This Should Not Surprise You
On a day like this, in which my internal mental and emotional struggles careen from positive to negative and back again, I said screw it, write.
Let us segue immediately into these mental and emotional struggles that I kept at bay during the 2016 Presidential Election by talking myself out of typing “ARE YOU F**KING KIDDING ME” on social media daily, to almost all sides of this political discourse that chose emotion over reason and fear over logic every step of the way.
I am going to rationalize what I witnessed on Election Night 2016, because it was rational from the start. An aside, the segments listed below are in no order of importance, but in order of a quiet and dangerous narrative that I witnessed pervade the entire campaign cycle: Hubris. Hubris, synonymous with arrogance, superiority and the Ancient Roman Empire, is a simple explanation for the result of the 2016 United States Presidential Election.
[POPULISM & DEMAGOGUERY]
This is actually the most important factor in the 2016 Election.
Since 1994, the Democratic Party has systematically alienated working-class voters from its base in favor of the elite, socially-conscious wealthy class. That could be Lynn Forester de Rothschild, the founder of the “Coalition for Inclusive Capitalism” or Will Ferrell; it doesn’t matter. This election cycle gave rise to the fervor of the Bernie Sanders movement, and it didn’t just go away after the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.
The problem with Hillary Clinton as the Democratic Nominee was that she had been exposed as the supporter of so many ideologies that didn’t sit well with working class and middle class Americans. Further more, in an era of immediate dissemination of information, both factual and non, these ideologies were shared through Facebook posts, Twitter wars and cable news. Scottie Nell Hughes should not be allowed within 5 miles of a tv news network, yet she and her lunatic fringe propaganda were regulars on CNN, as if the words that exited her mouth had any meaning whatsoever. Technology has never been so great, yet we have used it to shroud the literal truths in favor of collective understanding, because that’s who we naturally are as human beings.
The political climate erupted into a view of the elite political class as the “other,” an enemy that must be turned on its head with someone new, and Clinton’s track record only supported that sentiment.
The most amazing thing about the above poll, one that I witnessed while wondering why Wolf Blitzer is still a thing (he called the evening a “cliffhanger race”), is not just the 38% for the “Can Bring Change” quality, but its juxtaposition with the 15% belief in a candidates willingness to fight directly for the people. If Clinton voted for the Iraq War, Patriot Act and TPP, not only does she not care about me, but she definitely will not bring change… whatever that may be.
[XENOPHOBIA & SEXISM]
I don’t have to dwell on this one, and if you do, that says more about you than me. But what coincided with the belief that not only was the system entirely corrupt, was that it was also in favor of those least deserving.
There had become a hyper-normalization of xenophobic sentiments of almost every variety. I grew weary of every online clickbait video beginning with a hollow voiceover stating, “Mexican rapists,” because when you want to overthrow a system built to make you believe you have power, you look for a scapegoat. And often the most ignorant creatures will point the finger at the most simple features. And when the now President Elect repeats and repeats and repeats and repeats these ideas, they begin take hold regardless of truth:
In a post-factual society, ignorance can spread. When ignorance spreads, it stokes fear and fear creates hate. And hate we have. And we have now emboldened that hate by confirming a candidate who was openly supported by white supremacist groups and proposed a ban on an entire religion.
But the normalization of these concepts, perpetuated at an alarmingly numbing rate on cable news, culminated in its grandest display of cognitive dissonance: network television’s insistence that sexual assault would sway the election. Don’t get me wrong, it should; but at this point, who supporting this candidate would care anymore? Long had past where the networks were going to influence marginalized middle class Americans.
[CONGLOMERATE NEWS & ONLINE NEWS]
The conglomeration of news has not only saturated factual news, it has devolved into opinion being projected as news. ABC News anchors literally laughed at Keith Ellison, so therefore, this couldn’t happen right? As a broadcast journalism major, it was and is my belief that the national news media had and has a fundamental responsibility to report ethically, objective “hard” (important) news to its viewers. The conglomeration of news media is not meant to do that. It is meant to be profitable, and does so by reporting valuable news as little as possible and providing “soft” news as often as possible. It is no wonder that we focused so much on emails versus a $1 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia to support a proxy war with Yemen that is producing these results:
And within this state of hyper-normalization that we find ourselves in, the public opinion of our society focuses on issues of self-interest. Ultimately this creates a society of unproductive consciousness who believe their self-interest is at the behest of “trustworthy” talking head news anchors rather than network investors and advertisers seeking only wealth. We were actively hoodwinked in this election, and cable news lack of substantive coverage had an unsurprisingly heavy hand in orchestrating it, through the populous’ own lack of self-awareness.
[PRIVILEGE & IGNORANCE]
Combine xenophobic attitudes with lack of self-awareness, and you receive a white population on election night of three varieties: emboldened by commonality in the results, ignorant to the role of their own privilege, or genuinely shocked by fundamental injustice.
Those who “can’t wait for the election to be over,” and are “sick and tired of hearing other people’s opinions,” and “just want to go back to normal,” are apart of the second role. The role of the ignorance of one’s privilege. Feeling like you are the most vulnerable when you are the least produces these results the morning follow the election:
And this is the new reality for plenty of 5 year olds in this country now. Do you really think their live’s are just going to “go back to normal”? They’ve already changed in less than 24 hours:
And another utterly heartbreaking example of how many people will not be able to, “go back to how things were”:
People who are shocked need only re-read the above sections regarding news and bias. I scrolled past countless statuses that declared victory for Clinton in each and every Presidential Debate. I read plenty of hack-job opinion pieces denouncing the legitimacy of the Bernie Sanders campaign. I watched enough late night tv bits about the lunacy of one man, being described over and over to the point which none of it was funny or original. (Side note, the comedy industry will not thrive off this result, as it is already beating a dead horse.)
The information that I trusted provided objective analysis, regardless of subjectivity and opinion:
The information that most people trusted and will continue to trust without intellectual intervention causes them to alienate themselves from the reality of the situation on election day. Falsities blur the line between true and absurd and the viscous cycle continues. And this is the result. What should be unsurprising now is that this line is blurred intentionally, even by it’s most public entities.
[DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE]
Simply put, no other corporation is more directly responsible for the demise of the Democratic Party than it’s own leadership in the Democratic National Committee. When I mentioned Ancient Rome earlier, I did not expect to stumble across in my musings a more fitting and synonymous example of one’s own pompous self-destruction. The Democratic National Committee ignored scientific data in order to nominate a candidate who would fulfill the wishes of wealthy campaign donors and capitalist elites, all while convinced of its own righteousness.
It cannot be overstated that the Democratic National Committee illegally colluded with the Hillary Clinton campaign. The Hillary Clinton campaign illegally colluded with its Super PACs and the national media unethically colluded with all of them.
But the most reprehensible of all of them is the DNC, if for no other reason than this:
All of the flaws in Hillary Clinton that were exploited to no end were absent in Bernie Sanders: elitism, establishmentarianism, neoliberalism, corruption, financial deregulation, hawkishness. The Republican nominee would have had only the obscure misunderstanding of socialism in his corner, and Sanders would have gleefully played into its distinction and nuances with substantive policy debate, which was completely absent in this election. He would have voluntarily brought up climate change, poverty, privacy, LGBTQ, and campaign finance, all of which were not mentioned once in 3 Presidential Debates.
But the DNC literally chose to be the party of the establishment in an election that needed but the faintest bit of populism. Mention trade deals in a debate even when your own company profits off them and watch as you win an election that should have never been.
The DNC has made their own bed and now they get to lie in it. Sow and thou shalt reap. *Other synonymous lines to underscore the reality that the last time Republicans held the Presidency, Congress and House was 1928, one year before the Great Depression*.
[NON-VOTERS]
The most grim exit poll that I read the morning after the election was this:
72.5% of the United States of America eligible electorate DID NOT VOTE FOR THE PRESIDENTIAL WINNER. 53.1% did not vote at all. This trend means that the Federal Government in place does not fundamentally align with the public interest of those they will govern. 54% of the country approves of the tenure of Barack Obama, and the next two years will see the Federal Government that we elected systematically destroy the progress he has made. Mitch McConnell has already set in motion the repealing of Obamacare, taking 21 million people out of the healthcare system with one signature.
When you say, it doesn’t matter, don’t vote, it’s an illusion of choice, understand that you are fundamentally wrong. How much of that 53.1% would have voted for Zephyr Teachout (a Bernie Sanders favorite) to unseat Republican incumbent John Faso in New York’s 19th Congressional District Race. How much of that 53.1% would have voted for true progressive Russ Feingold over Wisconsin GOP Senator Ron Johnson? Or Democrat Katie McGinty over incumbent Republican Pat Toomey in Pennsylvania? How many people even knew that other elections- important elections- were taking place at all?
When you say, my vote doesn’t matter anyways, observe:
Over half a million people’s votes were being reported and 18 of those people were the difference makers at that time. Elections are not rigged, and your vote does count, literally.
[SOLUTIONS & THE FUTURE]
I repeat, elections are not rigged, and your vote does count, literally. That is both a relief and a burden. It is relieving to know that in a time like this, where anything could happen and did, it can also go in the progressive direction. It is burdensome to recognize in one 24 hour period that it is our responsibility to turn it towards and move it in the progressive direction. But it looks like this generation is:
This is the reality of our country if we refuse to become apathetic, disengaged and disenfranchised. This is the reality of our country if we take a stand to the conservative policies that benefit the exploiters of oligarchic capitalism. This is the reality for our country if we stand up to prejudice and institutional racism. This is the reality for our country if we refuse to allow climate change deniers their time to speak.
Their time is done. It’s over. They think their time has just begun, but their time has just begun to end. Neoliberal, establishment Democrats got blindsided, and will do nothing in the eyes of progressivism to repudiate Republican ownership of the Federal Government.
It’s time for them to step aside and allow true liberals and progressives to get the job done through localized grassroots organization and strategic communication.
That is how you rationalize this. You read, and learn and discuss and refuse to embody anything that remained victorious in 2016.
And I’m also sure plenty of stupid people would say at the end this piece, “You didn’t even say his name, just like you won’t even say Radical Islamic Terrorism”. Well I guess I should address him as he should be addressed. Fuck Donald Trump. Good will prevail.
