IT TURNS OUT

Democracy Diverted / 2018 / Collage on paper by RCS

It turns out the upcoming presidential election is really about choosing life or death. It turns out people prefer democracy over tyranny. It turns out people don’t like puppy killers. It turns out people don’t think corporations are people. When it no longer matters if a candidate for the highest office in the land has any character, and only that he is a character, and in fact, has become just a caricature, the wheels have come off the vehicle of Democracy. Who knows what’s next? A recent study shows most citizens of these here United States are against cannibalism. Once your next-door neighbor starts boiling their cousin for dinner, there goes the neighborhood. It turns out the presidential election this year is really truly about preserving Democracy. Now, and for future generations. It turns out a majority of people are against being randomly gunned down by weapons of war in public spaces, since that’s not the way it should be, didn’t used to be, and must must must stop being. It turns out people want elections decided by the Popular Vote. One citizen equals one vote. As in an outcome based on the fact that more citizens voted for the winning candidate. As in, the person who won the last presidential election. On the other side, there’s the losing candidate still refusing to validate the fact he lost. Spoiler alert: It’s not up for debate. It’s way past time to eliminate the outdated Electoral College. It turns out people get damned touchy when you take away their hard-won rights. It turns out people aren’t as brainwashed as you think they are. The gaslighting failed. Eyes and minds and hearts have been opened. Truth, Justice, and Democracy are in high demand. Beyond these thieves stealing basic human rights under the cloak of night, concerning life, liberty, women’s health, personal public safety from the gun violence epidemic, and breathing clean air – the tragic fact seems to be there isn’t any way to counterbalance these ongoing attacks on democracy. How did we lose so much so quickly? What’s wrong with the current state of our system? Where are any types of checks and balances? It turns out most people are big fans of peace, and can’t understand why warring monsters are never on the front lines. Unhinged Authoritarian Dictators, if you love war so much, why not send yourself to the front line? It turns out most people prefer democracy over theocracy. It turns out most people don’t want a completely corrupt highest court in the land – one that’s been bribed, bought, and paid off – when more than half of them lied repeatedly in their televised job interviews. Settled law of the land? Ring a bell? Spoiler alert: It turns out most people are for women having the right to do what they want with their own bodies. It’s 2024, not the Middle Ages. Time for term limits, and doing away with lifetime appointments? It turns out fresh air, and access to healthy food wherever one lives is what more and more people want. It turns out if you love freedom of the press, it’s already been chipped away at for so many years it’s barely recognizable. It turns out if you believe in protecting the freedom to read anything you want to, voting for the same party who has already proclaimed they want to do away with your Social Security benefits, also wants to make sure citizens get more dumbed down, uninformed, and misinformed. Most forms of media are owned by billionaires who have cultivated a populace who consume nothing but disinformation. In the matter of just a few years, so many of our rights have been stolen, chipped away at, and just steamrolled over. As Bob Marley said, “Get up, stand up, stand up for your rights.” It turns out We the People vote our elected leaders in, and voting them out (and keeping them out) when they are corrupt con artists up to their hairline, should be a no-brainer. It turns out millions and millions of people in our country and around the globe want to murder America. Let’s not let them. It turns out most people don’t think that’s such a good idea. We’ve got to speak up and stand up for the inalienable rights that come with living in our Democracy.