Fall of America, Act III: Bread, Circuses, Conspiracies and Clowns…

So what’s all this (c)rap about ‘Establishment’ candidates, and the notion that D. P. Trump and Bernie Sanders are the desirable anti-Establishment alternatives?

The Establishment generally denotes a dominant group or elite that holds power or authority in a nation or organization. The Establishment may be a closed social group which selects its own members (as opposed to selection by merit or election) or specific entrenched elite structures, either in government or in specific institutions…

…In fact, any relatively small class or group of people having control can be referred to as The Establishment; and conversely, in the jargon of sociology, anyone who does not belong to The Establishment may be labelled an “outsider”–Wikipedia

Got that? No? Well, it’s quite simple, really. It’s all about THEM: (fill in the blank). THEY can be anyone you want, anyone you just love to hate, be it the so-called Establishment, the military-industrial complex (cue rat-a-tat), the secret government (cue ghostly sounds), the Illuminati (remember them?), or you-name-it… See where this is going? Yes: how do you spell C-O-N-S-P-I-R-A-C-Y (Note capital letters)? Now, no one disputes the thousands of little conspiracies that occur everyday, but ‘conspiracy theory’ is all about the Big One: the idea that they’re all connected…

It would all be quite amusing, but for the fact that thousands of people believe (in) it, many of them my dear friends, in fact, the one thing defining them their above-average intelligence (and their European descent and perhaps their lack of other firm beliefs). The beauty of it is that it can’t be disproved, any more than it can be proved—nice, ‘ey? They’ll come back; I know they will…

Politically, of course, it’s about US vs. THEM, ‘hoo-ray for our side’, the chosen people, David vs. Goliath, the idea that a few people know better than the ignorant masses, regardless of which side that is. And in a larger mythic sense, it’s all about the Hero, the Campbellian monomyth. And this is what unites Bernie and Donald, the idea that they are that Hero, that Superman from another planet who can make everything right down here. This ‘Noble Outsider’ is a notion recently popularized by the ‘Tea Party’.

So who exactly is this hated ‘Establishment’ anyway? For a Democratic liberal, of course, the answer is always ‘money’, i.e. Big Banks and/or Big Biz. For a Republican conservative the answer might be ‘Big Government’ or something such: ‘Washington insiders’, ‘Northern liberals’, ‘damn Yankees’, etc… In other words, and I repeat: whoever you want.

Bernie’s people, of course, see no connection to Donald’s, and vice-versa, except in the largest sense: dissatisfaction, with the greatest wealth and the most powerful government, in the most technologically advanced age ever, full of gadgets, conveniences, inventions and the easiest lives ever known—makes sense…

So I suppose it’s no surprise that we’ve sunk so low (or risen so high, depending on your POV) in the pre-Fall era of our American Empire (be optimistic: think Rome 310AD, and C-C-Constantino-bul), when the best we can aspire to politically is a non-politician at the head of it all. Now THAT’S progress—a politician at the top of the political heap unsullied by the political machinations at the bottom; again: makes sense…

But this, too, will pass, and what will come next will come next. I’m okay with most any and all of it, as long as it doesn’t include the mug of Donald Disgusting Pig Trump. Send in the clown (Trump isn’t smart enough for Conspiracy Theory). Truth be told, I like almost everything Bernard says (except for free college, which is stupid-as-hell-but-sure-to-get-you-the-youth-vote), BUT: I’ve never seen a country less ready for socialism then the good ol’ USA. Socialism in the USA in 2016? Yeah, right… now where were we?

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