What’s difficult about being on the spectrum is that sometimes you don’t realize that there was a game being played. You go on in everyday life, which is hard enough, and don’t realize that all around you a game is being played. It’s like you are a fish in an aquarium watching the world walk by. Then the aquarium breaks and suddenly you are in the middle of this game trying to figure out how to play while clearly not understanding the rules. The lucky ones are the people that understand that there is a game being played early on. They inherently understand that ethics and faith aside, we are animals and our primary goal is to survive and that their success is riding on how well they play. I am the fish and I am desperately trying to ride a bike.
That being said, for obvious reasons, I am not the smartest person in the room unless the room is inhabited by only me. I am not a success as it is defined today. What befuddles me though is how the brightest and smartest people in the room where not able to read the writing on the wall. It was clearly written, mind you in primary school form of connect the dots, but still it was as plain as day. I could see it. It walked by me every day while I was in the aquarium watching.
Our current predicament as a nation is a by product of presidential voting choices stemming from 1980. It was then that we clearly should have rethought the right to vote and the vetting process for presidential hopefuls.
In my view the last true President was Jimmy Carter. He was a decent human being who cared with compassion and empathy about the citizens of the USA and understood that this was his primary purpose. It was only after him that things started to travel to now. So let’s look at who followed Carter and play the game of connect the dots.
The Actor: Ronald Reagan’s first career was an actor. His job was to play a character and convince the audience that he was that character. He was able to do this well enough to have work as an actor and assume the presidency. His theory of Trickle Down Economics was just a fancy rebranding of feudalism and he paved the way for big businesses. Seems about right for a man who was an actor. Even when he was president, we knew there were a few players in the background controlling the strings. After all a actors only do well with good directors and producers.
The Spy: George Bush followed. A man, who at the height of his career, was the director of the CIA. Seems suspicious and ironic that a director took the place of an actor. Hmm? Maybe he was better at pulling the strings than being in front of the camera. Just saying. His job prior, a spy, was to play both sides almost equally but provide to one side the winning hand. Some of the issues we are facing today in places like Syria, Myanmar and Afghanistan are still a by product of 12 years of Democracy vs Communism and the Bush/Reagan era. The only winners were military manufactures and oil companies, both necessities of fighting a war.
The Car Salesman: With the boom of cable TV and especially MTV, it was just a matter of time that a politician capitalized on this new technology to spread his or her message and word to get elected. Bill Clinton rallied the young voter using modern media with the promise of socialized medicine and won. Then the economy took off, the internet replaced cable TV and all the voters cared about was making money through the dotcoms and looking at porn on the internet. No longer did we have to go to sex stores. Now we could masterbate in the privacy of our homes to anything imaginable. We still do. Would have been nifty though if he had taxed and regulated the dotcoms from the getco and in return provided all citizens with socialized medicine that he promised. But he had other things to do. He needed to capitalize on the presidency to increase his income and tap some pussy in the oval office. Oh, I am sorry. Not tapped, cigarred.
The Texan: Then we elected the All American President, George W. Bush. GW was the easiest president for me to accept. Personally, he was a mountain biker and knew how to ride with clipless pedals. I promise you it’s a thing in cycling. He gets credit for that. He was also McDonalds, Pepsi, Marlboro, Shell, Ford, Smith and Wesson, Budweiser, the Dallas Cowboys and Nike all rolled into one easy to take home package. He was obviously a supporter of big business, oil, bigger guns and selling the people of America the Capitalist American Dream. He was easy to understand and predict. He was a Texan and a stereotypical one. He was not going to cumbaya foreign issues and certainly was not going to drive a Prius. So when he took us to war over oil, it seemed normal. Now, as an aside, I don’t smoke, drink coke or alcohol, have never fired a gun, my favorite sport is ultra running and rarely drive a car. It doesn’t change the fact that most Americans are fans of big league sports, American made products and eat and drink sugary food. He was the guy allowing this to happen. He tried his best without trying to hard.
The Lithograph was next: Barack Obama’s campaign was a true testament as to how easily manipulated we are as consumers. The Obama Change lithograph was the political equivalent of Nike or Coke. It resonated with people regardless of the message it was backing. However, Obama, during his tenure, killed capitalism, created a huge middle class tax increase and destroyed education. During the financial collapse he stated that some businesses were too big to fail and bailed them out. That directly connects business with the government. It means if you have the bigger pockets, not the better product, you will win. On to the middle class tax also known as Obamacare. The rich have money so when they have a problem they have the means to fix it. In other words, they can afford the premiums with ease and have and will always receive efficient and timely service. The poor seemingly have nothing, but they do have access to healthcare. They just go to the hospital when needed and the hippocratic oath takes care of the rest. When the creditor come to collect, there was nothing in the coffers to begin with. So who pays into the system? The middle class, through Obamacare, pays to keep the system as is, with minor if any benefits going to the consumer or citizen. Lastly, education. Creating legislation that creates an education system where the primary benefactors are the principals, the management and the parents literally defeats the purpose of education. If teachers are always worried about their next observation and parental concern instead of meeting the needs to the students, then the system fails and has failed as we can see by our current president.
Donald Trump was the picture that the child found when they connected the dots. The writing was clear. There were even some warning shots fired across the bow from the likes of the Simpsons, Idiocracy, Animal Farm and Fahrenheit 451. Over the past 40 years we have allowed a system to develop that puts money and greed at the top of the want list. It should be of no surprise that our leader should be a reflection of this. Trump was elected because we, Americans, seemed to have forgotten what it means to be a citizen of the USA and the world.
For all the negatives that are attributed to Trump, we forget that he achieved the American Dream. He said I want to be President like many children all over the world. The difference was that he achieved it. He was allowed to bludgeon, criticise, polk fun, insult and dehumanize all of his opponents. No topic was taboo and no responsibility claimed. He was the perfect product of the system that the post Carter generation created. He was an actor, played both sides, a salesman, a New Yorker and a brand. He just lumped what we had into one big pot and stirred it up and his presidency was the result. I am proud of that. He Happy Gilmore’d both the Democrats and Republicans to win the Presidency. If you don’t get the joke, watch the film.
And again, here we are. Chained to the 24 hour news cycle waiting to see who will say what. Will there be an impeachment? Can the Democrats produce a candidate? Time will tell. Given how our choices went as as of late, I think we may want to start examining what’s lurking below the surface this time around. Everyone seems to have their own personal agenda while missing the point that their primary agenda is for the citizens of the USA.
Remember this, a citizen is contributing member of a society in which their needs are being met in return for a better future for themselves and for their offspring. Being from a country in which retirement is not mandatory and a right, medical is a tax, and education is a cost, I think it is time for us to redefine citizenship or to demand what is rightfully ours for being one.
- All works at Observations from the Spectrum written by Dylan Netter
- Observationsfromthespectrum.org
- OFTS.blog
- On? a third point of view – book of Essays
- Marinehippie.com podcast w/ Docstodden.com – dialogue exploring politics and musings of life
- Horizoncoaching.org – English Tutor and Guide
- BeeHIVeplus1.org
Observations From the Spectrum 
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