(MSCC) John Mudd — Everyone wants to be president. An ever-growing crop of Republican candidates is rising across the landscape to run for supreme leader against what many would say is a shoo-in candidate for the Democratic Party, and possibly the presidential post—Hilary Clinton. It’s a confusing landscape where candidates will do, and say, anything for the crown.
And say anything, they do…
Presidential contender Mike Huckabee, fashions a story of bigotry between northern educated city-dwellers, and the Bubbas (the red states). Huckabee, with pandering delight, sits with Jon Stewart to peddle a book (title purposely omitted) that tells a tale of two worlds, “I want to explain who we are to the people who live in the bubbles, because those of us [with hands on his chest for emphasis] who live in Bubba-ville, we get the people who live in the bubbles, because all the television shows and movies are all about those people who live in the bubbles.†What Mr. Huckabee doesn’t know is TV is not reality; it’s a contrived form of propaganda and distraction, full of product placement and calculated advertising.
While on the other side of town, Donald Trump descends by way of escalator from his “Trump Tower†to announce a run for president to a spattering of onlookers and [suspected] paid extras. And from his pursed lips a speech did fly, with irksome noise so full of pomp and exaggeration that not only managed to piss off many an everyday citizen, but withered his many business affairs: Macy’s, Univision, Serta, NASCAR, and others broke relations with Trump soon after his racist comments on Mexicans. I see poor theater here; I can’t see the reality star winning free room and board at the White House while at the time trying to fast track our world into oblivion.
Every candidate has a super PAC, a supposedly independent entity, financially limited only by the generosity of its corporate or wealthy donors looking for a good “investment.†We are very challenged to find a leader without ties to financiers or “investors.†Although gambling casino mogul Sheldon Adelson’s “investment†($150 million) did not put his candidate in the White House during the 2012 election, his diversified portfolio of congressmen and senators will likely support his pro-Israeli and casino interests. How to choose… Some candidates are very well-masked; many are supported by ingrained ideology; others survive our short-term memory and are rescued by advertising, marketing, and PR. Media talking points are there to continue the continuum. In my younger years, “Meet the Press†represented a group of concerned intellectuals sorting out political calamity; now that I have wiped the crust from my eyes I see them as a support group to further existing power structures. On one episode, Chuck Todd (moderator of “Meet the Pressâ€) repeatedly asks Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders (a popular non-corporate-owned presidential contender) how he feels about Hillary Clinton. When he doesn’t get the unfavorable reaction he’s looking for, Mr. Todd switches gears and presses the Senator on a badly written paper he authored over 40-years ago. In the same vein, Katie Couric (Yahoo News) questions Senator Sanders about Hillary Clinton’s character, campaign, and beliefs. Way to get at the heart of what matters these days, guys—gossip, mudslinging, and character assassination! All while the real issues sit unasked and undisputed. The media romances frivolity rather than facts and critical analysis.
Early in his career, Matt Taibbi while on a campaign trail with mainstream reporters noted, they were engaged in the horse race rather than in asking the serious questions. He said, “[The media] depict voters as gravely caring about meaningless issues like like-ability and electability.†He describes the presidential campaign teams and members of the mainstream news media as, “[T]wo different power structures with different goals working in harmony.†Furthering his point, Chris Matthews (MSNBC) say’s presidential wannabe, Senator Sanders, is not electable because he doesn’t have “swagger.â€And heaven forbid we endorse a knowledgeable candidate who has integrity but no swagger.
So how do we find a Bernie Sanders with swagger?
First off, the topic of political science and the choosing of our next leader-of-the-free-world is not something to be hashed out over game night, beers, and hot wing specials. We’re taking a break from the mundane, the arduous workweek, and the familial chaos. It’s been a tough year with doctor visits, car repairs, and daycare, on top of worrying about a job to pay for it all. We’re busy clipping coupons for runs to the local Kmart, Walmart, or some other mart. Burdened by our daily lives we are too tired to sift through the arduous bull of mainstream media, and avoid the advertising and PR. Having been nurtured since birth by these mediums, we go to the polls armed with our [mis]information. Yet, we expect our votes to matter.; even though we place it with limited information. An understanding cannot be found by clicking on your go-to news channels. We need to be overzealous in our search (and research) of the truth. Between the politicians strumming on our nostalgic heart strings with songs and delivering cute sound-bites and the media marketing hotdog pizzas and political theater, one could easily be consumed by apathy.
Bored of the far right, right, center, left fakery, left leaning, left, and liberal, we all are clamoring for progressive moves, a new way, a real change. Intuitive we know something is amiss, but we don’t know the bloody details. We’re tired of business as usual, the nurturing of inequality, pillaging our world, and continual savagery of war. A turning point or revolution is due. I suspect it’s simmering beneath the political gridlock. We’re ready for a new guide to lead us on a new path. The distinction cannot be clearer…Senator Bernie Sanders is that voice. While the Huckabees and Trumps are out trying to set us apart, Sanders is pulling us together. Evolution lies with Sanders, and equally so, with us. We must be his standing army.