We Are Screwed
How Americans have no good choices in 2024
Let Us Not Forget
America (really the USA) was a fever dream of a handful of rich men who didn’t want to be Britain’s cash colony. A bunch of immigrants and native born colonists got together and decided to sign a document that would essentially doom them all to the gallows if they lost.
But they didn’t. They fought dirty, got up early to cross rivers, and became a guerrilla fighting colony that would expand to a global empire.
Many of the signers fought in combat, or fought in statehouses and courthouses to build the nation 1/3 of a billion people can call home.
And these signers were relatively old, but most were in their 30s and 40s
While lift expectancy was lower (primarily because of infant mortality), these men were much more “with it” than either of the candidates (Ben Franklin, at 70, was one of the oldest but still quite cogent).
And Let Us Also Remember
Since their time so much has changed. About the nation. Millions of square miles annexed (and native populations screwed in the process).
Women, and people of colors and sexual orientations other than white and straight have been able to enter politics and the workforce, becoming rich and powerful. A woman in 2024 has much more of a chance to make her own way than a woman in 1824.
We live in a time where it’s not just a bunch of old white guys running everything… or is it?
Is This the Best We Can Do?
An old masogonistic liar, so scummy his own state doesn’t want him, and a guy who has shown everyone how OLD he is. What the hell?
South Park famously had an episode between a douche and a turd, satirizing the 2004 election.
Even though we have men and women of all shapes, colors and sizes who could try for the highest office, we have some truly awful options for who gets to run the highest office.
Looking back across some truly crummy presidents (Nixon, Johnson, Jackson) I can’t help but wonder, who’s really at fault here? Are we the people so stupid as to only have these two options between such bad candidates?
Who Really is At Fault
One thing that we should never forget is the stark divide that has been around since we’ve been a nation, when one man “pissed [another] off until we had a two party system.”
In some sense, you could draw a line back to Jefferson/Hamilton and the two party schism, but that’s like blaming your great great… grandparents for something your mom and dad did.
The Republican and Democratic institutions have once again failed the American people. This is not something they can blame anyone else for.
They so obviously work for corporations and not for us; the only individuals who will benefit from such poor leadership will be the businesses who get to keep making money at our expense.
I can only hope that by the next Fourth of July we’ve taken these parties to task. Neither one deserves us.
This Fourth of July, we should remember that America’s greatness has always been in spite of its politics, not because of it.
Republicans and Democrats, thanks for ruining my options in November once again. I can only hope both parties are dismantled within my lifetime.
We the people would be better off without them.
God Bless Us, because we need something to ward off this political curse the parties have inflicted on us once again.
