Capitalism worships a god of profit over human lives, which is anathemic to legitimate democratic representation. It is also a belief system which normalizes and glorifies 'elite' greed- with the paid P.R. to disguise itself as a meritocracy. It justifies inequality under the PowerBall premise that anyone with the right talents, effort, (and opportunities) could become one of the "Kings of the Hill" too.
But our life expectancies are going down in proportion to the stock market going up. Corporations now write all laws, including their military industrial complex division. To the rest of the world, we are becoming evil sociopaths masquerading as "successful business moguls." No matter how normalized, those with the most power and control do not share similar motives as most individual citizens.
Trump did not happen in a bubble. The 1%'s duopoly are allowing us only two options: support neoliberalism or support neofascism. We can have "kind, diverse" nonrepresentation who speak to us in softer tones, or "strong, ugly" nonrepresentation which offers zero apologies. Like every other capitalist enterprise, controlling their customers' choices is always eventually easier and more profitable.
Capitalism's good cop / bad cop indoctrination forces decent people to accept either callous, nihilist selfishness for a life coping skill, or become a faithful member of our country's true religion: the myth of 1% humanitarians. One either needs to believe that those few insulated, unaccountable people on the top of the pile have their best interests at heart- or admire tyrants and aspire to be like them.
Neither is the answer. And contrary to propaganda, to admit that isn't "radical extremism." It's evidence-based in pretty much every measurable metric. Americans now celebrate imaginary greatness based only on our sponsored egos, or by having pride in being one of the successful predators. But both are indoctrinated to believe anyone challenging their twisted worldviews is "America's enemy."
Whatever technological advances that have been made "thanks to capitalism" hasn't translated to equal rights or moral behaviors. In fact, career criminals can now pay to have crimes legalized, ignored, or just direct mass attention elsewhere. We're surrounded by all the failures of this system daily- homelessness, lack of healthcare, eternal war- yet it's sactified by distractions, and fears of "worse."
So long as we accept capitalism's false choice, we are new-age feudal peasants, working our masters' land for them. We see a smaller and smaller percentage of the value we create, as those who make the rules hoard wealth and power. Because that's how things work, by design. Politicians typically become millionaires in office; it's not due to their governmental salaries, but by assisting trillionaires.
Obama sold gullible Americans on promises of "Hope and Change," while continuing the policies of his predeccesors. He got a Nobel Peace prize for his smooth words, despite increasing both drone strikes and deportations. Hillary and Trump were the most hated in our electoral history, and Biden vs. Trump was a rehash of it, with the majority just voting against who they thought might be worse.
By accepting their false notion of a "lesser" evil (as long as a worse one can be produced for contrast), the wealthy have organized our con job "democracy" as a capitalist business. We've become mere customers to whatever they offer. Our "freedom" is only a lose-lose game hinged on our reactionary fear preferences, based on how our indoctrination vs frustration level has progressed per individual.
Impeachmentgate and Russiagate gave politicians media cover for legitimate grievances- like the repeated rigging of the Democratic primaries, refusing all majority-wanted policies and politicians that support them, and letting "the biggest threat to our Democracy" Trump have the biggest military budget in history. It was about controlling the narrative, and ensuring continued mass compliance.
Our kids are growing up unaware of what it's like to not be at war. We can't be okay with that; yet both our political "options" agree it must not only continue, but expand. We have bases all over the world and active conflicts in about seven different countries. We're in another arms race with Russia because of Trump's "Space Force," and his economic sanctions hurt even more people. This isn't sane.
Constant war vs constant war isn't a real choice. Being on either "team" still leaves us without healthcare, even if a pandemic hits and jobs disappear. Imperialism gets bipartisan routine record funding, but sane social safety nets remain "unrealistic." We have become merely surplus expendable resources, even for war (outsource drone weapons production and hire unethical gamers to drop bombs).
This problem won't fix itself. Today's "free market" way of running politics isn't seeking a solution to our issue of nonrepresentation; as an extension of capitalism, it seeks only our commodification, and its own survival. We are literally fungible assets, that only need to be skimmed for enough loyal gaurds to keep the machine going. Salesmanship that offsets insufficiency is "success" to a capitalist.
Introducing any acceptable level of profit-seeking into public services just turns those services into another part of capitalism's Race to the Bottom. Managing public perception and controlling options will always eventually be cheaper than the honest delivery of the best possible quality. Capitalism extracts value to shift, and all research shows our economic redistribution goes from the bottom up.
Legitimate representation doesn't have an acceptable loss level for its citizenry. Actual democracy isn't from the highest bidder with the best media connections. Real freedom is not "access" to product catalogues selling our basic life necessities. Exploitation is not a right that needs protecting. Privilege doesn't equate to superiority. Either this system changes fundamentally, or our humanity dies.
For all the drum-beating of blind patriotism, if another country or group of nations challenges "us" (this capitalist system we've been coached to defend), they aren't necessarily in the wrong. For all our Hollywood propaganda and clever devices, America remains the greatest threat to peace and self-representation. If we won't stop this machine from global and psychological destruction... who will?