WHY DO POLITICIANS MAKE ME SICK?

I found it interesting that in two of my three text books, there is no mention of politics in the indices. I do recognize that it is a science unto itself. I did take a course in Poli Sci way back in college. Of course I remember my professor. He was relatively young and passionate about the subject and I enjoyed the class.

During my college years and  my early twenties, I was moderately active in the political scene.  Of course those were the years when students in America were being shot, there were riots on campus, and actually all around the country.

I attended demonstrations, worked for mayoral candidates and helped take over an administrator's office after the Kent State Shootings.



Generally, whomever I was backing, lost. That held in many elections as well. It took a long time before someone I voted for actually won.

I don't want to stay I stopped caring. I still care about what happens to my country. Other countries. The poverty, starvation and depravity that seems endemic to our kind.

I began to realize that no matter how much I cared, nor what little I did, things stayed the same. I would say that we helped stop the War in Viet Nam because I believe that possibly, it's unpopularity interfered with some greater scheme and so they decided to end it at the time they did. It didn't matter. It had already destroyed so many lives.

Politics? Politicians? Is there a difference? They represent the same thing. A system designed to allow us to believe we have some say in the governance of our countries. Since I live in the USA, I'll stick with what I know.

Politics is not governance. Governance, I think, is the actual running of the country. That's probably why they call the men in charge of the states, Governors. However, there appears to be a huge disconnect between governing and politicians, who become the government.

Why do they make me sick? That's easy. They lie, they are corrupt and they play us like fiddles. Our two party system has devolved into a terribly divisive institution.  And whoever it is, who actually runs things is laughing at us all.

I've been able to vote since I was 18. Something less than 50 years. I can say that in New York City, the mayor had power to change some aspects of my life. Since I worked for the City, it meant whether or not my pay would go up or stay the same. I also watched as the school system deteriorated over the years and I don't think the mayor was the cause.
      
The long and short of it, is that no matter who ran the country. My life stayed the same. I chose a path, strayed, changed, but still, nothing that I could say made a difference regardless of who the people were running this place.

What has changed, only in that it has gotten worse, is the venom that people spew when talking about politics.

I was at a lunch with some friends this week. One teachers adults English. One of her students asked why we have two years of electioneering. The answer was so the parties could raise money.

Again, when I was young, we had a few months of debates and campaigning and that was it.

Now, it's nearly constant. For money? We have to listen to this bullshit. We have to watch ads on TV for two years so they can raise money to make more ads to tell us how horrible the other candidates are.

I want to keep this short.

hypothesis:
Elections in America are for show. Everything that happens, happens behind a curtain where the Wizard of Oz is pulling the strings and projecting his magic.
The people, have been taught from an early age that our country is different. That we have the privilege to vote. That anyone can grow up to be president.
I believe that the people in charge, set us against each other in order to deflect the attention from them. Of course, we don't know who they are. That's part of the dilemma. People believe that their vote counts. If that were true, how is it that the people we are voting for are not the people that we want to be running?  The game is rigged.

CONCLUSION:
You can have as many debates as you want. You can actually believe you have a choice in who to elect. You do. Two people are "selected' and that's your choice. Do we actually have a say in any of it? I think not. Not anymore.
Any large country will need delegates. Everyone is corruptible. So, if you want to waste your energy and hate the people who don't like your candidate, go right ahead. Hate Obama. Hate Clinton. Hate anyone you want.  But think about it. For most of us, has it made a difference in our lives? The difference came from economics and it was the bankers who bought the politicians so that we could lose our houses and not have jobs.

So, fight amongst yourselves if it makes you feel better. It just makes me sick. We should be embracing each other as "fellow Americans" and not see each other as the enemy because that is exactly what the politicians want. And they always get what they want. We, on the other hand, will always get screwed.  And not in an enjoyable way.