Note: Human Distortion is an East Coast activist, artist, musician, and shaman who is trying to heal the divide between man and nature. Please feel free to comment below if you either agree or disagree with him.  If anyone wants to reach him for clothing design, or to get active in organizing, please message  Facebook:  https://www.Facebook.com/Humandistortionisawesome  

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America has been a dying empire for quite some time now. The 2016 Presidential Election should be remembered as the death of the two-party system. We watched as the Democratic party suppressed their own candidate by purposefully not allowing Bernie Sanders any coverage from the media, in which they control.

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Then WikiLeaks released e-mails from Hillary Clinton, members of her staff, and the DNC which showed that they colluded in suppressing Bernie Sanders. Also, do not forget the thousands of e-mails showcasing Hillary Clinton’s many corrupt business dealings, which included receiving money from oil Sheiks, ISIS, and nefarious corporations like Goldman Sachs. We watched as the Democratic party cannibalized itself, revealing its true intentions as being a more corporate and war conservative party then the Republicans.

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Malcolm X saw in the 1960’s just how terrible the Neo-Liberal party was when it came time to President Johnson’s re-election. So, bad in fact that the people that run this country had to present Goldwater as the scary, nuclear bomb pushing Conservative. Because no one would have voted for Johnson had they not been presented with a worse alternative. This is a strategy that has been used in U.S. elections since. Present a lesser/larger evil then the current evil, yet this year that backfired.

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By giving Trump half a billion dollars in free advertising, thanks to the media’s constant coverage, we became a Trump-obsessed culture. Trump got twice the amount of coverage than Hillary Clinton, even though most of the coverage was either fabricated propaganda to help the candidate, or true/fabricated propaganda to hurt the candidate. It made no difference to the American public, they saw a candidate that tapped into their own racist, sexist, xenophobia. A candidate that was not your standard political corporate puppet is how people who voted for him felt, yet they are about to see just how the corporate/military/industrial/economic/energy complex works. Just a hint, it does not take the republicans/democrats/independents/libertarians/ the LGBTQ communities/environmentalists/meat-eaters/vegans/middle-classes/all races, etc. in consideration when it comes to national/global policy.

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American politics only agenda is making money off all of us. We pay for energy resources that have long been obsolete, and continue to destroy the environment. We go to war and overthrow countries to serve our increasing demand for fossil fuels. We have our taxes taken out to fund these wars, yet I know plenty of people who do not support the petrol-war pollution machine. Where were the candidates that were against the TPP, against the constant surveillance of its citizens, against war, and against allowing only a few banks to control the worlds money? Where were the candidates who were pro-choice, pro-legalization of marijuana, pro-environmental conservation, pro-increase in the minimum wage, and pro-common sense? They were around, and you may even have heard of them if you did not solely get your news from a television or newspaper.

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Bernie Sanders, who most people will recall from the primaries was the far more progressive Democratic candidate, compared to Clinton’s pro-war, pro-bank, anti-environmental policy stance. However once the DNC pushed Bernie out of the candidacy, his followers continued their efforts to push his agenda through to the DNC platform. The DNC and Clinton finally caved and accepted a good portion of Bernie’s agenda in order to receive the benefits of the precious millennial vote. Unfortunately for Clinton, however, by election day, many of the millennials were unconvinced of her sincerity and did not vote for her despite Bernie Sanders best efforts to get out the vote for Clinton.

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“Neither” photocollage by Human Distortion copyright 2016

Then you had Jill Stein as the Green Party candidate, who was literally what pro-Bernie Democrats  and many working class Independents were looking for when it came to policy. But due to the mainstream media suppressing Stein and the other candidate’s policies, speeches, and rallies, very few knew of or  felt she had a chance of winning.  Many stayed home in protest on election day since they strongly felt neither Clinton or Trump were even close to positive options, and they were not convinced that a vote for Jill Stein meant anything. Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson’s candidacy certainly was also not covered by main stream news either. Nevertheless he did better than Jill Stein in the election in part perhaps due to the burgeoning appeal of the extreme right wing.

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How could the American television-watching public make an informed and effective decision on candidates that are purposely being excluded from the media? The answer is that the American public cannot, this type of suppression of third party candidates has been going on for a long time now. It is only through the advent of the advances in communication technology that people are much more aware now than they were before of how the media manipulates the news to serve the agendas of its financial backers. But it has still left many people feeling overwhelmed.

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So, if we know that the media, government, and military are run by corporations that profit from an obsolete war/drug/energy/food monopoly, what do we do? Where do we go from here as American citizens? How do we stop cops from killing people of color? How do we stop corporations from poisoning our water, air, and soil? How do we stop our own government from spying on us? How do we keep them out of our mothers, sisters, wives, and daughters’ uterus? How do we fix the economic debt and fossil fuel bondage that is choking us, and the planet to death?

“Protect and Serve” photocollage by Human Distortion copyright 2016

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First we need to become conscious with how we spend our money, and where we keep it. If you do not support oil interests then close out your bank account if your bank (Wells Fargo, Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, etc.) is involved with oil companies on the stock market. You can open an account in a small local bank, or credit union that does not support oil interests. Do not spend your money with a company that supports or does something that goes against your ethics as a consumer. Get informed about the companies you give your money to, you would be surprised and horrified by how many well-known companies do terrible things. If you are not giving your money to companies that do destructive / harmful things to people, animals, and the planet, then they will either go under or change how they do business to accommodate your needs as the consumer. Demand transparency from the government, and the special interests that fund them.

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Get involved with what you care about. If you care about the planet then make something happen, go research, organize, protect it, and protest to save it. Get involved with movements like the NoDAPL, BlackLivesMatter, women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, and equal rights to name a few. If you are not racist, then hold people accountable that make racist statements, if you are not sexist then hold people that make misogynistic statements accountable, and if you are not homophobic then hold people accountable who make homophobic statements.

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We must start changing people’s perceptions about race, politics, sex, and the environment through our daily lives. We must stand up for ourselves if we ever wish to move beyond the economic shackles that bind every single one of us together. It is time to separate ourselves from political parties / corporations that benefit from our collective suffering.

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This is a huge issue that all of us are facing and the number one way we can begin to detach ourselves from this economic machine is by killing our egos. American culture is driven by competition, not compassion. We are a culture obsessed with ego and it is killing us in turn. We are constantly inundated with commercials and ads selling us a lifestyle that is a fantasy, playing on our insecurities. It is time to wake up from this selfish sleep and reconnect with the collective consciousness / spirit. If we wish to heal and move beyond this psychic global corruption, then we first must learn to destroy our ego.

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I am hopeful by how pro-active people’s response to Trump’s election, the pipeline in North Dakota, the racism and violence in police departments, the harassment and inequality that women, LGBTQ, and people of color all face, has been, and continues to be. It is time for all of us to accept responsibility and get involved if we want to live in a world that does not destroy its biosphere, the animals, or people on it.

Categories: Human Distortion digital art, Human Distortion political commentary, social and political commentary