2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumBloody Hell America! From here in Australia, it’s looking pretty bad.
- By Owen Beck
My Rant. Excuse the mildly vulgar language, but I think now is the appropriate time for some... mildly vulgar language.
Bloody Hell America! From here in Australia, its looking pretty bad.
It looks like theres a strong reaction to establishment politics in America right now, and it seems to be dividing the country. The fear-mongering and war-mongering which has made a handful of people ungodly amounts of money and scared the shit out of many Americans, has produced a population of fearful xenophobes with a new god called Donald - a billionaire who says he loves money, but appears to hate various kinds of human being. Bloody Hell America! Be fearful of a god-man who loves war and money and wants control of your country!
At the same time, the opposite has happened in another part of the population. An old bloke called Bernie has been fighting social injustice for fifty years, and has decided hes had enough! For the sake of those who are oppressed by establishment politics, hes entered the fray of presidential hopefuls and many people are getting behind him. Bloody Hell America! Embrace a man who hates war and greed and has committed his life to providing opportunities and protection to you, your children and grandchildren.
Then theres establishment politicians - the ones who study the crowd and then tell em whatever they think the current crowd wants to hear. They try to tell the truth when its convenient, but most often its not convenient - since while theyre constantly measuring the mood of their audience to determine what they should say, theyre also tethered to very big money.
For example, if someone consistently whores herself off to the $74Billion American Prison system, you can be pretty sure, Black America, that she hasnt got your back like she says she has. For every one of you super-predators that gets brought to heel and locked up in some sausage factory, someone else is making shitloads of money that they can spend via their Super PAC.
Theyre shape-shifters who change constantly throughout their political careers, so if you elect one, you never really know what youre getting. Are there really Americans who would elect someone they know will be someone else when the wind changes?
Two current examples of establishment politicians shape-shifting can be seen in Rubio, who, having seen the impact of Lord Donald, has resorted to crude and childish schoolyard bullying. Its not working for him really, and it shouldnt. The other is Clinton, who seems to be in transition at the moment, since, upon observing Bernies popularity, she suddenly realised shes Bernie Sanders in a womans body, and she believes everything he believes
for the moment.
Bloody Hell America! Your next president will have a massive impact on the rest of the world. No shape-shifters and no self-proclaimed money-lovers please! And NO BLOODY WARMONGERS!
Bloody Hell!
Uncle Joe
(58,417 posts)Thanks for the thread, Lorien.
ibegurpard
(16,685 posts)And we're fucked regardless of which way it's most likely to go at the moment.
HubertHeaver
(2,522 posts)Just after 1:00 am here so I think not many have seen your great rant.
Lorien
(31,935 posts)and posted to the "Bernie Sanders: Presidential Candidate for the People" group on FB. Always interesting to get an outsider's take!
HubertHeaver
(2,522 posts)Thanks for posting it. I always like to see how we appear to the rest of the world.
Paulie
(8,462 posts)I would like to like it there.
Lorien
(31,935 posts)for some reason the page wouldn't let me select it as an individual post. The page can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/786752971370959/
Rockyj
(538 posts)OZi
(155 posts)Many here don't seem to see it that way. Some here think establishment and "career politician" are the same thing.
Also, inb4 lock?
grasswire
(50,130 posts)OZi
(155 posts)I get the impression certain things don't go over too well here. I'm still fairly new here though.
Erich Bloodaxe BSN
(14,733 posts)As in the story usually attributed to Churchill...(that was actually much older)
Hillary has taken a lot more than 5 pounds sterling for her support of the private prison industry.
Katashi_itto
(10,175 posts)randome
(34,845 posts)[hr][font color="blue"][center]No squirrels were harmed in the making of this post. Yet.[/center][/font][hr]
grasswire
(50,130 posts)Wish I could rec it more than once.
desmiller
(747 posts)BIG TIME
99th_Monkey
(19,326 posts)DhhD
(4,695 posts)Clintons are readying a huge jump Left before the rest of the primarying season.
SammyWinstonJack
(44,130 posts)I have taken to apologising in advance when people find out that I am an ex-pat.
The US is like this drunk uncle that you love, when he's sober and unarmed. He's currently on a bender and pounding on your front door with a 5th of wild turkey in one hand and a shot gun in the other.
NJCher
(35,730 posts)I have to send this post 9 of yours around.
Cher
dchill
(38,532 posts)LOL!
PufPuf23
(8,836 posts)Bloody hell!
flamingdem
(39,321 posts)Can somebody send help?
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)and the American people, would understand how completely corrupted our election process has become. Maybe we could then unite to correct this fucking mess.
Stupid fucking wars and stolen elections should not be the regular state of affairs in the United States. Or is that just too much to expect.
Ghost Dog
(16,881 posts)State attorney general calls international group's plan to watch for fairness at the polls 'legally irrelevant in the United States'
The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe has monitored several previous elections in the US.
Chris McGreal in Fort Lauderdale
Wednesday 24 October 2012 22.50 BST Last modified on Monday 11 January 2016 01.27 GMT
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/oct/24/texas-attorney-general-arrest-election-monitors
The Texas attorney general, Greg Abbott, has threatened to arrest international election monitors invited by liberal groups to observe the conduct of next month's presidential vote in states accused of attempting to disenfranchise minorities...
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)Ghost Dog
(16,881 posts)and has called out the deliberate disenfranchisement and general making voting more difficult for minorities,and media bias...
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)Ghost Dog
(16,881 posts)as I recall. I researched the OSCE's presence and findings during the 2004 GE, and postrd at DU. MSM reported nothing, though.
highprincipleswork
(3,111 posts)Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)Lorien
(31,935 posts)Old Crow
(2,212 posts)I want to be able to send it to some friends and relatives.
Lorien
(31,935 posts)as an individual link. Maybe because he didn't post a photo with it as well? Anyway, it was posted to this page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/786752971370959/
On edit: here's a link to the author as well: https://www.facebook.com/owen.beck.9
Old Crow
(2,212 posts)TIME TO PANIC
(1,894 posts)bbgrunt
(5,281 posts)PatrickforO
(14,587 posts)even in good times. And when a guy like Trump is the GOP front runner, and the establishment is ratfucking Bernie to the max, these ARE NOT GOOD TIMES.
As an American, I'm scared too. Believe me.
platitudipus
(64 posts)K&R
iAZZZo
(358 posts)GOP hawks declare war on Trump; Prominent Republican hawks are debating whether to hold their noses and vote for Clinton instead.http://www.politico.com/story/2016/03/trump-clinton-neoconservatives-220151
Hillary is the lesser evil, by a large margin, said Eliot Cohen, a former top State Department official under George W. Bush and a strategic theorist who argues for a muscular U.S. role abroad. Trump's election would be an unmitigated disaster for American foreign policy." (emphasis added)
_____
Geronimoe
(1,539 posts)Bill and Hillary Clinton are a better Bernie Sanders than Bernie Sanders.
platitudipus
(64 posts)YOHABLO
(7,358 posts)carry out Bernie's agenda for the country; we know that's not going to happen.
SammyWinstonJack
(44,130 posts)Trust Buster
(7,299 posts)Jitter65
(3,089 posts)Hydra
(14,459 posts)I'm sure it will be fascinating!
Even if it isn't, it'll be more free work helping for my advocacy. You guys are great for that!
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)We have had these malevolent actors throughout history. Now we have an entire presidential field of them. It is unfuckingbelievable!
TubbersUK
(1,439 posts)sendero
(28,552 posts).... went off the rails somewhere around 2002 and hasn't really recovered. And the best efforts of the pols and the media to convince the hoi polloi that everything is hunky dory are faltering in the face of unrelenting reality.
Jenny_92808
(1,342 posts)The reagan era is where it started. Trickle down and all (or should I say Tinkle down, if you know what I mean).
potone
(1,701 posts)It just took decades for the full effects to be felt. We have never recovered from the Reagan revolution, and now policies that would have been considered reasonable in the 1970s are considered radical.
Jenny_92808
(1,342 posts)That is why we need a political revolution. Go Bernie!
Nonhlanhla
(2,074 posts)It was mildly amusing until the writer managed to get both sexist and racist in one sentence: "for example, if someone consistently whores herself off to the $74Billion American Prison system, you can be pretty sure, Black America, that she hasnt got your back like she says she has."
The language of "whoring" has been consistently implied against Hillary, and used outright here. I know that the metaphor has been used against male politicians as well, but it does have a particular gender tone, one of smearing women throughout history, and it makes it impossible for me to appreciate this as a witty rant against the current political climate. This is followed up by a tone deaf bit of "advice" to African Americans about why they should not vote for Hillary.
randome
(34,845 posts)We don't communicate with one another by trying to sound like Rush Limbaugh, saying whatever will get us the most attention.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]No squirrels were harmed in the making of this post. Yet.[/center][/font][hr]
ZombieHorde
(29,047 posts)The AA bit is pretty standard, in my opinion, since politics is all about telling other people what to think and do.
Jenny_92808
(1,342 posts)saying it like it is.
treestar
(82,383 posts)Is there a poll? Because maybe somewhere Down Under there is a Hillary supporter too.
sufrommich
(22,871 posts)Martin Eden
(12,875 posts)No doubt most of the rest of the world thinks America has gone stark raving mad.
Arugula Latte
(50,566 posts)Orsino
(37,428 posts)Those forces you correctly identify don't quite represent a majority, and I believe I can guarantee a Democratic next president, for whatever it's worth.
It appears we may, however, be doom in ourselves to another era of non-reform, growing inequality and further w a rmongering. I wish I had better news for you and for all.
monicaangela
(1,508 posts)That means we only have one choice for President.........SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS!!
potone
(1,701 posts)Your analysis is correct. Lots of us are frightened. I have never seen a worse slate of candidates on the Republican side, and while there is no doubt that Hillary is highly intelligent, knowledgeable and competent, I don't think that she can be trusted to pursue the kind of change that this country--and the world--needs. Our foreign policy alone has caused immense suffering and squandered vast sums of money that could be put to much better use both domestically and abroad. As for our domestic policies, where to begin??? I both look forward to when this nightmare of an election is over and am terrified at what we, and the rest of the world, might end up with as the president.
Would Australia look kindly upon American political refugees? I don't think Canada will take us, and Mexico will probably end up building a wall to keep us out (thus ironically fulfilling Trump's desire). HELP!!!
Colorado Rambler
(40 posts)by this circus of an election. It is simply unbelievable to me that so many Americans are that ignorant, that bigoted, that terrified that they would scamper after orangutan boy (no offense to actual orangutans) for their salvation. If Hillary does indeed end up with the nomination, I honestly question if she can inspire voters to come to the polls on her behalf. Even if she wins the election, there will be no winning for Americans (or Aussies or everyone else). Hillary is the candidate for the same old, same old - big money and Citizens United trumping over any attempts at a direct democracy (irony intended). And when I attempt to visualize what life would be like should Trump become POTUS - well, it simply boggles the mind. I question if the planet would survive the first year. I'm sure Trump would feel compelled to display the size of his whatever with a display of nuclear weaponry somewhere. US children will be fleeing to El Salvadore.
George II
(67,782 posts)Bread and Circus
(9,454 posts)malthaussen
(17,216 posts)... that the overwhelming percentage of AA voters who are law-abiding citizens are possibly offended by being lumped together with criminals, in being told that those who profit off the latter are a danger to the former. Indeed, the overwhelming percentage of AA voters who are law-abiding might just possibly wish that they not be lumped in at all with the AA criminals.
-- Mal
artislife
(9,497 posts)chapdrum
(930 posts)I've given a lot of thought to where I'd relocate. Would probably be accepted by Britain, but it's roughly just as bad (Cameron) there as the U.S.
Given age and lack of wealth, chances are I'd not be accepted in a civilized country.
As a side note: The corporate media is greasing the path for the Republican charlatan "candidates." (It was great to see smiling Tom DeLay on with Chris Matthews recently. Just great.) Nothing new about that, of course.
But the stakes are now much higher. That doesn't alter their behavior at all. Of course.
They are just as stateless as their favored party's candidates. Even if they had spines, they wouldn't be called into duty.
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)could this not have been put a different way? I am a Sanders supporter, but I am sorry- this sounds sexist.
Lizzie Poppet
(10,164 posts)...as a feminist Bernie supporter, I don't mind this usage. Whores come with penises, too.
But more importantly, there are more ways of whoring oneself than sexually, and doing donor's bidding in exchange for campaign money is a perfect example.
840high
(17,196 posts)Lizzie Poppet
(10,164 posts)WishfulThinker
(21 posts)Most Americans have NO IDEA of what the rest of the world is thinking about our mess! After a good laugh from many foreigners, comes an incredulous chagrin, followed by horror, that U.S. politics has sunk to such pitiful levels! This is the "democratic" standard bearer for the rest of the world?! - Racist Repugs who compare penis sizes and a female wolf in sheep's clothing who "claims" to care about common folk but who has had nothing but a history of self serving politics and dealings under the table with elitist corporations! For heaven's sake Americans- WAKE UP!!!
chapdrum
(930 posts)nor do they particularly care.
If (for example) the Apple stores were to close for a week in order that said waking up occur, that might get some attention.
LiberalArkie
(15,728 posts)abelenkpe
(9,933 posts)Rebkeh
(2,450 posts)lastlib
(23,286 posts)THIS is what is going on! Can't we PLEASE get an adult in the room to run the clown car offstage? No GOPhers need apply, and Hillary needs to get a positive message instead of trying to be all things to all people. She can't pull it off. "The Whole World IS Watching!"
retrowire
(10,345 posts)I can't speak for the rest of my fellow citizens.
840high
(17,196 posts)jwirr
(39,215 posts)Number23
(24,544 posts)ChiciB1
(15,435 posts)other countries who are scratching their heads and wondering what's wrong with this country!
I know these people because of a "closed" FB page that's not of a political nature. It's a support group for another person and there are people from many countries who belong.
I can truly say that THIS COUNTRY is NO LONGER respected like it thinks it is! By the policies that have been adopted by our so called illustrious leaders, our name is MUD to many places. MUD is the nicest word I can use.
WiffenPoof
(2,404 posts)Simply stated and on the mark.
oldandhappy
(6,719 posts)The Traveler
(5,632 posts)So ... getting lots of questions about Australian immigration law lately? If you think it looks bad from there, just imagine how it looks from here.
Cheers, mate. Thanks for the post. K&R
Trav
yuiyoshida
(41,861 posts)Thespian2
(2,741 posts)My friends here in Nova Scotia think the Americans have lost their minds...Clinton and Trump...enough to gag a maggot...
zentrum
(9,865 posts)I'm so glad it shows to the rest of the world.
And BTW, many here deny global warming too.
It's become an absurd, dangerous country.
All the industrialized countries that stayed in the commonwealth are doing better today than the "Revolutionaries". Except, of course, for native peoples. Bad for them all around.