And to those of you swinging the "insert party here" are the good guy theory, you have been duped by propaganda. I see people flip from party all the time. They are only WHO they are, not which PARTY they are. I can make and break promises too. That doesn't make me a good candidate...or does it!?
Vote out the trash. If you cannot vote out the trash, throw out the trash & reassemble system.
I feel like your heart and your passion are coming from good places; your absolute ‘A=B=C’ judgment does NOT show insight (sorry) but I share your frustration.
I had a hard time making sense of it as well; it wasn’t until I realized that there *is* in fact one significant difference between the two dominant parties, that I began to really SEE the difference in action.
The difference is in how each handles the public record. Since you (seem to?) think/feel/etc that ALL NEWS is propaganda in fact, I ask you to consider the public record with me for a minute.
“The public record” is a bit abstract, but think of it as the timeline of everything that happens - that is, everything we *know* has happened. It contains, represents, relates actual things, choices, judgments, arrest, births, speeches, election results, weather, movement of armies, deaths, divorces, marriages, and it just goes on.
The core of the public record is just that: records. Who said what, who was in the room, what was done by (some of) those people next; who was killed, who was captured, who was arrested, and for what. Every legal transaction involving money, partnership, ownership, judgements, penalties, inheritance; without an actual, checkable, confirmable record of such things, the world would be overlapping mosh-pits of confrontation, intimidation, and general injury.
Whether or not something is news or fake news, is provable or not, depends on that record: if stories ignore the record of what happened (or there is no record), if their , or insist there’s “a conspiracy” or several to edit that record, or attempt to wave the record itself away with both-sides-ism (the typical tactic), then those stories are SUSPECT - even if they strike you as likely - and THAT is where research begins: establishing a basis in fact for the story you’re investigating, or determining that there is no factual basis in the record for that story.
Ultimately, everything else is someone’s opinion, that’s why we KEEP a record - and why reporters/journalists/“the media” seek to make the public (that’s us) aware of things actually happening.
ACTUALLY HAPPENING.
“Both parties are just the same, they’re all crooks, let’em all hang” is a vote-suppression strategy - and a damned effective one, as it leaps from recognition of issues straight to hopelessness and cynicism; because “both parties are the same” there’s no way out, no way to fix it - and therefore no reason to believe, or do, ANYTHING. This is a PARTICIPATORY system - it ONLY works right when citizens pay enough attention to sort out who from what - and smart enough / well-educated enough to be actually able to do that.
“Throw them all out” sounds great, but if you spend sometime thinking it through, you’ll realize here are fatal flaws to it: to start with just one, you and who else? It’s going to take A LOT OF PEOPLE to remove all those folks from their jobs, and *keep* them from this jobs while others are selected to fill them.
BUT…if we “throw out the system”, how are we going to select those replacement WITHOUT IT BEING FORCED BY THE MOST NUMEROUS / MOST VIOLENT FACTION? How do you know what *they* want? WHO ARE THEY? If you decide they need to be stopped from taking power, HOW WILL YOU DO THAT?
These questions NEED answers that go beyond force of arms & alpha monkeys. If you’re trying to make things better, that’s *got* to be your floor, right? Things need to get better, right? Not just for you and me, right? So, at the very least, you need to know who NOT to give those jobs to - so you have to combine your best judgment with the others around / involved, so you can know what you’re going to do and how.
So now, you’re trying to build a government. In a church or gymnasium. Filled with loud people vehemently disagreeing. About shit that will BREAK your efforts *and the future* if y’all choose wrong.
Lots wrong with both parties, that’s a fact. There’s only ONE that’s trying to break as much as possible as fast as possible - and THEY aren’t on the side of voters. They’re loyal to the ones who pay them, get them into office, and keep them there. The other party has only recently realized that they’ve fallen for a 150-year long con, and they’re still dazed. And only one of them is actually trying to run the country instead of stripping it for parts and selling them/it/us to the highest bidder.
This has been brought to you by “civics”, by “discernment”, and by “differentiation” - with a hat tip to taxonomy
PS: felt I should add my basic principle for researching such things: “don’t ask Hitler about the Jews”. Read (widely) enough to understand the timeline of the events you’re tracking, THEN listen to opinions. You need your own grasp of reality, that’s what the timeline is for, what it’s about, or else your brain will write a fantasy about what all those opinions would have to mean. Whatever side you incline toward, make sure you really understand what each side is saying happened vs what actually happened, and how they get from there to what they want to do.
There’s a corollary to this: “by their fruits shall ye know them”.
People can and do say any fucking thing that comes into their heads - too often with a flash of heat, or burst of ice, but not much thought. Record what they say, but WATCH WHAT THEY DO, then judge what they say about it.
