Pete, Joe, Liz, others. Lend me your ears. Drop out now, and nobody gets hurt.

Before anyone interprets that as a threat (although, being on a list is one of my top goals) the nobody in that phrase, is the American populace. And the danger that surrounds us is multifaceted.

Economic danger, environmental destruction, the crumbling of western democracy into fascism. All of these are landmines, strewn across the field of human progress. America, being the global supreme du jour, makes it’s problems the world’s problems.

And boy are we problematic. (Can you cancel a country? Asking for a friend.)

The 2016 presidential election was a tocsin towards the imminent destruction of our way of life. The ascendancy of Donald Trump to leader of the free world was a punchline merely twenty years ago. And in every way, it was a needed ringing of the bell.

But First A Little History

American life has been predicated on lies, propaganda, and accidental good fortune since the end of the Second World War.

A blessing of geography and time, our late entry into the war, and the peace that existed on our continent ensured that when the ash had settled in Dresden and Hiroshima, we could immediately get back to work.

Being on the winning team has its benefits. With the industrial capabilities of Europe in shambles from decades of war, America stood unscathed, ready to manufacture in its absence. In the years leading up to our involvement in the global conflicts, a battle was being waged on the home front.

Militant Labor Unions had been a thorn in the sides of capital since the 1880s. Eugene Debs of The Socialist Party of America had received 6% of votes in the 1912 Presidential Election (the absolute madman managed to snag 3.4% of ballots in 1920, from prison.)

The growing pains stemming from the rapid industrialization of the Gilded and Progressive ages had skyrocketed the capabilities of American Capital. And all that it took was inhumane conditions, subhuman wages, and child labor. The Militant Labor movements of the 1900s enabled the protections that workers now take for granted. The Great Depression further illustrated the disparity between the ruling class and it’s subjects. And only today do we see nearly the enthusiasm for left wing economic theory that we did in those bygone eras.

Because FDR pulled the greatest trick in the history of centrism, siphoning the ire and militancy away from both the left, and the right. Then funneling those camps into the center-left ideology of The New Deal.

The New Deal is a complicated beast. From the perspective that America is good, and should continue to exist, it absolutely worked. Millions of people lifted out of the confines of poverty. Work programs, art endowments, civic engineering projects. All brought hope and prosperity to the working class of America. And with minimal damage to the existing corporate structures already in place.

In the early 20th Century two competing ideologies looked to replace Capitalism as the global economic scheme. Socialism and Fascism both saw the failings of the free market. Socialism arguing against the exploitation of the workers, with profits being funneled into the pockets of those who do no labor. Whereas Fascist economic theory was grounded on protectionism for Italian corporations against an increasingly global economy.

The New Deal satiated American’s desire for a better life. The unrest and uncertainty now put to bed. The messages from both far left and far right groups fell on deaf ears. Why would you want to fight and die in the streets when your belly is full? Who needs a revolution when you’ve got a decent job?

The unparalleled success of the American economy in the decades following WWII were coupled with progressive tax structures, state incentivized education, and subsidized home ownership. A Keynesian economic framework which operated under the assumption that the more money people have, the more they’ll spend. And that the exchange of money between parties was the backbone of all economic security.

Truly the Baby Boomers had it good.

What no one could expect, was that the Boomers would turn it all around as soon as they got the chance.

The Boomers, in addition to incubating in a period of unrivaled productivity and prosperity. Also came of age during what is possibly the largest psy-op campaign of recent history. The Cold War. As soon as our fight with the Nazis ended, our battle against Communism began.

Despite the Soviets being our strongest and most valuable ally in the fight against the Axis. Everyone in the West knew that it was a marriage of necessity. After all, the Nazis were much closer aligned in ideology to Americans. We taught them Institutionalized Racism for instance. The Nazi party was happy to privatize public services, they were cooperative with major corporations. Our fight against the Nazis was not an ideological one, it was an issue of pre-existing contracts. We were obliged to help Britain, and Hitler had already formed a pact with Japan.

But American Capital hadn’t forgotten the lessons of the early 1900s. The workers would eventually wise up to their exploitation, and would demand justice. The Spectre of Communism wasn’t just haunting Europe. It had spread to Asia, Africa, and The Middle East. American Capital saw a world in crisis, and that crisis could not be allowed to make passage into our waters.

Korea, Vietnam, and dozens of smaller, less Ken Burnsified conflicts were a physical manifestation of Capital’s war. But the coldest war of all, was waged by American wealth against the minds and spirits of American Citizens.

Any left leaning goal had been re-branded as Communism. Civil Rights, Communist. Anti-War, Communist. Gender Equality, Communist. And because Americans grew up not only conflating the entire school of Marxist thought with its expression in the USSR, but essentially viewing Communism as a demonic force. The propaganda worked.

As time grew on, the protections and securities that so many had lost their lives to obtain were eroded. A win for the God Fearing American and his distrust of “Big Government.”

This reached its focal point in the 80s. The era of Reagan. Reagan had made his name in Hollywood and on Television as an All American. During his time hosting “General Electric Theater” Reagan became radicalized from an Anti-Communist Liberal, to the free market fanatic we remember him as. Giving speeches on TV an in person to GE employees, he justified countless acts of corporate tyranny (many of which he directly profited off of.)

Reagan’s presidency was the time period that Unions and Social Welfare became enemies of the American Public. And its heroes were now Banks, Holding Firms, and Megacorporations. Ronald Reagan utilized American’s fear of the Soviets to enable a complete dismantling of the American safety net. Profits soared, and for a few years everything seemed okay.

With the failed presidential campaigns of Mondale and Dukakis haunting the Democrats. They examined a bold new strategy for the 1992 election. “What if we ran a cool Republican instead?”

Whence comes Bill Clinton. A smooth talker, a jazz man, and one of the ideological powerhouses behind the Democratic Party’s swing towards the center. He was a proponent of the Third Way economic framework. Where market ideals were upheld, and minor social improvements were granted.

Alternatively, weeping at the ills of this world, and singing the praises for their cause.

Bill Clinton’s Third Way Democrats saw a major victory in Welfare Reform. The reform mostly focused on how to deny the most recipients without losing too many voters. It was the solidification of the concrete the bound both Democrats and Republicans together in economic identity.

This focused the national conversation onto paltry social issues. This was the era of Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh. Culture Warriors of the purest expression. The battles between the parties needed to be predicated on social conflicts. Because the economic theories of both wings were identical.

Other than a few minor hiccups, Clinton’s presidency was a resounding success for the Democratic image. The numbers looked good, everyone was putzing along. And with the collapse of the Soviet Union, America was free to take the reigns over global policy.

There might be no better expression of the hubris of Americans than the 1990s. The dawn of the information age. A world free of rivals, only partners. While the Balkans and Eastern Europe burned, we could watch Friends and listen to The Offspring.

And all the way through those past few decades, while no one was suspecting it. The charges that would eventually bring us into the explosion we now live under were being placed. The same lack of oversight that had caused the Great Depression had been given back to the financial sector. The lessons learned from Vietnam meant our wars were no longer big, deadly operations. They had transitioned into small scale, peace keeping operations all across the globe. The elimination of the draft meant that any casualties were noble sacrifices made by volunteers.

A storm was brewing. A storm that was to be inherited by a folksy failson from Connecticut. A stolen election, in a contest between the Third Way Continuation of Al Gore and the Compassionate Conservatism of George W. Bush.

And we all know what happened under Dubya’s tenure. Decades of interference in the Muslim world gave us 9/11 at the beginning of his rule. The hubristic deregulation of financial institutions allowed the financial crash to be the bookend of his legacy. Yes a NeoCon was blamed for the monetary chickens coming to roost, but the neoliberal idealism of Third Way Democrats built the coop.

Enter Barack Obama, The Obungler if you will (and I will.) His campaign a disastrous betrayal of American optimism, but a Master Class in advertising. 2008 was my first election at 19 years of age. And despite being a staunch libertarian at the time (weeeed mann), I was very excited to cast my vote for Barry.

Obama is many things, a war criminal, a stooge for vested money interests, and an enemy of the working class. But he’s also pretty cool, you gotta give it to him. His ability to control the narrative through rhetoric alone is unparalleled in American politics today. But for all the change we hoped for, all that was delivered was a sleek dark coat of paint on the pointless meandering liberalism of Bill Clinton. When presented with control of both the legislative and executive branches of the federal government he caved not only to his financial backers, but to the outdated notions of decorum and civility. Dangerous holdovers from the Enlightenment Era.

Liberalism from a policy perspective is unsustainable from the start. But the moral and ethical foundation it is built upon is utopian in the dumbest possible manner. A misguided and empirically braindead notion that the smart people will prevail. That by presenting a clear showing of “just the facts” the voting populace will make the right choice, and listen to the smart folks in Washington.

Obama believed, or at least pretended to believe, that Republicans would act in good faith. That the party of foaming at the mouth racists, and money worshiping psychos would somehow deliberate their way into a friendly compromise to get Americans reasonable health care.

So at the fist sign of resistance to the Obamacare proposals, the only even half-decent aspect of it, the public option, was removed. In an attempt to get bi-partisan support for the bill. It is important to remember that Obamacare was based on Romneycare, yes Mitt Romney. And ultimately it was all from the decidedly uncompassionate conservatives at The Heritage Foundation.

So again, Obama had the votes to get whatever bill he wanted passed. He then elected to introduce a Republican healthcare plan, and remove the one part of it that was decidedly un-Republican, in order to court the unneeded votes of Republicans. The pay-out for all of these concessions? Not a single Republican in the senate voted to enact the ACA.

A mere eight months after the passing of Obamacare, the Democrats faced their reckoning in the 2010 mid-terms. A “shellacking.” And with that Obama, our prince that was promised, lost any and all ability to effectively legislate. All of the pandering, the swerving to the middle, the appeals to reason gave way. The Tea Party was here, a hardly concealed knee-jerk reaction to the fact that a black man sat in the White House. And a now obvious harbinger of the seething white-hot ball of hatred that manifested in the Trump administration.

I Thought This Was About Mayor Pete

It is, but to understand why guys like Pete and Warren will inevitably kill us all a historical context had to be created.

The 20th century was a testament to the inevitable failure of Liberalism. Because in order for centrist-dem political ideology to work, the opposition must be acting in good faith. And Republicans, as the legislative wing of American Capital, will never act in good faith. Nixon prolonged The American War in Vietnam to ensure an electoral victory. Reagan was willing to sell weapons to Iran to fund the brutal murders by far-right militias in Latin America. W lied to the American public to fund a war-profiteering venture for his friends.

And that’s not to say Democrats are saints, or even halfway decent. But the depths of depravity that baseline Republicans are willing to stoop in order the maintain power, wealth, and influence can not be understated. Anyone who still supports The Democrats is a fool, and anyone who willingly describes themselves as Republican is a monster.

And every four years, when given the opportunity to challenge these monsters for control of our future, the Democrats stumble over themselves to try and appeal to that same monster’s fan club.

Michael Dukakis famously said in the 1988 election against Reagan

“This election isn’t about ideology. It’s about competence.”

Which in an election between two parties, is incredibly stupid at face value. But becomes even more sinister when read in depth.

If there is no difference in Ideology, then what the fuck is your platform? You can create a more humane crack epidemic? Funnel money to female Contras at a rate equal to males? Dukakis, like Mondale before him, was running a race not for the future but the present. The thought process being if a high enough margin of voters switch teams, the presidency is theirs. And how better to appeal to voters than by mimicking what they already like?

And with that you’re admitting to the base of your party, and to the country as a whole. That your entire electoral strategy is predicated upon a few percentage points of “moderates” feeling good about the minute differences in policy that separate you from the opposing candidate.

Moderates are defined by the time they exist in. A moderate from 1960 would be considered progressive by 1990. Up until recently the entire American electorate had shifted so far to the right, half of the Overton Window was covered by a black-out shade.

How many “moderate” Republicans made good on their Never Trump promises? How many “moderate” Democrats gleefully clap like seals when more means testing is forced onto welfare programs? Why, in this era of American Neo-Fascism do we give a shit about what a moderate thinks? Moderates are comfortable, moderates are safe, and moderates will side with whatever political party allows them to maintain their exact level of comfort with the least amount of headache.

Moderates don’t just play by the rules, they’re addicted to them. And look at where the rules have lead us.

The entire system, from top to bottom has been torn to shreds by Capital. And now Capital gets to wear the severed face of the democratic process as it calmly leads the entire world into pestilence and war.

Mayor Pete, Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden, and all the bozos polling far below them are pining for one thing. Its the same thing their supporters yearn for. A return to the time before Trump, the return to the Obama years. To the average Democrat, 2008 to 2016 were the pinnacle of American achievement. There was a black guy, running the country! How delightful. He was articulate, and had the respect of the World at his disposal. The economy was recovering, the wars were less visible, he liked Hamilton!

And all the while, under this veneer of cool headed leadership, the world continued to burn. The drones were still killing children, Healthcare continued to be a burden on working Americans, the sea levels continued to rise. Obama style liberalism solved literally none of the existential threats to our nation and our planet. And actively made several of them worse. A return to business as usual liberalism will sincerely kill us all.

And that’s if they win! Which is not the guarantee that some blue-check on Twitter might lead you to believe. Because, as we learned just a few years ago. In a contest between a moderate democrat running on an Obama platform, and a racist game show host, the game show host won. Hillary Clinton was electable, she was intelligent, she had policy. And that didn’t mean shit to people in the rust belt. It never meant anything to the working class American, because as dumb as Americans are, they can tell when their life sucks.

Obama said things were going to be different. And Obama fucking lied.

Trump presented an alternative, and the working class had been skull fucked by Capital for so long that any alternative to the status quo was preferable. Granted, a fake billionaire somehow convincing poor people that their Mexican neighbors had more to do with the dire financial conditions than the actual billionaires speaks volumes about the failures of the American education system. And even that can be squarely placed on the concessions that spineless, cowardly liberals made to Capital. Every cog and every gear in the political institutions in this country have been working towards one singular goal. The transmission of wealth from the workers that produced it into the hands of the already ludicrously wealthy.

The only way to ensure a habitable planet, unmarred by poverty, and unencumbered by Fascism is to destroy the system that is leading us down that path. And the only candidate for president that is qualified to do so, is Bernie Sanders. (Oh come on, you knew I was going there.)



Bernie will beat Trump in the general election. Because Bernie has been speaking the language of the unrepresented his entire career. Bernie has a track record of standing up to those without scruples in government and in business. Only Bernie can galvanize the working class into a movement that is built on a sustained future for all. And only Bernie is actually telling the truth.

This is make or break. If Trump gets a second term, he will get a third. He’s “joked” about it publicly. His supporters pine for it openly. And frankly, if he does get it we’ll have deserved it. Pete and Liz have no methods to defend themselves against Trump. All that a pencilnecked dweeb like Buttigieg or Warren can do against trump is slam their notebook on the podium and bleat out some contrived bullshit like

“Sir the numbers don’t lie, but you do!”

And all of the Parks and Rec demographic will hoot and cheer and share the gifs. And Trump will continue to talk about how he can’t flush a toilet. And Trump, with his massive fiberless ordure, will win. Because Americans sincerely care more about taking a shit than they do about whatever egg-headed wonkisms Mayor Pete could stammer out.

If you want to die, I get it, really I do. But make it something badass like BASE jumping or heroin. Because working 60 hour weeks until we’re literally killing each other over water sounds like a drag.