"Come on people now
Smile on your brother
Everybody get together try to love one another
Right now
Right now
RIGHT NOW!"

"Get Together"
The Youngbloods

And the press said not to be afraid of Donald Trump, that he was ineffectual, and Paul Ryan was a small thinker, that they could nominate Supreme Court Justices but not break the government...

WRONG!

This is what I hate about today's America, you've got no idea what's going on. The elites were unaware of the working or out-of-work class and the right wing has its megaphone and is not listening to the left and everybody's blaming fake news when the problem is real news, and people living in echo chambers, unaware of what the other guy is saying.

Didn't used to be this way.

Not because of the Fairness Doctrine, not because of fewer media outlets, but because of the makeup of our society.

Remember "Peace and Love"? Seems like the only person still saying that is Ringo, and the days of listening to your rock star to tell you which way the wind blows died when MTV made performers richer than their wildest dreams and then the techies came along and ate their lunch, literally with Napster and figuratively as in how much richer the coders can be.

So we're sitting in the mud, listening to the Airplane, playing air guitar to Hendrix, sharing our food, looking out for one another, Max Yasgur tells us how amazing it is that we can all get together for three days of fun and music and have nothing but fun and music and then Reagan goes and blows a hole in the whole damn thing.

I just took a huge risk there in case you don't know. By mentioning the exalted one's name. You might think he was a dementia-ridden, astrology-abiding, grandfatherly nitwit, but to a whole swath of Americans he's god. He single-handedly stopped Communism and he denigrated the government and gave the power and the money back to the people and harmony reigned forever more, until that black guy became President and ruined it, which is kind of amazing if you think about it, since that black guy was a centrist and he didn't control Congress for most of his tenure and you might think this is about racism but this is really about a redefining of what America's about, which is I'm gonna grab mine, SCREW YOU!

As if the rich aren't rich enough.

That's the problem in America today, income inequality, but if you say that the right wing claims CLASS WARFARE! But why should that scare you, aren't classes just divisions amongst ourselves?

And the point here is by mentioning Reagan and "class warfare" my inbox will go berserk with people telling me how wrong I am and I have no respect. Used to be the African-Americans would tolerate no taunt, now it's the white right wing. And if you think about it, Huey and the Panthers did a lot to give their community respect. And now Trump is enabling everybody on the other side, who just want the foreigners to go home and the ethnicities to shut up, so they can all go home and shoot opioids and revel in their freedom.

Not that the left doesn't push it too far. Did you see that story in the "Times" about vocal coaching for transgendered people? I'm all for transgender rights, vocal coaching is cool with me, but when you're losing the World Series you don't start worrying about your bench, making sure the hitters far down the line are ready, YOU FOCUS ON THOSE WHO ARE GONNA PLAY! As in the left wing just does not know how to prioritize, doesn't know how to subordinate the little stuff to focus on the big stuff. Furthermore, the left is myopic, they've got no idea how anybody other than themselves live, and they're contemptuous of others.

Everybody in America has got contempt for everybody else. And we can't agree on the facts. It's as if in that aforementioned World Series the National League team believes it's winning by 3-2 and the American believes it's winning by 2-1, how do you even start, how do you even play the game?

As for the rules, even Congress just changed those. Which is how Gorsuch got his seat. A guy who wasted no time in making his views known, swaying decisions 5-4.

So I'm pretty depressed.

We don't listen to the same music, we don't go to the same schools, Betsy DeVos is about vouchers when the latest statistics say they actually cause scores to go DOWN and the truth is it's all about religious education, getting the government to pay for it, and now we're not even studying the same stuff.

And the President just stands up and lies. After all, he's an entertainer, and they lie for a living.

And no one can lose their job, everybody wants to protect what they have, and there's no cohesiveness whatsoever.

I'd love to tell you how it all works out, but I'm clueless. I can document the change, how we got here, but I feel powerless and there are no leaders on the left and like I said, the news outlets keep telling us not to worry, it can't happen her, BUT THEN IT DOES!

Ryan can't get his bill passed.

But he does.

Well now it can't get through the Senate.

WANNA BET?

And this doesn't even apply to me. I pay beaucoup bucks for a PPO with a multiple four grand deductible because of preexisting conditions but I want this level of service. The thought that I'm paying five figures a year and therefore everybody else should be screwed never crosses my mind. I'm worried about the disadvantaged, those who've lost their jobs, been the victims of unforeseen health problems and yes, maybe that single mother shouldn't have had that kid, but we're gonna throw the baby out with the bathwater, is that what we Americans do?

I know, I know, we can't get everything we want, we have to compromise.

But the joke is on the left. I voted for Barry and I'm down with him, but let's not forget that on his watch the Democrats lost control of both houses of Congress and all those governorships. I live in California, but the rest of the country is pretty damn red. Good luck having that union look out for you, the union is DEAD!

Because the unions are the problem.

The tort lawyers are the problem.

The government is the problem.

No, we are the problem. We're every one of those people. Just like every family has a gay member, we've all got relatives all over the place, in all walks of life, working for the man or being an entrepreneur, advantaged or less so.

The problem is us.

And we're gonna have to metabolize the effects of President Trump and his cronies ourselves. The media ain't gonna save us. Hell, half the people benefiting from the programs Trump wants to cut don't even know it. How many years is it gonna take them to realize this and get their voices heard, and what will be lost along the way?

And all these marches, they don't seem to be making a difference, they're too vague, whereas a town hall where you complain, make an elected official worry about his gig, those seem to have an effect, so maybe we need more targeted protest.

Or maybe whatever we do makes no difference.

The truth is we're all in it together.

But no one in America believes that anymore.

America is a great place if you're rich.

And if you ain't?

Not so much.

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