Every 4 Years
A wise man once said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. One wonders, was US politics fresh on his mind when Einstein offered such accurate insight? If not, then call it a sad coincidence that his wisdom is realized, in real-time, literally every four years.
Every four years, like clockwork, we're fed the exact same bullshit. Nonsense about how this is the most important election of our time, how people died for our right to vote, how irresponsible it would be to cast a protest vote or abstain altogether. Every four years, we're compelled to continue legitimizing the very same system that we're so apt to criticize in between election cycles. Every four years, we get attacked for attacking the Establishment's two-party charade, for suggesting independent third-party alternatives, for demanding that America exercise the democracy that it loves to export. Every four years, we're told that the only viable candidates for president are the ones pre-approved by the Pentagon; that those funded by Wall Street will go to Washington and somehow become champions of working-class interests. Every four years, the ruling-class allows us to help them choose a spokesperson, a puppet that will explain their decisions to us for the next four years. And right on schedule, every four years, millions upon millions of lumpen-proletarians anxiously clamor at the opportunity to choose their new master.
This time around though, the insanity is at a fever pitch. In order to goad the gullible into supporting a racist imperialist and proven war criminal, the ruling-class has propped up a candidate that can only be described as repugnance personified. Of course, I'm referring to Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, respectively. In 2016 America, our only salvation from the pathological bigotry of Trump is a capitalist warmonger named Clinton. We’re told that in order to defeat Trump's neo-fascism, we must embrace Clinton's neo-liberalism. And one can understand why such insidious fear-mongering is being promoted; because the powers-that-shouldn't-be vomit at what we take pleasure in bearing witness to: an empire in decline. Never have America's "leaders" been so distrusted. Never have so many registered voters made it a habit to abstain from this farce. And never has the working-class been so ready to implement a fresh political paradigm.
The situation ought not to be underlined with optimism though, as we still have masses of the lumpen faithfully flocking to the polls every four years; with some even attempting to shame us proletarians who don't, only further highlighting the necessity of a political revolution. Not the kind that puts another Democrat in office, on some Bernie Sanders shit. But the kind in which the people withdraw consent to be governed; peace to Lysander Spooner. Simply by redirecting our energies away from our enemies’ sham (s)election process and toward building political paradigms that empower the workers, we can begin to experience a level of liberty never before enjoyed by our species.
Of course, I can already hear the spineless, the milquetoast, the cruise missile liberals terrified of a potential Trump presidency, "Yeah you're right. Yeah that makes sense. Yeah I agree. But..." What they really mean to say is, "I enjoy my insanity and I’m not ready to be free."
Maybe in another four years.
