Television

I'll take the hit on this one. It's me. My fault. GenX, lower middle class. (Upper lower class?)

Whatever the case, I've been bitching about the corrupt government since I was 18. Didn't vote until I was over 50.

In my youth, it seemed like democracy didn't need me. The U.S. was going in a great direction. Under Clinton (1992-2000), we had a balanced budget and started to make reforms with social issues. And yes, there was back-pedaling in the Bush (2000-2008) era, but it seemed like checks and balances were at least working. When Obama (2008-2016) held office, he had us feeling like there really WAS hope and change again. It was mostly smoke and mirrors, lip service to corporations, but it didn't feel that way. It felt like slow progress, even as the corporate oligarchs tightened the noose.

Then, in a flash, it all changed. When Trump rolled into politics, I didn't take him seriously. Couldn't imagine that a sane person would choose him as a leader. And he won the election.

At that point, I registered to vote. Too fucking late. And here we are. We'll never see a fair election again. Between gerrymandering and Citizen's United (2010), our elections were already fucked. But now Trump will openly cheat.

It's too late. It can't be undone now. There's too much money flowing into their warchest. People think the U.S. is "turning" towards authoritarianism. They don't realize that we're already there. All the pieces have been dropped in place. Full surveillance, a corrupt system supported by limitless corporate money, a stranglehold on the world's energy supply, and a military budget bigger than most nations' GDP. And, of course, ICE - Trump's personal army.

The aggressiveness towards Iran? Nothing new. A different president might have slowly escalated things, smiling and nodding at the cameras while pressuring NATO to help. I'm reminded of Bush in 2002/3, leveraging the 9/11 to attack Iraq. It was nonsense, but Bush brought everyone along with him. He built a case with junk evidence, made grand claims of Iraq's destructive capabilities and deposed a dictator so that the oil would flow to his cronies' bank accounts.

Trump has pulled aside the curtain and revealed the real America. That's all. It was about oil back then, it's about oil today. It's always about oil.