by Chris Ossman
April 30, 2021
Political Leaders: The Entire Country is being Held Hostage by 545 People
“The Government only moves slowly for the 99 percent.”
“Donald Trump was not the illness. He was the symptom.”
* - The policies that Biden is pushing for and the promises that he is NOT pushing for represent the illness that is the two-party system in America. Biden's ideology and the 1994 crime bill that he wrote has led to the incarcerations of millions of black people and people of color in America. This increased incarceration (the majority of which were for non-violent drug possession) which has led to modern-day slavery. This is not hyperbole, because the 13th amendment (the one that freed the slaves) contains the following caveat:
“Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”
There are other policies and bills that Biden supported and supports that have had a profoundly negative impact of the lives of the majority of American's but I'm saving them for the next "Solutions" book. I think I'll call it: "Solutions: We could have fix America"
Now back to the excerpt from the first book.
Donald Trump was (and is) terrible, but he did not start the war in Afghanistan, he did not start the war in Iraq. Donald Trump also did not attack the five other countries that America attacked under President Obama, which included Yemen, Lybia, Syria, Somalia and Pakistan. Well, he did attack Syria a little bit, but he did not do these things, nor the following:
Donald Trump did not deport the 2.5 million people that were deported under the Obama administration. That was Obama.
Donald Trump did not ignore the grievances of Occupy Wall Street protestors, while police brutalized them with pepper spray, clubs, rubber bullets and more during the Obama administration. That was Obama.
Donald Trump did not ignore the plight of the water protectors in North Dakota, while police brutalized them with pepper spray, clubs, rubber bullets, water cannons in sub-zero weather, torture and more during the Obama administration. That was Obama
Donald Trump did not drink from a solitary glass of water in Flint, Michigan and proclaim that the lead-poisoned water was okay to drink. That was Obama.
Donald Trump did not allow the cases of fraud committed by banks and their CEOs to sunset past their statute of limitations. That was Obama.
Donald Trump did not choose to allow millions of homes to go into foreclosure in favor of the banks that caused the collapse of the American Economy. That was Obama.
Donald Trump did not oversee the post-economic recovery after the Great Recession in which 95 percent of all income went to only 1 percent of the population. That was Obama.
Donald Trump did not pass crime legislation that has led to the incarceration of more black people than were slaves in 1850. That was a bunch of leaders from Clinton to local leaders in various states and cities.
Donald trump did not sign the Gramm – Leach – Bliley Act which repealed Glass-Stegall, a law that separated commercial and investment banks and stabilized the American economy for 50 years after the Great Depression. That was Bill Clinton.
Donald Trump did not drop so many cluster bombs in 2016 that America ran out of cluster bombs in 2016. That was Obama.
Donald Trump did not drop over 26,000 bombs around the world. That was Obama.
Donald Trump has yet to put Social Security on the bargaining table. That was George W. Bush, who just could not get popular opinion to sway his way to privatize Social Security. It was Bill Clinton. And, it was President Obama, who offered Social Security up as part of his Grand Bargain, only to have the Republicans say “NO”.
Donald Trump did not cause the Democratic Party to lose over one thousand elected seats around the country during Obama’s administration. That was Obama and the lack of Democratic polices that would actually help the masses.
Donald Trump didn’t open the Arctic up to drilling twice. That was Obama.
Donald Trump didn’t fire the air traffic controllers, which led to the downward spiral of unions. That was Ronald Reagan.
Don’t misunderstand. I, in no way support Donald Trump. The guy wreaks of criminality, but it was a failing and failed system of leadership that led to his election to the highest office in the United States of America. Instilling, promoting and implementing a “Lesser of Two Evils” strategy could never have led to something good, but we swallowed the bitter pill year after year until we got the Donald.
And, yes. I know that my examples focus heavily on the Obama administration, but there is a reason for that. When comparing Trump to Obama, many people point out how evil Donald Trump is and how civil President Obama was, while failing to recognize the evil in Obama’s deeds and policies. President Obama caused a lot of harm in the lives of Americans and people from other countries. He killed a lot of people, which tends to happen when you drop more than 26,000 bombs in one year. Obama chose to side with banks over homeowners during the housing bubble collapse, allowing millions of homes to go into foreclosure. In hindsight, Obama was able to get a lot of things done that the Republicans could never have gotten done. And remember, Obama appeared to be aware of the dangers of climate change, but his Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton went around the world promoting fracking. And possibly one of the worst ideas Obama stood behind was the Trans-Pacific Partnership (the TPP) all the way up until the end of his last term: The TPP was a trade agreement that actually would have posed a threat to American Sovereignty.
(Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/kill-the-dispute-settlement-language-in-the-trans-pacific-partnership/2015/02/25/ec7705a2-bd1e-11e4-b274-e5209a3bc9a9_story.html?utm_term=.20104d57a76d)
So, if Donald Trump did not do all the terrible things listed above, how can he be considered the root of the problem Americans face? No, he is not the illness, he is the result or symptom of what ails America. He is one of two evils and, while I did not look at Obama as the lesser of two evils when I voted for him the first time, I was disappointed by his failure to get more done when the Democrats controlled the presidency and both branches of Congress. I did, however, look at Obama unfavorably when I voted for him the second time but held out hope that his inability to run for a third term would embolden him to push for policies that would help middle class America. In hindsight, it was Obama’s second term that finally turned me away from the Democratic party. It was during his final four years in office that I understood him to be yet another choice in the succession of lesser of two evils. Obama was as inept, incompetent or immoral (you pick) as have been Democratic and Republican leaders for decades.
As for Obama’s supposed successor, Hillary Clinton, I found it odd that Trump stood for more policies I deemed just, fair and in line with the Democratic Party than Clinton. Digging into Hillary Clinton’s history did little to belay my concerns, as I discovered that when faced with one major issue after another, her first choice was, more often than not, the wrong choice. She voted to go to war with Iraq. She encouraged Obama to go after Gadaffi in Lybia. Hillary supported Bill’s crime bill and welfare reform. As Secretary of State, Clinton went around the world promoting fracking. This list goes on and on and is the reason I dubbed her Hindsight Hillary, something that I will go into detail later in the book. For me Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump represented a beggar’s choice of death by electrocution or death by higher voltage electrocution (electrical engineering joke…that I just made up!). In 2016, I knew it was time to take a stand and vote my conscience, which I did when I pulled the lever for Jill Stein. I simply could not choose between a careless snake oil salesman and a careful snake oil saleswoman whose character should have been but wasn’t redeemed by her charitable giving: When the charity that bears your name (the Clinton Foundation) loses 11 billion dollars in earthquake relief, it’s time to shut it down.
As an electorate, we need to do better at scrutinizing those who choose to lead us, because ultimately, they could be leading us over a cliff. No. Donald Trump is not the illness, he is just a symptom, and we are not even treating that properly.
Is it just me or are there fewer and fewer Conspiracy Theories and more and more Conspiracies?
I don’t know that I have much to add to this section. Suffice it to say that as we (Americans) watch our empire crumble under its own weight, we can at least look back to gain an understanding of what caused this decline. Stepping backwards, let’s look at more recent conspiracy theories that have been confirmed as outright conspiracies:
Our own intelligence agencies are spying on us:
This was denied until Snowden proved to us all that we were in fact being spied on by our own government.
Saudi Arabia played a part in the attacks on 9/11:
Twenty-eight pages showing that fifteen of the nineteen hijackers to be Saudi Arabian were
redacted from the official report about the attacks on 9/11.
There was no reason to go to war with Iraq:
Second Iraq war:
Independent international inspectors told our government there were no WMDs in Iraq.
Richard Clarke writes about how George W. Bush pushed for war with Iraq when the evidence showed Iraq had nothing to do with the attacks of 9/11.
First Iraq war:
The Kuwaiti ambassador’s daughter falsely testified to Congress about Iraqi soldiers removing babies from incubators and leaving them to die on the hospital floor. She was an aspiring actress and was coached on how to present this lie. George H.W. Bush reiterated this false narrative to garner the public’s support for war.
(Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nayirah_testimony)
The catalyst for the Vietnam war never happened:
At sixteen years, Vietnam was once the longest war in which America was
involved, but few know that America’s involvement in Vietnam was based
on a lie. The Gulf of Tonkin incident never happened.
America conducts false flag operations:
The U.S.S. Liberty was attacked by Israeli forces under the guise of
“mistaken identity” as an attempt to draw America into a war in the
Middle east in 1967.
(Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/45-years-ago-this-week-israel-attacked-a-us-navy-ship-and-killed-dozens-of-sailors-survivors-want-to-know-why-2012-6)
Declassified documents can be viewed on the National Security Agency
(NSA) website here. (Source: https://www.nsa.gov/news-features/declassified-documents/uss-liberty/cinc.shtml)
Here’s an odd one: The FBI thought Hitler survived and was living in Argentina:
Declassified documents on the FBI’s website detail why the FBI thought Hitler might have survived the war.
(Source: https://vault.fbi.gov/adolf-hitler/adolf-hitler-part-01-of-04/view)
Before anyone gets worked up, I am not implying that Hitler is alive or was alive after World War Two ended. I am merely pointing out that the FBI covered up their beliefs that he might have survived after the war. That makes this a conspiracy theory turned conspiracy. Besides, I thought it was interesting.
And, the list goes on, but this is not that kind of book. Use the links I’ve provided or look into these incidents yourself. You might discover that you’ve been lied to in ways to which you would never agree. As for my motivation in citing the examples above, I merely sought to establish the fact that we are not paying close enough attention to those who represent us to the rest of the world. In doing so, it is my sincerest hope that we all ask ourselves this one simple question.
* - This is not included in the book. It is added as a means of updating the information provided in this excerpt.
“Do I approve of what my government has, is or will do to Americans and other citizens of Earth?”
If the answer is yes, then put your head back in the sand and let Uncle Sam do whatever he wants to that part of you still exposed above the sand. If your answer is no to any one of my examples, keep reading by buying the book at one of the following links:
Solutions for Android devices $0.99
Solutions in paperback (I get the hypocrisy, but where else can you buy anything these days?) $16
Solutions for Kindle (I get the hypocrisy, but where else can you buy anything these days?) $10
