America... A Country At The Crossroads

There are a lot of Americans who will read this post and probably tell me to mind my own business, because I'm a Canadian. What these people may not realize is that our country does 70% of its export business with America. So every Canadian has a vested interest in seeing that country survive and thrive.

As I was scrolling through LinkedIn the other day I started to notice a lot of what I could only believe were planted memes and posts, which I assume are part of the ongoing Russian effort to influence American opinion, and keep the completely controllable and highly toxic current administration in power.

And it very much appears to be working. In all the years that I have been observing the US, (since Kennedy) I have never seen the degree of polarization (left V right) to be greater than it is right now.

The Russians understand this sort of propaganda warfare as well as any country in the world. They also understand that that the way you take down a very powerful country is to find its weakest links and work on them.

The Weak Links

America’s weak links include the belief that the the size of their economy gives them all kinds of power that other countries don’t have.

Because this means that they can build a bigger, better, scarier army than any other country and use it, or at least the threat of it to bend other countries to their will.

Another second link is America’s dependence on political leadership. So when you install a leader who has no real leadership skills, who is in fact doing all he can to separate America from the rest of the world, you end up creating a power vacuum on the world stage.

And what you’re seeing now are countries like China, Russia, and t he EU countries doing whatever they can to fill the vacuum, and create a new world order that is decidedly more right wing than the existing world order.

Another, more recently occurring but related weakness in the US is the media, and how it has morphed from being a source of objective information about what’s going on to being polluted by politics and split along the same lines as the country itself.

If they are not totally absorbed with defending themselves against the administration’s accusations of being a sources of fake news, they are totally absorbed with doing the current administration’s bidding, no matter how absurd that might sound to people who actually have some intelligence.

These three elements of nationalistic arrogance, incompetent leadership and media bias are foundational tools that the Russians base their attacks on. And these can be as subtle as you like because, because a great many Americans have already had their brains turned to mush by all the regular hatespeak, racism and general nastiness that already exists on the Internet.

I am a Canadian. But I spent a good deal of time in the early years of my life in and interacting with Americans. I believe that they are basically good people. They want all the same things that everybody else wants for their lives and, their families and their country, at least up until recently, has gladly provided that for them.

But somewhere, and maybe it started in 2007, with the financial crisis that shattered the dreams of so many Americans, they appear to have lost their way.

And while the Obama presidency, with all its warts, did as much as it could possibly to do help the country recover, it was pretty seriously obstructed by a Republican congress and senate that was on a mission to destroy him personally. Probably just because he was black.

And in the process they planted the seeds for the ultimate destruction of the country itself.

As this was happening, and after Obama’s terms were finished, the Republicans started watering their seeds and the biggest weed in their garden was installed as president.

He is ignorant and arrogant and very easy for the world to hate. So they did. He is corrupt and greedy, so the special interests had a field day getting their way with regulations. And he is a shameless egotist and a chronic liar, so the media finds him irresistible. In fact covering him 24/7 is still quite literally a wet dream for them all.

And all this time, the Russians were sitting back and watching the fruits of their labour grow America into a completely polarized society. They had, in fact, taken down the Goliath.

America’s strength, influence in the world, and economic power has been diminished over the past two years. For the simple reason that they have become extremely hard to trust, and this is directly the cause of weak leadership, and a political agenda that runs counter to where the world really needs to be right now, with all the clear and present dangers that we all face.

Today’s America is a country where world leadership has taken a back seat to internal politics. Where the country had divided itself itself along ideological lines and no longer acts like a powerful unified force for good. And where the media is steered, by their own egos and need to put bums on couches all day and all night, into supporting one side or the other.

All at the expense of the kind of democracy upon which the country was founded, and thrived.

Fixing This Will Be Real Uphill Work

The upcoming election in 2020 is one of the most critically important election in recent US history. And between now and then, Americans will be seeing a lot of provocative political bullshit.

My best advice for my American friends is not to take anything you see or hear from now till election day at face value. Most of it is being created to confuse you. But only if you start believing it.

Look at the track records of the people you are thinking of voting for. Learn where they stand on the issues that are important to you. Watch them in their town halls, and when they are being interviewed. Measure their commitment to getting things done for the people as opposed to the vested interests.

Do some homework, because there's way too much fake news out there for you to rely on anything you see here on social media.

I don't have a dog in this fight directly. All I want is an America that can be a good friend to my country (Canada), and can again be a leading voice for democracy in the world.

Your country is not perceived to be either of those things right now. And I'm pretty sure that most of you get that and know things have to change. There will be a lot of pressure on you to resist change. But the further you go down the road you are on, the more inequity you will start to see and the harder it will be to get back to a state of balance.

The world is rooting hard for an America that is a true democracy. This 2020 election is your chance to take your country back to that and out of the hands of the greedy, self-serving, uncaring, reactionary old men currently in control.