the answer to his questions immediately, he often jokes ‘C’mon, you’re supposed to know everything!” and has frequently told me that I’m selling myself short.

But apparently all that trust and all that respect goes out the window when I challenge him. Suddenly I’m ‘overly negative’ or ‘too sensitive’ or he’ll ‘need to look into that, but...’

And the thing is, he is capable of great acts of kindness. He offered to rent me a room in his completely paid-off house, no mortgage at all, simply because he could see living at home was killing my mental health. He offered me 50-75% off of market rate. He buys gifts all the time, has landed tenants job interviews, set people back on their feet, and refused to press charges for several major financial loses he’s taken on the determination that it would do more harm to the defendant than he could ever recoup from it.

But he does not extend this kindness, this generous soul, to everyone. And lately, his circle grows smaller, and his kindess has waned, and it’s been so devastating to see him slip further and further towards his own worst impulses.

I know there will be people who think I should have cut him out of my life years ago, who can’t believe we never talked enough to know that he voted for Trump in 2016. I think back then he was genuinely ashamed, or at least guilty, about that vote. Now? It’s almost a matter of pride for him. I can’t tell you the number of times in the last 4 months that he’s told me that Biden “couldn’t possibly” be as “great” a President as Trump.

And he hides behind this “praise them when they do good, cuff them when they do bad” line and I used to take comfort in it but now... Now it’s clear that it was just a front or excuse for liking these abhorrent people.

I’ve had a couple of hard conversations with some of our mutual friends about what this means for me, and how I interract with the whole group of friends as a whole, in the last 3 days. None of our mutual friends seem to take any of these things as seriously as I do, with my oldest friend even telling me that he ‘can’t imagine’ breaking a friendship off over politics.... I know I know, the caucasity of it all, yes ha ha. And it does make me genuinely worried that I’ll wind up losing the 5-6 close friends that I actually rely on these days over this horrible sonuvabitch. But all this personal venting aside, there’s something bigger here I want to address:

I sat down this evening to watch Last Week Tonight and I was struck by this piece about Tucker Carlson, because while I knew some of what was said on his show, he is remarkably confident for a man who spouts the quiet parts of racism/sexism/homophobia on TV. I have a hard time imaging a more blatantly racist thing to do then declare that a woman who suggested ‘dismantling systems of oppression wherever they are found’ wants to dismantle the American system...

And I have to say, we should go back to punching Nazis. I want these fuckers afraid. I want them to crawl back to the furthest reaches of the internet, relegated to be laughed at for their bigotry by pundits of every political ideology. I want their vile vitriol hidden away where it doesn’t embolden others. I want them to know that they are out of line, out of touch, out of time. I want them to feel ashamed, like the relics of a bygone and worse era that they are, and for them to quietly fade to an ignominious death. I’m tired of seeing them on National News. I’m tired of Pewdiepie’s channel and influence refusing to die despite all the horrible things he’s said and done. I’m tired of Ben Shapiro spouting off about a woman’s place and rights, as if he has any fucking authority on the matter. I just want these people to lose their platforms and their followers. And for me the fact that they haven’t yet is so incredibly discouraging.

I know I didn’t offer any answers here I’m just tired of being alone with this defeated attitude and I guess I needed to get this off my chest as I try to disentangle myself from the losing battle of trying to save a friend from alt-right radicalization.

[berniesrevolution]

JACOBIN MAGAZINE

The events in Charlottesville have remained in the headlines for the last few weeks for a variety of reasons. Surprise at the audacity of a torch-light procession of neo-Nazis, Ku Klux Klan sympathizers, and “alt-rightists” in an American city, coupled with the murder of social justice activist Heather Heyer during a counterdemonstration, fueled the initial coverage. President Trump’s abhorrent response to the tragedy and local struggles against Confederate statues kept it alive. And frequently dimwitted debates about the merits of antifa have supplied yet more conversational oxygen.

But it would be a mistake for the American left to see this as a decisive turning point in history, or mistake torch-wielding fascists for a mass force. On the contrary: getting consumed by debates about supporting antifa in its street clashes with neo-Nazis misses the larger political landscape.

The post-Charlottesville moment does demand antiracist mobilizations, and it’s heartening that left organizations have sprung into action and seen their numbers swell. Standing up to the far right — particularly when done effectively and en masse, like in Boston — can energize people who are otherwise frustrated and disenchanted because of the Trump administration. But that needs to be linked to tangible political organizing that goes beyond the defensive or symbolic.

Discussions about antifa are also important. Interviews with counter-protestors on the ground in Charlottesville made it clear they were more than happy antifa was there to help. In fact, Cornel West credited them with saving his life.

But the debate over antifa cannot be at the center of left political discussion. I am less concerned about being murdered by a neo-Nazi than I am about the lack of access to quality health care. I am more exercised about the suppression of voting rights and the damage it does to democracy in the here and now than the damage simply represented by Confederate statues. This is not to dismiss the efforts to tear down Confederate statutes. What lies in the public commons, after all, needs to represent the kind of country we want the United States to be. But we shouldn’t allow the conflagration to cloud our vision.

In short, the lessons post-Charlottesville are the lessons we should have learned earlier this year. We cannot simply react to Trump or the “alt-right.” Being proactive, advancing a clear program that can mobilize and galvanize a huge swath of the public — this must be the hallmark of the American left. Otherwise, the genuine anger directed at Trump and the GOP will be wasted. And we’ll squander our chance to build the kind of broad-based left that, in the end, is the best bulwark against the far right.

The Politics We Need

Most of the planks of the left platform we need are already out there, waiting to be used to spur genuine debate and action across American society. Two in particular should top any left agenda.

The first is universal health care: Medicare for All. The Republicans’ haphazard bid to scrap the Affordable Care Act showed that even an extremely flawed version of “universal” coverage was still popular enough to scuttle repeal attempts. Now, according to recent polling, public support for single-payer is on the rise. Even centrist Democrats like Kamala Harris are getting on board. After decades of struggle, universal health care is, if not right around the corner, at least on the near horizon.

Crucially, the demand for Medicare for All also offers a means to build the bonds of solidarity. As Atlantic writer Vann R. Newkirk recently pointed out, Martin Luther King Jr and other civil rights activists saw universal health care as a critical component of their struggle for a just and equitable society. The same is true today. Across movements — whether for black lives or a fifteen-dollar minimum wage or immigrant rights — universal health care is a demand that unifies.

There’s another reason to prioritize the push for universal health care. Far-right organizations like the Traditionalist Workers Party have begun making overtures to poor whites in places like Appalachia by talking about jobs and access to quality health care. 

We can’t allow a pitch for decent health care, or an argument for good jobs, to be used as a gateway to fascism.

Universal voting rights should be the second demand of any immediate left platform. Our political and economic system can’t be changed, radically and in the long-term, through voting. But countless people are being hurt by the system as it exists today, and substantially boosting voter turnout is a prerequisite for winning the reforms that will improve their lives in the short term.

Conservatives understand the importance of voting rights. In recent years, numerous GOP-controlled states have passed laws restricting the franchise, whether through ID requirements or shorter windows for voter registration. They know a smaller, demoralized voting base makes it harder to get left candidates into office.

In the past, the Populist era of the 1890s came to a crashing halt in part because of Jim Crow laws and new state constitutions across the South that severely limited voting rights for African Americans (and many poor whites as well). On the flip side, the rise of a strong voting base in the urbanized North, which included union members and African Americans, propelled the New Deal forward and gave social democracy in America some of its earliest and most important victories — despite opposition from both conservative Republicans and Southern Democrats.

More recently, results at the local level have testified to the enduring power of a mobilized electorate. Victories by Chokwe Lumumba in Jackson, Mississippi’s mayoral race and khalid kamau in South Fulton, Georgia’s city council election were made possible by left-wing political activism on the ground. That these victories occurred in the Deep South and with heavy political participation from African Americans also belies common perceptions about what the Left looks like and where it can compete.

Both Lumumba and kamau met people where they were at, while also sketching out an expansive vision. Which brings me to another important part of the Left’s post-Charlottesville toolbox: political education.

(Continue Reading)

[radpoemidnightwhispers]

America you disappointing fuck

I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked,

Brilliant minds being destroyed and supporting islands of violence too crazy to be let out because of stress from schools;

Too high expectations set by parents, teachers, even the whole world

This world too crazy and twisted to live without a war for even a year.

This world, this government dictating how to live every second of our life, what we can and cannot think, what we can and cannot do or say

Well I say fuck it

Fuck Trump and his idiotic, backwards, twisted laws, and dumb tweets that will start WWIII

Fuck this American government, this government that did everything to sabotage people of color and then blame them for everything that goes wrong This government that puts people in debt for trying to get a higher education and stay healthy Fuck America and those trigger happy idiots that care more about their precious guns and a right an amendment gave them that was made so that people could protect themselves from the British when this country was started than a child’s life. This country, this government doesn’t care about its people, about its children and the future they will build for this country and the rest of the world. This country only cares about the money and power it can make

It’s saying “Fuck you, you don’t matter”

Well then I say “Fuck you, and I do matter, we all matter”

The police, the people that are supposed to be protecting us, I see killing people of color, like me, my friends, and my family, on the news almost everyday and then being released without so much as a tap on the wrist, The sad thing is that now, each time I see a police officer, especially a white one, I tense up, get scared they might do something to me because I’m black I start to walk faster try to not look guilty when I did absolutely nothing wrong

Hands up don’t shoot

I get scared for my life when I see a gun on their hip and their hand is too close to it, I got scared when I saw a man put his gun on a table even though I knew it couldn't reach me.

See what you have done to me America? I wouldn’t be like this if I was still in France, I wouldn’t be scared of someone coming to my school and shooting me and my friends.

So fuck you America for sending your “thoughts and prayers” but we don’t need them.

Why don’t you take example on the rest of the world and stop acting like a little five year old having a tantrum because they couldn’t get that ice cream they wanted.

I say fuck you to society for shaming us girls

Stop sexualizing us, stop sexualizing my 11 year old sister because she got curves at an early age. Stop sexualizing new born baby girls, they were just born into this hellhole we call home. They didn’t ask for this

Girls school dress code is more regulated than guns, don’t you see a problem here? But her shoulders! What about her shoulders? They’re showing! They’re distracting the boys from their school-work! Bitch, are you serious?! They’re shoulders, no one’s paying attention to them. That guy over there could go shirtless and you’d probably say nothing. Uh...Uh... no... th- Shut up you know it is. Girls can’t do this, they can’t do that, but if it was a guy he could do it and it wouldn’t matter if he did.

Girls are not fragile helpless princesses made of fine china that need saving. We are strong minded warriors, we support each other even when we falter, so shame on you women that bring other women down to bring yourself up. We are smarter and stronger than you think we are, so don’t underestimate us. We are not dolls you can play with and bend to your every whim we are human beings just like the boys you put on pedestals and kill us for because they are supposedly better than us.

That little girl that you see playing in the playground wearing overalls got raped, but not because of her clothes or how sexy she was, no. She was raped because that man had a twisted mind and disgusting he’s an asshole. Stop shaming the victim, they did nothing wrong, it’s that man that raped her that you should be shaming and throwing in jail so that he can rot there for the rest of his life.

Oh and btw pedophiles aren’t part of the LGBTQ community, don’t try to play this wonderful community. Try again to say those assholes are part of my beloved community again and I will fight you, I will fight you until every muscle and bone in your body aches if you say that queer people are sinful and confused we’re not.

But kids are not old enough to know who they love, and God said it’s a sin First of all it never said that in the bible, that line that says ‘Men will not sleep with men’, or whatever was a mistranslation, it’s supposed too be ‘Men shall not sleep with boy’, it’s talking about pedophilia sweetie and God loves all of his children because he made them that way. And second, we’re not old enough to know who we love but we’re supposed to decide the rest of our lives in high school?!

Yeah, ok, that totally makes sense.

Why don’t you shut the fuck up, you’re lowering the IQ of the whole block.

America you need to get your shit together You’re making me scare making me depressed making me stressed making me angry. Tour educational system is shit, no one gets the same education and we’re still segregated bu we see it less.

These tears I’m holding back could make a river, all these tears because I’m angry at the world and stressed because of all these expectations that were set on me. My sister is stressing so much she’s having mental breakdowns over a state test. A state test. America, you are the only country I know that puts this much stress and gives this many tests per year. We don’t sleep anymore, and no it’s not because of these phones, it’s because we’re swamped with homework and we’re trying to pass these classes to get into a good college to have a good job to have enough money to lead a good life, but every year life gets more expensive and every year it gets more impossible to get a good job despite all these degrees we break our backs to get.

So again I say Fuck you America

Fuck you for only caring about money for not taking care of your children for making life miserable and for turning the American Dream into dust if it even ever existed. For using and taking advantage of the Native Americans and immigrants that came here for safety and a better life. For hating on people that are innocent and did nothing to deserve the horrible treatment you give them.

I used to look up to you but now that I see what’s behind your mask

I hate you

I hate that you put your nose I every affair that happens overseas, you say you’re trying to help but you have no business in butting in and you’re really just “helping” them for your benefit. And America, Trump, really? are you dumb or are you dumb? Oh wait, you’re dumb but you’re also a huge racist, my bad.

And my privacy in this country was a myth all along, it only applies to you apparently. I could probably take a nude right now and never send it or show it to anybody and erase it at some point and you’d still have a copy of it somewhere you could probably tap into my phone while I’m in the shower blasting my favorite songs and take a picture of me without my say so because privacy doesn’t exist.

I’ll stop here for now because I tear you apart and rip you to pieces, making you see all your horrible flaws and magnify them

Guess I’ll see you tomorrow and start all over again.

-- Rad Poe

[phillip-clyde-blog]

A New Day in America

Call me crazy, but there’s a way you can look at the Trump presidency in a positive light by one measure. After a week of sweeping executive orders marred in controversy, many Americans are fearing the worst presidential reign in a long time is upon us. From immigration bans on Muslim-majority countries; authorization to construct a border wall with Mexico and reprehensible demands for Mexico to pay for it; the deregulation of Obamacare aspects without an adequate replacement; degradation of science-founded climate change policy and scientific research; freezes on funding for international healthcare service providers based on their support (in practice or in principle) to their abortion position; to a baseless claim of voter fraud that could waste government and taxpayer resources. Trump is really setting the bar high (or low) for actions worthy of just criticism. 

However, maybe America needed this. Maybe certain factions of America who weren’t concerned of regressive government habits needed to come to some realizations. Maybe we all needed to wake up. Americans tend to ignore their government when things are going their way. We get so caught up in our individual lives; our personal positions and everyday dealings. If nothing dramatic happens we carry on. Now dramatic happens everyday, and it’s only been a week. People are fearful, uneasy, and uncertain how the everyday decisions of our government might affect us, family and friends, our community, and others. The Obama years were not picture perfect, but didn’t come with the level of shock value we’ve seen in the past week. But we’re finally paying attention. 

This goes back to the campaign itself. From Trump’s behavior and mannerisms on his campaign trail, to his extreme policy promises that often came with vague details to its implementation, we all knew we were in for shock value. His followers were often vehement in his defense, and gave the act an extra circus value as sad as that is. Yet, nobody really believed it would happen. It was a show. Entertainment for the masses. Nobody took him or his chances seriously. 

This lack of seriousness created the problem. This is especially for the democratic and liberal leaning base as well as moderate independents. They didn’t take this election serious. It’s not the first time, either. Republicans took control of Congress starting in 2010 and completed it in 2014. The democrats, liberals, and everyone else stood by as they already had their man in the White House. The Obama administration oversaw sweeping healthcare reform, legalization of gay marriage, the ending of two unpopular wars, delayed deportations for many women and children immigrants, and state-level shifts towards friendlier marijuana use. Despite changes in Congress, the eight BO years were a liberal field day in progressiveness. However, everyone knew his years would come to an end. And no one new better than Hillary Clinton and the democrats. They thought they could ride the cusps of the Obama waves for another 4+ years. They were wrong, and wrong long before November 8th, 2016. 

Letting Congress slip during the Obama years was a mistake. Now I’m no democrat and I despise the two party system. Still, having a balance of power between the two [should] foster compromise and less extremism in legislation. Seats in the House and Senate should’ve been secured or re-secured in 2014. Obama beating Romney in 2012 wasn’t enough, but everyone was too high on four more years to care. Democrats and liberals in general haven’t been showing up to elections like the conservative Republican base does and they’ve paid for it. Now Republicans have pulled a six year hat trick: House in 2010, Senate in 2014, and Presidency in 2016. For as much opposition to the government, their proposals, and their supporters that have been presented since the election - #NotMyPresident; Women’s March; airport protests; planned March for Science -  you would think all of those people wouldn’t have let this happen long before.  

Admittedly, Trump said it best: “Why didn’t all these people vote?!” I too am in opposition to the president on many things. My reasoning for not voting: the Electoral College winner-take-all method, but we’ll discuss that later. Most others’ reasoning: Trump was/is a buffoon and doesn’t stand a real chance at winning. The real reason: Hillary Clinton. A very weak candidate was put forth in opposition to Trump for presidency. Yet, people overlooked her weakness when compared to Trump’s behavior and proposals. The debates were embarrassing and nothing of substance by either was put forth. Her democratic base and other followers, like her, got arrogant and once again many didn’t show up to the polls. Nobody gave proper criticism to the prior caucuses and primaries that propelled a Clinton v Trump showdown in the first place. Nor did anyone criticize the Electoral College and their winner-take-all voting method that ultimately (and unfairly) won Trump the presidency even as he received 3 million less votes. In consequence, they received a rude awakening on November 9th. 

But you can’t blame it all on that. Clinton offered nothing different than the status quo Obama held in office. While he has some great accomplishments, he also failed to deliver on some key things. Tax reform, increased government spending and debt control, Obamacare flaws, complex and sometimes ineffective Middle-East strategy, immigration stalling, are just to name a few. People, moreover those who opted to support Trump, were fed up with these issues and deserved to be. And they deserved to be listened to. Hillary offered no clear solutions either, and few of them strongly addressed these ongoing issues. Just because democrats and liberals had it their way with some things that doesn’t mean the country was picture perfect. These issues lacked the attention needed from all, not just certain political parties.

With that said, I’m not one to point to specific groupings of people. I hate labeling people as liberal/conservative, Democrat/Republican, right/left. It pigeonholes people into a one-size-fits-all thinking (which probably isn’t true for most) and doesn’t properly address our issues. The issues of this country cannot be confined to a single political ideology. They are complex and deserve input and solutions from multiple approaches and with all types of people considered. More attention to the dealings of our government will weaken the two party system as well as the rhetoric that accompanies it. Partisan politics is ugly, and people are taking notice more than ever. Factual and independent criticisms are moving more and more into the spotlight and for good reason.  

Yet, now we have a one-size-fits-all government in power and they are wielding it dangerously. But this danger is allowing our people to realize what we’ve done as a nation and how far we’ve come as a society. We slept on the extremism. We ignored flawed policy in favor of those we cared about personally. We let anger, hatred, fear, and regressiveness toil our conversations. We failed to educate ourselves on the processes by which are government functions, and we failed to hold those elected government officials accountable for their actions. Now, virtually anything is at risk. This is not specific to one party, to hell with them. This is not a call to action from Republicans or Democrats, but people. We need to choose facts. We need to choose policy. We need to choose common sense. We need to choose wisely, for wisdom transcends party lines. 2020 is not far away, and 2018 is even closer. There’s a good chance this administration and Congress can set an example of what NOT to do. And we’re finally paying attention. That’s a good start.