Principles over Party

I woke up this morning feeling some type of way. Maybe I didn’t get good enough sleep, maybe it’s the alignment of the stars, I don’t know? Whatever it is though, got me thinking about a few things. It’s been awhile since my last blog post. Mostly due to having all four of my kids home all summer. But today, I just felt that itch. That itch to sit down and spill my brain into my computer. It started last night really. I was lying in bed scrolling through my Facebook feed when I came across a post by someone who I admire in most areas. I would even go as far as to call this person a mentor of mine. 

Her post however, caused me to think about how easily we can all be misled, misinformed, and easily made to believe one sided propaganda. In the post, was a stunning picture of the Obama Family sitting together with bright beautiful smiles on their faces. Underneath the photo it said something to the effect of, “Thank you Obama Family for 8 amazing scandal free years”. It was a photo meant to make you feel warm and cozy. To remind you of how charismatic of a leader he really was. 

And let’s be real, President Obama had charisma! I would listen to him talk and deliver his speeches, and it was easy to believe everything he said he did or was going to do. He had a way of delivering his message that made you feel like you could trust him. And I did. I really did. He was the first president I ever voted for. I completely bought into his message of “Hope and Change”. That was until he turned out to be just another politician. Willing to say anything, do anything, to get your vote. 

In the current political climate, it would be easy to look back and claim President Obama was “scandal free”. He wasn’t subjected to investigation after investigation by his adversary party. And he definitely wasn’t constantly targeted by the mainstream media, roasting him for every move he made, every mistake, every misstep. Conservative media maybe, but not mainstream media. He was however, subjected to a lot of the same “us v them” mentality that is festering in today’s political environment. In fact, it seemed to start during his tenure, or at least intensify. Not that the blame lays solely on him for that though. And he did take a lot of crap from racists assholes who just couldn’t stand to see a black man in the White House. A lot of people showed their true colors during his time as Commander in Chief. It was eye-opening to say the least. 

But scandal free? He was far from it. It’s easy to forget his scandals though. If I said that to a lot of the people, they would probably look at me crazy. Unable to think of one scandal I could possibly be referring to. I blame the media mostly for this. But I also blame cognitive dissonance. You see, the media didn’t run with headline after headline when the Fast-n-Furious scandal broke. They didn’t cry foul when it was proven President Obama and his administration straight up lied about a YouTube video being responsible for an attack on our embassy in Benghazi. They hardly said a word when it came to light the White House was using its influence over the IRS to unfairly and discriminately target conservatives for audits. And when it was proven that once again President Obama knowingly and willfully lied to us about our ability to “Like your insurance, keep your insurance”, they quickly found other things to focus on instead. And to this day, they still have yet to mention the fact President Obama amassed 540 drone strikes during his presidency, killing a total of 3,797 people, including 324 innocent civilians. 

I don’t mention these things because I don’t like President Obama. Like I said, he was the first president I ever voted for. From 2008 through most of 2012, my belief in him was strong. But when he got up in front of that camera, addressed our nation, and told us the attack on the Benghazi Embassy was a retaliation for an anti-Islamic YouTube video, and it was later proven he knew that was complete bullshit and decided to run with it anyway; I was left more than disappointed.

I despise the decision President Bush and Vice-President Chaney made when they chose to purposefully mislead us into this never-ending War on Terror, one that we have been in for 18 years. 18 YEARS! We have lost thousands of our soldiers, millions of lives around the world. And for what? Damn sure wasn’t because Iraq and bin Laden had WMDs. 

When President’s lie, there should be dire consequences. No matter what party they associate themselves with. Knowing President Obama got on camera and straight up lied about something he knew was false, more than once; it’s not just disappointing, it is disrespectful, and hurtful. Just like it was when President Bush did it. And just like it is when President Trump does it. 

This is why we need principles, and we need to live true to them. If we disavow everything Trump, but claim Obama “the unburnt”, we are completely contradicting ourselves and letting mainstream media and headlines make up our minds for us. To be fair though, I said I mostly blame mainstream media. The other part of the blame is placed on us as individuals. Every scandal I mentioned above can be found with a quick Google search. And from reputable sources too. Far too often we choose to ignore the information that contradicts our feelings and beliefs. We trust the way a situation makes us “feel” instead of what the facts say. And in the political climate of “my party is righteous, and your party is vile”, trusting our feelings over facts is a very dangerous position to take, leaving us open to brainwashing and propaganda.  

We have become blind to the truth. We callously share information on social media without ever thinking of its validity. We read headlines and allow them to drive our emotions before we ever read the story. We suck up every bit of word vomit that comes out of our news sources like it is the absolute “word of truth”, not hesitating to ever question their motives or reliability. That is, until it contradicts our beliefs, or goes against our opinions. Then, the information is surly from a Russian Bot. :Insert 100 eye rolls: We have entered in to this crazy cyclone of trusting nothing while believing everything, all at the same time.

This modern-day world of “social media activism” is a root cause of the problem as well. It has essentially turned us all against each other. The pure hatred and vile comments that are put on social media, Twitter by far being the worst, is a sad testament to how far we have fallen. Fallen away from simple human decency; from the ability to communicate without slurs and name calling; and from intelligent discussion and rational thinking. 

To be completely fair though, it is hard to know who to trust today. For three years our media has been telling us “This is the one that will end Trump”. The Muller Report, for example, was going to be the “End of Trump”. Our media made sure to tell us every day. Our Social Media Activists shared it over and over and over again. Everyone was so sure about it, until they weren’t. Once Muller said, “No Collusion”, the narrative was changed. Now we needed to focus on obstruction. And then all we heard was “obstruction, obstruction, obstruction” and “Muller needs to testify” over and over and over again. It was going to be “The End of Trump” again, for sure this time. But then it wasn’t. Muller testified; nothing came of it. They tried to sell us gold and then expected us to settle for copper.

And then the truth started to leak about what started this investigation all together. This whole idea that Trump somehow colluded with Russia was all part of a dossier that was funded by none other than… The Clinton Campaign. Where was the mainstream media and the social media activists with their “superior ethics and righteousness”…??? Still harping on about damn collusion with Russia and obstruction, that’s where. :Enter 100 more eye rolls:  And now today, we are supposed to believe once again, they finally found the smoking gun? A secondhand whistleblower who heard someone tell someone something. This is what will be the “End of Trump” now, for sure!  

Don’t get me wrong. I would like to see Trump out of office. His antics and overall disposition are offensive and go against what I would like to believe the position of President of the United States should stand for. But I would like to see him out of office through the loss of a general election. Not through the collusion of the democrat party, the mainstream media, and the Clinton campaign. 

With the election year right around the corner why not focus on finding a candidate that could actual beat Trump? Is the democrat party really that afraid to lose? If President Trump is as vile and unethical as they have been claiming since he took office, then why not trust the American voter to vote him out? They have been screaming about election interference since it was announced that Hillary Clinton lost. But are now turning around and trying to take the right to vote for our leader away from us through failed investigation after failed investigation, and now a pretend impeachment?

The DNC and the RNC are the real culprits of election interference. I saw the RNC in 2012 do everything they could to discount, disqualify and write off Ron Paul in the primaries. Propping up only the candidate they had selected for their party to vote on, regardless of grassroots support. In 2016 the DNC did the same exact thing to Bernie Sanders. Even going so far as to leak debate questions to the Clinton campaign and to collude with CNN to completely ignore the masses of Bernie supported that walked out during their convention. Let’s also not forget, they both worked really hard to try to sell us on another Bush v Clinton ticket that election as well. And now we’re going into the 2020 election and once again the DNC is playing favorites. Working overtime to disqualify the candidates they don’t want. Blacklisting candidates with real grassroots support like Bernie Sanders, Tulsi Gabbard and Andrew Yang. And propping up candidates with no real chance to beat Trump like Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris.

No wonder they have had to yell “Impeach Trump” for three years. They know they have a losing strategy. They know the people are against them. And it all goes back to the way the mainstream media framed the Obama presidency. Sitting back silently as he rolled right through every possible scandal that could have consumed him. Their bias would ultimately lead to the rise of Alternative Media. Making it much easier to find “news” that fits ones personal agenda, shielding you from alternative opinions and points of view. Ultimately further inciting fear and anger between the two political parties.

Conservative alternative media in that time was playing the same game the mainstream media is playing today. They screamed and cried about every little thing President Obama did. Fought him on every turn. Colluded with republicans, the RNC, and even some crazy conspiracy driven characters like Sheriff Joe Arpaio to try to disqualify him from the office. And when a real scandal broke out, everyone was so tired of the nonstop apocalyptic alarm chiming, it was easily forgotten and written off as unimportant.  

What the mainstream media is doing today with the democrats and DNC against Trump is far beyond what conservative media, republicans and the RNC were able to pull against Obama. If you ever questioned if there was a liberal basis in the mainstream media, just compare the differences. It is mind-blowing.

The world we live in is not what we like to think it is. Journalism is no longer about truth and now more about opinion. The media can lie to us, deceive us, basically say anything they want without any consequences. Social Media Activists can abuse the internet to rile campaigns against anyone they decide they disagree with or find offensive; completely destroying the lives of their targets without any regard for the truth. Headlines are written as clickbait, often having nothing to do with the actual story, meant to incite you and sway your opinion. And politicians get away with accomplishing absolutely nothing while in office and then turn around and become millionaires once they leave. 

We have indeed entered into a new era. One with so little accountability that the average person is feeling lost and left out. The average person is tired of the bullshit. They are tired of being told what to do, what to think, what to believe. Tired of seeing those with money and power live by different rules than the rest of us. This is how Trump got elected. It is the underlying cause to the disease that is Washington. The people wanted an outsider, so they voted for one. And in response, billions of our tax dollars have been spent to disqualify him from office instead of focusing on finding a better, more qualified candidate to replace him in the next election. They obviously don’t want the voters messing up their plans again. It’s as big of a joke as the Republicans voting against the ACA every chance they had for 4 straight years, only to gain power in all three branches of government and then have no plan what-so-ever to repeal or replace it. 

It’s all a simple dog-and-pony show really. Voter pandering at it finest. It really is no surprise the majority of people choose not to show up to vote on election day. The whole process is as inauthentic as it comes. Since the creation of the two-party system we have had no real say in who we elect to our government. And with the hyper-monopolization of the mainstream media, our news is nothing more than propaganda and indoctrination. Add the illegal and massive surveillance state we currently live in, and damn, George Orwell sure called our numbers. Or wrote damn the manuscript. Either way, if this shit continues, we are all totally fucked.

I am grateful for the opportunity to share these thoughts and feelings with the world. Should you find yourself here, please feel free to share your thoughts and opinions as part of an open and respectful dialogue aimed at gaining a better understanding of ourselves and of one another.