You can’t has it
When I first became politically aware there appeared to be a stark contrast between the two political parties in Washington: one side wanted higher taxes, gun control, and was made up of people who were openly hostile to guys like me, while the other side was the opposite of that. It didn’t take long for this cheap facade to fade away, though, and it became more clear as time went by that the Republicans didn’t really care what I wanted either. During this time, however, I kept voting for my Democratic House Representative. He was the old guard, the last Southern Democrats that both cared about the working man and wanted small government. He went out in 2010 when everyone with a “D” after their name was a target in the South. Other than this I was a good little soldier voting for Republican after Republican. As time went on I started voting for Libertarians for the under-card positions because of the direction the Republican party seemed to be going. Well, that slow separation has accelerated after the omnibus bill.
Both of my Senators, Cochran and Wicker, voted for the omnibus. Cochran faced a hell of a primary fight and had to go into black churches and scare the (mostly Democrat) attendees into showing up for a run-off to keep his spot on the ballot. That year I got to vote against the old coot three times — primary, run-off, and general. Those dirty tricks also turned me off the state Republican party forever and I’ll continually vote against anyone who is a part of the Barbour machine. Until last week I was ambivalent about Wicker but that is gone now. And the Representative that replaced Gene Taylor, Palazzo? He voted for the omnibus. He also voted for Boehner during the last go ’round even after Boehner had cried and dripped spray tan all over the wants of the American people.
None of my politicians have my back.
At every level they are selling me out for their own good. But they make a few ceremonial stands every few years. They’ll keep out the worst of the gun control, maybe, if the winds are blowing the right way. I’m just disgusted with the whole process. This is a situation where the Democrats could have easily picked up my support if they weren’t so goddamned evil from the top down. When all three of your candidates are already talking about gun control like it’s a foregone conclusion in a Democratic presidency you’ve lost me forever. The Republicans have pretty much lost it forever, too. I don’t want Democrat Lite, now with 33% less sodium. But at every turn they fold like an accordion: easy and with a lot of annoying noise.
Poll after poll shows that one side or another is less popular, but overall the entire system has less and less support. Fewer people like congress, fewer people like the president. People see the government as a threat and a problem. People feel like they’re not represented (a truth), people feel like the government is openly hostile to them. I’m fairly rational and I have a lot to lose, so I won’t do anything crazy. But there are certainly some crazy people out there and they may not take the same tact I am. The elite are ruling on borrowed time.
The landslide elections in 2010 and 2014 were supposed to change the culture in Washington. But so far it’s more of the same. 2016 may be the last chance before enough people have had enough to stop cooperating. That will be a bad day for all involved.