WE the people!

"The government" ... I really wish people would stop bitching about "the government." WE the people, sent these clowns up there to represent us, and frankly, I'm tired of getting what WE deserve. I pay attention, stay informed and engaged, and the sound bite, propagandists are taking us all for a ride.

A lot of us have forgotten what serious discussions and political discourse are. It's too easy to get sucked into the crass, dumbed-down, contrived, interactive political reality show the media is peddling - it's like a narcotic to some people, and it makes them very easy to manipulate. Of course, it was designed that way.

Ideology is NOT knowledge.

We very clearly need election reform, campaign finance reform, and the return of The Fairness Doctrine. I believe ONLY registered voters should be able to contribute to campaigns and that the amounts should be limited. The money going into elections these days is disgusting. That's not fair, open, and honest elections, and it's not allowing The People, a real opportunity to weigh the candidates and issues in a thoughtful way. So, yes, you are right that big corporate money has a hand in that, but it IS up to us to change that. No one else is going to do it for us.

There is no short cut to being informed and doing your civic duty . . . that is if we want to remain self governed. I would hate to see our generation be so soft, spoiled, and indifferent that we are the ones who destroy this great experiment in human freedom and dignity.

I can remember hammering on the right for years for getting their "news" from a source they KNEW was biased and had a clear agenda. Now my side is doing it too, and lapping it up like mother's milk? I find this polarization terrifying. We are the UNITED States. All of our greatest achievements we have achieved together, and all of our best moments in history have happened when we were UNITED in common purpose.

All of our most shameful moments occurred when we were bitterly divided.

Seriously, do people actually ever READ anymore? Research? Learn? Is it all just little sound bites they can regurgitate at will from their favorite agenda-driven pundits?

Back during WWII, FDR would conduct his radio fire side chats and explain in detail what was happening. He even went so far as to ask the American people to go out and buy maps, so that he could explain exactly how and where the war was being conducted. Map sales went through the roof.

These days, you can pull it all up on the internet, anything you want to know, from CREDIBLE sources - you can learn whatever you want to know, in detail and check fact check politicians and propagandists on your own, but people are too freaking lazy, and they'd rather cheer their red team/blue team heroes, like a some sick, contrived rasslin match.

IMO, with Reagan came this whole misdirection in morality / religion / spending ​/ economics / polarization / nationalism /Amercian exceptionalism / cronism / etc​. This same bunch ran Bush II's campaign of misdirection, and now they have gotten very good at it. They just make sh*t up, based on what they want people to think, and people buy it without question based on their "team" affiliation. It's got nothing to do with facts or reality. It's just pure propaganda and manipulation, appealing to people's lowest instincts. They tell us we are innately morally superior, if we think what they tell us too, and thus encourage people to be ignorant.

That's no way to run a country of people who are self-governed and want to remain so.