Against All Odds ("The System is Rigged")

It is the recognition of the value of every individual on the planet for just being a human being and thus having agency both personally and in terms of the institutions of society, that is the fundamental underpinning of the democratic way. It is this a priori proposition on which American democracy is allegedly built.

Unfortunately, theory and practice currently are quite at odds.

"The people" have in recent decades been deemed as increasingly irrelevant; have been marginalized, disenfranchised, disempowered.

This is not an accident.

It is the calculated work of a small band of anti-democratic elites, who fanatically believe in their own aristocratic entitlement, who are certain that their wealth and status demands that everyone else step aside and let them run the show.

Donald Trump in his presidential bids said a lot of the things people wanted to hear. He made wild but highly appealing campaign promises and hypnotized a sufficient number of people with ingenious messaging.

One of the memes he frequently floated in his 2016 campaign was that "the system is rigged." Well, people figured, he should know! He's right in the thick of the billionaire class, the ones doing the rigging. The implication was he knew how it was rigged, therefore he would know how to "unrig" it. It was assumed, against a lot of obvious evidence to the contrary, that he would turn his back on his privileged colleagues and fight for everyday American citizens.

As is apparent now, it was all empty rhetoric. Trump has turned on "the people" -- his MAGA base and all the gullible voters who voted him into office, TWICE! -- like a rabid dog. He's broken practically every promise and is with the vultures he keeps as friends, continuing to loot the country, grab even more power and position themselves for more predation and subjugation of the rest of us -- "we the people".

Indeed, the system is rigged!

Here's the current ugly, very disturbing reality.

Congress is owned by the predators, the White House is in the grip of a monomaniacal, self-serving narcissist. The courts, the military, the Deep State, the intel agencies, the media, are all totally controlled by the ruthless, self-serving, self-enriching .1%.

It's a grim and disheartening picture.

What can we do?

Is there a way out of this prison?

There's one promising aspect of our current situation.

We are constantly reminded that America is a democracy.

The truth is our current system in reality isn't. It is an oligarchy, as established over a decade ago in a cogent, objective study by Martin Gilens (Princeton University) and Benjamin Page (Northwestern University of how our pseudo-democracy in practice works. How the will of the great majority of citizens makes not one whit of difference in what laws are passed and what direction the country takes.

Understand that there's a very good reason why the "illusion" that America is a democracy is so aggressively sold to us by the current corrupt political class and a media.

It's a matter of survival for those in power. Of keeping the current status quo in place. That is, it is imperative that the vast majority of U.S. citizens believe they have a say in the running of the country, that they do this by choosing who will go to Washington DC and do what needs to be done: Passing laws, enforcing laws and regulations, keeping a guiding hand and watchful eye on all that goes on to "establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity."

Most people buy into this charade. They take it as a given that they are genuinely participating in "self-government". They believe that by going to the polls every two years and voting, they are exercising their rights and privileges as a citizen, that they are deciding the direction of the country.

This, of course, is a myth.

Voting? Sure, we get to choose whether we want the Democrats or the Republicans to control Congress and occupy the White House.

But it is here that we discover just how rigged the system truly is!

Because the ruling class completely owns and controls both of the two major political parties. Sure we get to choose. We get to choose between candidates, who regardless of whether they are Democrats or Republicans, who despite inconsequential differences on some issues, will go to Washington DC, ignore the will of the voters on the truly important issues, and exclusively do the bidding of their deep-pocketed, ruling class puppet masters.

Do you need proof?

Whether the Democrats or Republicans are in power, the important things never change. The rich get richer; the rest of us get poorer; the corporations and the ultra-wealthy pay virtually no taxes and get all sorts of subsidies and perks; the everyday citizens pay for the bulk of our bloated federal budget; the wars keep going, draining our nation of its wealth; the national debt -- which WE THE PEOPLE are ultimately on the hook for -- keeps ballooning; our share of America's colossal wealth keeps shrinking -- reduced services and benefits to the 99%; health costs keep increasing; wages remain stagnant or decline; the nation's infrastructure we all depend on continues to decay; public education degrades; quality higher education becomes more and more unaffordable; good-paying jobs keep disappearing; on and on.

Yes, how wonderful! We get to choose. We get to choose which candidate will ignore and betray us, which candidate will charm and overwhelm us with empty campaign promises, pleasant sounding word salad, clever sound bites -- "the system is rigged" -- inspiring memes -- Make America Great Again! -- then screw us over.

They lay it on thick. We are constantly reminded: "You must either vote Democrat or vote Republican. Yes, there are some on the lunatic fringe out there. Green Party, Libertarian, Peace Party, Socialists. But unless you're a fruitcake like one of them, just vote for one of the major parties and everything will be alright.

Yeah, right!

Everything isn't alright. Lately, everything has become a gigantic, foul, stinking mess.

But it seems people are actually beginning to wake up. Over the past couple decades, an increasing number of folks have dropped their major party affiliation and now identify as "independent". Credible opinion polls put it at around 45% of eligible voters.

Yes, people are waking up. Fool me once. Fool me twice. Fool me a thousand times! It's becoming more and more apparent that we are being conned, lied to, manipulated. The two major parties have not been there for us, for at least three decades, arguably more. And there's no prospect of that changing, for either of them coming around and working for us -- "we the people" -- despite all the pretty promises, rhetorical fluff, excuses, fairy tales and PR spin that both the Democrats and Republicans now churn out.

Recognizing the problem is a good start.

But we have a way to go.

It's one thing to be fed up with the way the current system works and another to do something about it.

We need a strategy which does an end run around the stranglehold of the two major parties -- the duopoly. A strategy which counters the propaganda and puerile messaging we are bombarded with by the both the Democrats and Republican, and their bootlickers in the media. A strategy which embraces the priorities and values of the voting public. A strategy that with good reason wins their confidence and trust.

This book offers just such a strategy.

[ This is an excerpt from my latest book, The CFAR Electoral Campaign Strategy, is available as of June 20th, at all popular internet boostores. Look for it! ]