Winds of Change

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My fellow Americans, things are rotten in the United States.

I like to think anyone with a tenth of a working brain can see it. A lot of people are saying ‘We are at the end of our cycle of civilization’, I hear it and read it on a daily basis. Some of the people making the proclamation are the usual suspects: the religious fundamentalists, conspiracy theorists, homophobes, racists, the enraged disenfranchised, and the general American asshats we all know and pretend we’re just meeting for the first time whenever we’re confronted with their bullshit.

Don’t pretend you don’t have a friend in one, or many of these categories. We all do.

Do you want to know something a lot of people are afraid to say? I think we ARE on the cusp of the end of our current version of civilization and I couldn’t be happier. That’s right, I am happy the current cycle of Western Civilization is winding down. When I was younger the world was in a state of perpetual cold war with commies and socialists held on par with Satan, institutional racism was seen as the norm, woman were second class citizens while the “Homo’s” weren’t even considered citizens by the majority of the population, and the rich were seen as gods. Oh how the world has changed in three decades.

Our Bi-Racial President is winding up his second term in office, the two Democratic front runners are a woman and a socialist, two women just completed Army Ranger training, the LGBT Community (and gods don’t I prefer that term to homo) is on the cusp of full equal rights, and most importantly people are TALKING about the problems in a way I’ve never seen in my life.

So what do I believe is wrong in this country of ours? The list is long and filled with contradictions, but I will try to give you a broad outline.

  • Immigrants are being treated as invaders and dangerous criminals as opposed to being people looking for a better life for their families.
  • Climate change is a thing and the damage can’t be stopped only abrogated, but not unless the people in power start giving a shit about the future.
  • The Police have evolved into a military culture which seems to see citizens as enemies, especially minority citizens. Yes, I support Black Lives Matter and I’m proud to admit it.
  • The Police are also being used as a revenue generating source squeezing people for more than they have and jailing them when they can’t pay… and don’t get me started on civil asset forfeiture laws.
  • Despite all of the dancing on the Right, the fact is women are paid less than men for the same work.
  • Gun violence is out of control. I’m not an advocate of disarming the citizens, although do some damn research on the second amendment and fugitive slaves and you’ll be really depressed, but we NEED some common sense FEDERAL firearms laws.
  • Healthcare is better since the passing of the Affordable Care Act but we have a LONG way to go before we have what we deserve.
  • Religious Fundamentalism is ripping us apart, hate disguised as love and faith is vile.
  • Education needs to be financed 100% by taxes and not out of pocket by citizens. What we have now is a sick joke and criminal.
  • Worker pay—minimum wage MUST be a living wage!
  • Then there’s the biggest problem, the one exacerbating all others— money in politics.

There is a conspiracy of control to nearly a fascist level in this country and we’ve all been deluded into not seeing it. In my nearly four decades of life I’ve never seen the people of our nations so divided and at each other’s throats. The divide seems to run across all lines and social seams with American’s breaking into hundreds of opposing factions. It looks that way but in reality it’s very simple, the ultra rich have spent a lot of money and time making sure that the poor and dwindling middle class only see each other as the enemy, and not the puppet masters on their golden thrones.

Now you’re backing away with your hands up thinking I’m a whack job who watches too much Alex Jones. Calm down. I don’t believe in the Hobbit Homes of Agenda 23, the Muslim Brotherhood running the White House, the secret invasion of Jade Helm, or that OBUMMER BE COMIN FIR UR GUNS!

With the Buckley vs. Valeo decision of 1976 the United States Supreme Court opened the doors for unlimited money in politics and fundamentally changed our nation from a more or less intact Representative Republic to a Plutocracy. The final one-two-punch of the Citizens United (2010) decision and McCutcheon (2014) decision effectively made bribery legal on a national level.

In other words, like the old saying goes, money is the root of all evil.

I believe the next presidential election is going to be the most important of my life. I am dead serious when I say the next ten years might determine the future of everything. When I cast my ballot in 2016 I’ll be forty years old and have voted in every presidential election since 1996. For the first time in my life there is a chance for a candidate not beholden to corporations and the uber rich who run our modern plutocracy.

I’m a bisexual, married, father, atheist, socialist, feminist American and I’m voting for Bernie Sanders.

– Josh