Realize something: the government didn't screw the people -- the people screwed the people.
As we delve deeper in our cynicism over the circus roadshow that is the American political scene, we should definitely keep something in mind: the political party tribalism that many of us -- both Democratic and Republican -- have partaken in, has largely fueled the decline of the system. The idea and supposed need for ideological purity and ideological champion only exacerbates it. A person, these days, be damned if they actually see value in some tents of both sides of the political spectrum -- depending on how it affects their psyche personally.
All sides of the political spectrum remain caught in the romantic American narrative that fuels protection of the American unilateral landscape - economically, politically, and socially. The romantic American narrative is central to the relative feelings of insecurity by American conservatives and libertarians and the feelings of lament by American liberals and progressives. It dominates political discourse today; which, by the way, has largely disintegrated into a comedic sideshow.
Collectively, we refuse to critically think and we let cynicism get in our way.
We'll assume conspiracy theories in the "name of truth", but the reality is that conspiracy theories, which may or may not be true, are acts of insecurity that ridicules acts of insecurity carried out by those in power and thus produces the double negative of fighting the consequences of insecurity with more insecurity. Nothing gets solved.
We'll bitch about anything that a Democrat or Republican would be quoted for saying by an Internet meme, or a partisan commentator or publication, yet when we find out the actual quote and the actual context that it was used in, we willingly remain in denial.
We'll whine about the economy, yet we're actually whining about the fact that the United States no longer has unilateral economic insulation as it was broken down by globalization and offshoring as acts of efficiency, which is what the American system emphasizes. An international labor pool has been created; and heads that resent collectivism in all forms implode.
We'll obsess over ideological violators (think Bush for liberals and progressives and Obama for conservatives and libertarians) at any cost, blame Washington, instead of actually blaming ourselves as pandered-to constituents who will actually vote the same exact people we collectively are disgusted with into office. Then, the same game gets played over and over again.
We'll fight for ideological champions, label it grassroots activism, then blame anyone and everyone but ourselves if the champion isn't successful. The only thing that ideological champions do out of the need to remain ideologically pure is create even more inertia than necessary. Ideological champions, not champions of common sense actually employing critically thinking skills to actually solve problems, prove to be far more damning than those that bend before they break.
Yet, how did the people screw the people? By our own callousness? No. By buying into anything and everything that the mainstream media spews out? No. By not voting for Ron Paul? No.
The people screwed the people by being in denial, refusing to understand, and being insecure about the changing dynamics of the world that we live in. Indeed this world is dynamic and this country is a part of it, not above it. A lot of what we have seen in the past sixty years would have happened regardless of who was in power, because of the position that the United States was put in after two global conflicts in regards to economic wealth (fueled by the greatest amount of collective consumer demand the world had ever seen up to that point) and political wealth (the latest country to assume "Most Powerful on Earth", an anthology of sorts preceded by Britain, Spain, and The Roman Empire).
Anybody or really anything (i.e., businesses or firms) that assumes some sort of powerful position and is aware of their power has insecurity come over them, whether it is the political office or the boardroom. They're going to act on their insecurity in some fashion. And we the people have acted on our insecurity. We either don't or won't understand what needs to be understood. We'll remain in denial of things that shouldn't be denied. And those of us that have a sour taste in our mouths when it comes to where we believe, individually, for the United States to be at this point must come to terms with the fact that it is really because of us.
