Fear always seems to be a driving force in an election cycle. It never ceases to be a major factor in the political process. Oddly enough, it is a reminder of what many politically conscience citizens have always known to be true: People do not vote out of love. They vote out of fear.
The American populace has been put into an impossible corner. Any nation with such tremendous self-hatred masked as repulsive nationalism and suicidal tendencies that wage war on its own inhabitants is bound to collapse under the weight of its own toxic culture. Presidential elections seem to unleash the worse in people's rhetorical impulses. Be it wrathful, rude, smug, condescending, insulting, Americans always collectively forget that the most important election in the nation's history was four years ago. But, of course, this year is different. It always is.
The inevitable collapse of the American empire will not be brought about because it was unable to retain its original values. It shall meet its demise because it refused to embrace better ones. We cling to the words of old wise men whom could not have imagined how the country would have evolved and treat their words as if it were the gospel itself. The history of American nationalism has its roots in some of the most heinous acts the world has ever known and to pledge allegiance to a flag rather than to the principles of human decency is nothing short of a betrayal to one's own humanity. Is a person an American or a human being first?
To view this political season as anything more than pure entertainment seems masochistic. Unfortunately, it is inescapable. These candidates promise us much. They will deliver little. Again, as it always seems to be. Familiar language clouds the political climate. Time after time we're told that we must wait to fix the two party system until the next presidential election or we must simply accept the lesser of two evils. But this careless strategy is the very thing that got us to this point. That plan has failed and it will continue to fail.
Prominent political scientist Martin Gilens found that 70 percent of the American population has no influence on public policy. Not surprisingly, these disenfranchised individuals are on the lower end of the economic scale. The population has been pushed into political apathy and resentment. And who can blame them? They've been abandoned. They've been failed. They've been repeatedly lied to. And the best decision they are told they can make to improve their lives is to elect the same corrupt politicians who created the oppressive conditions they are suffering from. Or to vote for a reality T.V. show sociopathic narcissist whose rhetoric has spawned the worst elements in American culture. Either way, either side, there seems to be little optimism for the country and, indeed, the world.
Our political imagination must expand if we are to survive as, not only a social and cultural entity but, a species. The political class and elites have full range over public policy and have very little regard for those who are not attending their country club meetings. The leaders of our nation from both major political parties answer to their corporate masters and donors while the majority of the American population fight for the scraps left by them. Tragically, we must deal with governments and the corporations that own them. One election can never entirely define a nation's character, but if all of this sounds anti-democratic, it is. Plutocracy reigns and oligarchy is its function.
To make it plain: The rich will see more wealth, the marginalized will meet more oppression, and the wars will continue and continue to thrive. One needn't be politically conscience to realize this.
I offer no solution other than to brace yourselves for the history of things to come. Donald Trump has fully validated every heinous political stance he has boasted about in his campaign. At this point it seems meaningless to name them all. But the worst political elements that have been bred in America, be it American Neo-Nazis, the KKK, white nationalists, the alternative right, etc. have found their light. Their ideologies are now mainstream and are no longer being ridiculed. You needn't be a Neo-Nazi to agree with some, most, or all of their social, political, and economic stances and/or policies. Ask avid Donald Trump supporter David Duke, who is running for the U.S. Senate in Louisiana.
If Clinton wins, there will be a backlash. How extreme it will be is hard to tell. But the organizations I mentioned above are now mobilized, organized, and they are very pissed off. They will not whither after a defeat in one presidential election. And there is no left-wing equivalent to confront them. Electing Clinton will continue the neo-liberal and already Fascistic policies of the United States government and will do little for the marginalized and oppressed. They will continue to suffer from that humiliation. And, certainly, Clinton will be no friend to left-wing movements in America. Can you imagine if the Ferguson uprising had been armed? Clinton would have destroyed them as she's helped destroy so many people, neighborhoods, and nations around the globe.
As a thespian, I've been acting in, writing, directing, and producing plays warning people about the growing Fascist movement that has been building in this country for over ten years.
I would like to collect my bill.
Again, I offer no solution other than what Malcolm X said: "It doesn't mean that I advocate violence, but at the same time, I am not against using violence in self-defense. I don't call it violence when it's self-defense, I call it intelligence."
We must grow into a more politically conscience and intelligent people who are committed to political action. Because it is not ISIS that poses some existentialist threat. It is ourselves.