My America is a Hallucination

I’ve been watching the news a lot recently. I suppose that is nothing new for me, but while watching our leaders and journalists, reading countless news articles and seeing interviews with real people who are not, to my knowledge, paid professionals; I have come to a serious conclusion. I need to be committed to a long-term psychiatric facility.

I can clearly remember a time when I was growing up and I learned about the importance of the government and the people who held positions in it. I learned about equality; religious, racial, gender, sexual identity ( I didn't even understand sexual identity or preference). I learned if I had more it was my duty to take care of people who had less. I learned that if someone wanted to fight on the playground, it was my responsibility to try and defuse the situation, understand the other person and above all make sure no one got hurt. I grew up with the dream that anything was possible and I could help make it happen.

These understandings I had thought were a part of our national heritage; being the great city on a hill and celebrating our national and diverse cultural holidays and reading our national historic documents, following the accomplishments of our country's heros gave me purpose and direction, a sense of morality and inspiration. Of course, as I grew I realized my idolized heroes did not meet my standard of perfection, but was that ever possible? And does that minimize their accomplishments or growth that has occurred from their actions?

I look at the world today and with the knowledge we have accumulated in the world, I am over-befuddled at the fact that the same problems face us and, in fact, have gotten worse. How is that possible? It is so counter-intuitive it is like pouring out a cup of water that doesn't empty and more so the faster you empty it the faster it's filled, exponentially. To emphasize my point I will explain it again, it's like the less oil I have in my car the smoother the pistons fire.

The second clue that I am either consistently hallucinating or living in an alternate universe where there are some divergent laws of physics in operation are the decisions that people decide to make and who people have decided to trust to help make decisions to help them. There are too many examples for me to list here, but the behavioral economics of the political system of 2016 is beyond my comprehension. I am consistently asking myself if I am in some political dark comedy or dystopian prequel. I somehow wouldn't be too surprised if when this election is over everyone comes out for the curtain call and we find out that this election cycle had been written and directed by Judd Apatow. Four years from now I'm calling for a dissolution of the presidency, and a return to a traditional Republic including Darth Vader and the Hunger Games!