Never in my life have I been so
interested in a presidential election as I am now. It's become a sporting
event; consistently and systematically refreshing my browser in a state of
complete tension to see the up to date caucus and primary numbers. I read
articles from various media outlets, each with their own biases and preferences
with the goal being to see every candidate from every possible angle. It's an
odd feeling. I've never cared before. Cue Bernie Sanders into frame... What a
badass dude. So unlike this country.
Years have come and gone and this
county has withered. We stand on the edge of a cliff with a fading future ahead
of us. We stand on that edge; everything that could have been right in front of
our eyes. We stand at a point of no return, and there is no one to blame but
ourselves. Worst off, people seem to be blind to the overabundant reality that
we suck. We are the self-proclaimed "greatest country on earth," we boast
about the obscure idea that everyone on earth covets living here, and we
complain about the issues swallowing our society as we stand idly allowing it
to happen. Enabling it to happen. This country is collapsing like clockwork,
and it's like there's no one living here to notice. And here's a more eerie
idea: No one gives enough of a shit to notice. I mean, damn, there are more
people interested in Kardashian ass, which gangster rapper is feuding with
another, and whether Beyonce was cheated on by Jay-Z. Blah, Blah, Blah. Who.
Gives. A. Shit?! Our home is burning down around us but there we sit lazily on
a couch watching celebrity news, reality TV, and Transformers. And we're
captivated by it. Hypnotized. How depressing. This country had had its best
days. I was convinced of it. With 16 trillion dollars in debt, a crumbling
educations system, and a shaky moral compass, I was sure that we should call
the US a country and move on. That we should stand up from our reclining
couches, put down the slice of pizza and bag of chips right next to our
celebrity magazines and say: "We're not as amazing as we use to be. We're
not the greatest country anymore. We actually suck. Being #1 is obviously too
much responsibility for us. Someone else take the wheel and we'll stand
back." But we're too cocky for that! We still think we're God's gift to
the world! I mean, our confidence; that’s the one thing that never declined
even if everything that requires us to have confidence has faded away. Quick
fact: America is dead last in Math scores but “number one in confidence in math
skills, even though we suck at it. Yes, we’re number one in thinking we’re
number one. And when the numbers don’t validate that confidence, we know who
the culprit is: the numbers. So we change them.” Isn’t this just the clearest
mirror image for the American people? We think we’re phenomenally remarkable
all while being a huge pot of shit. But, yes. If someone says we suck we’re so
quick to highlight the few lasting things that still make us decent at best.
Sadness ensues. Man. The perks of being rich and powerful bullies. That mirror
image; that’s what we’ve become. And we seem to have fallen in love with that
pretty face in the mirror masked in makeup.
So, yes. We have a country that
is uneducated, lying, selfish, narcissist, money, and greed driven. A “me, me,
me” country. An ignorant country. A country where the rebellious youth is taking
over slowly and this becoming no country for old men….. Cue Bernie Sanders into
frame. Literally, if elected, the oldest president in the history of the United
States. How ironic. How elegiac. How implausible. Tragedy.
Now, I’m not her to bore you with
specific numbers or statistics about Bernie’s history. They speaks for
themselves and can be researched if desired. I’m simply going to relate how
Bernie gave me hope for this country. Hope for humanity. How he’s touched my
heart, and why it all fell apart.
I’ve written in that past that people are wretched things incapable of
being naturally good. I’m not sure I really believe that anymore. He’s changed
my mind. Now, let’s be realistic and clear: Bernie probably will not win the
nomination. How the American people can be against what he is proposing is
beyond me; however, the second paragraph of this post helps solidify this
argument. Bernie is not us. Bernie is better than us. There’s a reason that
The Donald Trump is a juggernaut in the Republican Party. He is everything the
American people are. He is greedy, he is racist, he is selfish, he is
self-centered, he is ignorant, loud, boastful, and hateful. Donald Trump is
America looking at itself in the mirror. The people relate to him. He is all of
the things this country is embodied in one person. And as I’ve stated before:
America, as it stands today, we’re not that great. We’re not that good even. With
all that being said, I will let Bernie’s policies speak for themselves. This is
more of a personal analysis on how I view America, its political system, its
culture, and the inevitable ramifications of that culture on an ever so
decaying and decadent society.
The sad Truth?
Bernie won’t win, and quite
frankly, no one like him will ever will. How unfortunate. He is the beginning
of what we need. He is love, kindness, fairness, determination, will,
humbleness. He is everything mass America has lost. We held these values up on
a gold pedestal, but over time America has created a new and more primitive set
of values and beliefs based solely on selfishness, greed, and money. Bernie is
virtually Superman and the nation is Bizzaro. With these polar oppositions in
the forefront, Bernie is poised to lose.
Examples:
1. He
is preaching against war and violence in a country that has always been at war
and that craves bloodshed.
2. He
is for free education in an uneducated country in which education is steadily losing
value.
3. He
is for universal healthcare in a vastly unhealthy country.
4. He
is for the middle class and the poor in a country controlled by the rich.
5. He
is for the betterment of the environment in a country that believes that global
warming, if even happening, is a natural occurrence not one resulting from
human activity.
6. He
stands for selflessness in a self-centered country.
7. He
stands for sharing and helping others in a country of hoarders and “’I’ earned
this” mentality.
8. He
fights for equality in a racist, misogynistic, and homophobic country.
9. And
most importantly: He preaches peace and love in a county full of hate and
hostility.
What he is proposing is how
people should act and the rules we should abide by. I mean, what year are we
in? What country is this? I would’ve liked to believe that we had evolved past egoism,
money gluttony, cruelty, and racism, but we’ve devolved into the poster children
of it. Perhaps we’re not ready for these values to be at the forefront again.
Perhaps we’re too far gone. Bernie’s morals and principals are not what we
value in this country anymore. And this is the worst tragedy in American
history. The country that was conquered by its own loss of morality, education,
health, and ethics. The country that saw it’s one chance to change in the form
of Bernie Sanders and turned a blind eye. Perhaps it is as I once thought. This
country is done for. Anyone have them white flags? Yeah? Start waving them.
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