The presidential election is all about whether the “1%” (for lack of a better term) keep calling the shots and it’s business as usual, or whether we can give somebody an unmistakable and undeniable mandate to change the balance.
We already know that congress doesn’t represent us, and that the people have no say in government policy. We already know that government is sold to people who are buying favorable policy – favorable to them at our expense. The war industry, the fossil fuel industry, the health industry, and the theft industry all pay handsomely to prioritize their profits over our interests. It couldn’t be more apparent that the den of thieves that is Wall St. is an overwhelming benefactor; they burned down the economy and ripped off millions of people, got to keep the money, got to stay out of jail, and got to keep ripping off millions of people. They need all the help they can get. It’s an amazing stretch to in any way justify their existence in their current form, and they need to pay people pretty well to do it, since their corruption and criminality is so transparent. Since OWS they’ve also been battling an increasingly intense spotlight which just further feeds their need for government protection of their rackets. Protection, that is, from We the People.
When we hear about how there’s not the political will to accomplish goals the people want, or that it’s not realistic to think things could happen, what it really means is that lobbyists and big money don’t want it, and there’s not the political will to resist them, and that it’s not realistic to expect elected officials who received financial support from certain interests to make any kind of fundamental changes unfavorable to those interests, regardless of the wishes of the majority of the people. The big money and the lobbyists exert massive pressure through bribery and threats and there’s massive wealth and infrastructure aligned towards the single goal: keep the thumb on the scale for the status quo at all costs, and do everything possible to prevent even the thought that there could be any kind of fundamental change, insisting such things are impossible. I think one could reasonably suggest that the major parties have been coopted into being a part of this effort, essentially being reduced to sports team style brands used to manipulate and organize people into factions, and offer them competing identities to keep them focused on distractions while their government and nation are sold out from under them regardless of who “wins”.
More and more people are waking up to all this as time goes on. A lot of them have long since tuned out. The ones who are used to being told what to think are in big trouble, because it’s becoming a little too apparent they’ve been getting a bum steer, but that idea conflicts with their reflex to do and think as they’re told. A lot more of us have seen it all along, but haven’t been offered any alternatives. We still aren’t offered alternatives, but some have emerged just the same. One is attempting to work from without, within the existing program, while the other is attempting to work from without, but exploit the existing program. The response of the establishment in both cases has been to resort to what has always worked when everybody follows their rules. In one case it seems to be working and in the other it doesn’t. People are being asked to stop upsetting the natural order in either case. There’s intense pressure to go along, from people who really want us to go along because they really want to go along, and they really like to go along. They want to go along because it’s the safer bet.
The riskier bet may offer something better (but unfamiliar), the safer bet offers something safer (and more familiar), and that’s more comfortable for many. The safer bet in this case is the bet against the people.