Nation of Idiots Wins/Loses

This essay was originally published on the now defunct Disinfo.com, before Trump was elected...

If reasonable people don't vote, an army of idiots wins out.

In a few days Americans will go to the polls and elect a new president. Barring some unusual outcome, it will be either Hillary Clinton, a lifelong politician or Donald Trump, a "wealth celebrity." I think if Clinton wins you will have eight more years of business as usual, circling the drain. I think if Trump wins you will circle no more. 

Everywhere you look in modern life, there is a divide. We are much more apt to notice and appreciate differences rather than similarities. This is the hyper-manipulated self. It no longer matters if you are the generation that wrote the programming (dead), the generation that bought and sold the packaging (dying), the generation that wished for the programming to be correct (writing essays), or the generation that keeps their programming dynamic (not reading them): We are all aware that the people in charge are going to do whatever they see fit, in order to keep conditions in their favour. Thus, we peel back the curtain, revealing the shrivelled old wizard, bellowing commands into an ancient machine. We know it's a shit show, so we don't care, so we don't vote. In this scenario nobody wins and in this case, not winning could mean dying.

I understand the appeal of Trump, because I can appreciate wanting to shake up the system. There are a great many things wrong with America and with western society in general, but Captain Hair is not the answer. Most of what Trump says is incoherent and the things he uses as his selling points are imbecilic. Anyone who is smart enough to understand that Americans are enslaved by the elite, yet dumb enough to think that Trump is going to share the wealth is missing the point. It's true that Trump would make a difference, perhaps becoming the most radical president in history, but none of the things that he could accomplish would detract from business continuing unabated. If it did Trump would simply be killed, like JFK. Perhaps no president will be able to make the changes required to create a true democracy, because of money, greed and entitlement.

Americans are having to choose between an evil bitch and an evil bastard, which is difficult in any scenario, but with voter apathy threatening an intellectual shortfall at the polls, we might end up with the crazier of the two, rather than the saner. Plenty of former presidents have been a little bit crazy, but Trump's particular brand of crazy might be more dangerous than useful. If you're gonna go for crazy, America, you need someone who wants to desalinate oceans, go to Mars, end oil, provide free energy, food, water. Or rather you need someone able to stand up to the real powers that be, so that ideas like these can be taken from absurd fantasy to concrete reality. At any rate, Trump is not the person to deliver good change, neither is Clinton but she is at least safe. Just vote her in and the next time some crazy weirdo starts talking about good change, pie in the sky, save the world type stuff, listen. Don't vote for a guy whose solution is a bloody wall. Trump is a giant step backwards.