The Future for America

America does not have the ability to govern itself, the citizens of the united stated have never even chosen a president. So how can there be a future. When one of the most qualified candidates lost the election to someone who has no political knowledge what so ever.

Rural America felt forgotten, Clinton spent most of her time campaigning in the big cities. Trump's speeches played on the emotions of the people in rural areas. Ethos and tearing down an opponent is what is left of the American Rhetoric, not a government pushing issues on facts and current events.

People will say get over it, that we chose him as our president. But that is far from the truth, he did not win the popular vote, and up until last night people were hopeful that there would be a big number of faithless electors.

Memes in a Postmodern World

There is no single way to define postmodernism, but it is safe to say that almost everything I read, see, consume, or create is done in  a postmodernist fashion. Ideas about culture and the ways it is conveyed in media are the basis for today's American society. Whether addressing race, politics, religion, or just about any topic that has somewhat relevance there is always some sort of comedic joke or ironic twist on the internet. What is especially interesting is the way internet “memes” have taken over social media and created widespread phenomenon. Internet memes are truly an example of how our postmodern world addresses serious and some not so serious topics.

Memes can be many different things; gifs, text posts, images, and are all frantically widespread throughout all platforms on social media. Memes have a way of taking very serious, edgy, and provocative topics and making light jokes out of them, relatable to all. For example the news and reality of the new President elect has hit America hard, and created controversy and tension all throughout society. In response, a popular strand of Joe Biden memes have take over the internet. These Biden memes all have a common running joke about how Biden is going to sabotage Trump before leaving office. The joke of this meme is that Biden is sabotaging in a childlike and cute manner. Whether Biden is planning on hitting Trump with a football, loosening the screws in the presidential chair, or how he is going to change the wifi password to “I love Mexicans”, the memes reflect the way Americans are dealing with the turmoil and confusion of the new changes that are going to take over political life.

Comedy and jokes in society have become more cruel, scrutinizing, and harshly honest. Arguably, this boldness in joking is just another reflection on how our postmodern society is completely different than ever before. Jokes and comedy are another way people mask themselves in a society that looks down upon outward emotion and expressing feelings. Adolescents, especially males, are conditioned in society to not express emotion and simply to deal with problems themselves. Joking is a mechanism for dealing with society’s new ideals. It is easy to laugh at a meme about race, politics, religion, etc.. rather than to actually think and deal with the actual topics personally

These dramatic changes in comedy and satire are a reflection on how our postmodern society operate and thrives. Provocative and outrageous internet posts not only help people in a postmodern society cope with change and immense problems, but they also offer an escape from the harshness and realness of real life. Memes also reflect the way people have become desensitized to topics and learned to laugh at topics that perhaps should not be joked around about. Next time that you see a funny internet post or meme, take minute to examine why you think it is so funny. Is it the silliness of it? Or is it the intense and real honesty that it conveys?

It's About Us

Donald Trump being elected president has left many of us filled with fear, hate, and confusion for the future of our country. In one of his acceptance speeches, Trump used repetition and positive ethos to reach out to his people and tell them what winning means to him. He began his speech by thanking Hillary for her hard work and services. By acknowledging her accomplishments (the same ones that his campaign bashed and mocked for the past few months) he was building himself up.  He tried to make himself seem like a person who can see the best in everyone, even in his most hated and biggest opponent. The reality is that he was only able to bring himself to say positive things about Hillary when she was no longer a threat. When asked to acknowledge good qualities in Hillary in the presidential debates, he was never able to bring himself to mention her successes. Complimenting Hillary is also a way to begin to mend the divide between Hillary and Trump supporters, one of the biggest divides in presidential election history. Trump is trying to reel in the people that find him repulsive by seeming slightly less slimy and awful through compliments.

Throughout his speech, Trump used the repetition of "Us" and "We" to unite with him us as people.A line that stood out during all of his attempts at unification was he he said, "It's about us." When Trump says "Us" and I picture the people he is trying to reach with that line, I cannot picture anyone besides white men. Maybe he is reaching for the white males that were supporting Hillary, but I cannot see him talking to any minorities or oppressed people. In order for our country to move forwards, we need a president who thinks of those people first, not vaguely mentions them reach a wider white male audience.

As much as the the sentiment and meaning behind the simple phrase "It's about us" loses meaning coming out of the mouth of a juvenile, racist, sexist, misogynistic, homophobic, xenophobic sex offender, we cannot let it. Things look and feel hopeless for America right now. But as a country and as people under this horrid man, we have to continue to fight oppression. We cannot let ourselves be swallowed up by his fear tactics and hateful ideologies. In the darkest times it is important we find love and acceptance despite what is being shouted into our ears and shoved into our minds by someone with no respect for others.  It's about about all of the people that have been attacked during Trumps campaign and those whose futures are the most unclear: black people, women, people with disabilities, immigrants, the LGBTQ+ community, blue collar workers, etc. to find strength in ourselves and in each other. We cannot forget who we are.  It's about us.

Why has American politics become a exchange of insults?

American politics, a stew of chaotic insults. Why do presidential candidates focus so much time and resources on bashing the other candidate? One might think that the struggle for power in becoming president is a higher priority for these candidates than focusing on their goals and ambitions for when they get into office. Do they really have America's best interests in mind, or do they just want their own room in the White House?

When did many Americans start valuing a candidates ability to tear down the image of their opponent greater then valuing what they believe America needs to build and grow? This can been seen many times this election, through ads on TV to the debates between Clinton and Trump. Many ads are funded that just to make a candidate look bad. In a ad called "She knows Putin too well", the video presents facts of what Clinton has done to help the Russians, questioning what more she might do to aid the Russians if she becomes president. In another example, Clinton released an ad questioning what Trump might do to the daughters of families if he becomes president. It shows a series of shots of young women, in between footage of Trump saying insulting thing about women. Why are resources spent on these kinds of ads?

 Why are people debating the scandals of the candidates, instead of the ideas that each of them has for how they could help America advance? A example of this could be seen in Hillary's private email scandal, or Trump's woman abuse scandals. News seems to be absorbed by these scandals as well. The internet is swarmed with news articles telling the new exciting scandal that they may or may not have found on a person. In contrast, this is the sort of stuff that many people want to see, and therefore more and more of these stories are released.

Candidates now need to spend much more energy making sure they don't trigger anything that could cause another rumor, taking away from arguing the issues and solutions they want to bring to America.

Changes in American Politics

The 2016 presidential election has created a turning point in American politics, where America's two major political parties began a complete ideological realignment. What has made this election's shift in ideas and beliefs possible is the extreme circumstances of the election such as Republican party's fracturing support for Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders', an avowed socialist, attempt for the Democratic party nomination, and much more.

These circumstances are possible in today's election because of the shift from the past traditional views of both parties to current push towards the real interests of today's electoral classes. The change of views has been small in the case of Hillary Clinton and the Democrats, however, and dramatic in the case of Donald Trump.

The movement away from traditional views has facilitated a policy realignment that is significantly different than those of past years, creating uncertainty as people decide which party they fall under. The change in policies has been made possible for the Republican party because of Donald Trump's independence from donor's money, as he has rallied his voters completely from his own pocket, which is why Trump's ideas seem so far fetched. The result has been a fall in the traditional conservatism of the Republican party, as Trump is creating his own ideas and beliefs. However, the traditional Democratic party views have simply shifted in the past few decades. This was shown in this year's Democratic primary elections, as traditionalist, Jim Webb, was out of place among Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. The destruction of traditionalist views have facilitated uncertainty among voters as they decided who they will vote for, which also destroys the fine line that once separated these classes.

As the policy changes continue to adapt throughout the next few decades, the beliefs of each party will change even more. As parties' views change, American citizens will become more and more divided, creating chaos as well as uncertainty. The future of American politics may involve new political classes, the destruction of our current ones, or the continuation of political realignment.

American Politics are Hitting Rock Bottom

In the 2016 Presidential race, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have showed the American People first hand, the state of American Politics.  American Politics are broken because politicians continue to care about themselves rather than thinking about the country .

 American Politics are not as democratic as they should be in our government.  Affluent special interests play a much bigger role in our government then they should be.  For example, in this Presidential race Trump and Clinton are doing whatever is necessary to win.  They continue to take shots at each other and say things about their opponents that should never be mentioned in an election.  In our society, all politicians care about is winning and they will do whatever is necessary to succeed.  Both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump continue to bring up their opponents scandals whether it be Clintons email scandals or Trumps various scandals involving women to help benefit their position in the race.  They do not care what they have to do to win because at the end of the day the political power that the White House holds is all they want. The power of being President matters much more to them than the well being of the country.  The power and greed of the few too often win out over the needs of the many.  It seems as if politicians now a days do what benefits them rather than what benefits the society.  Our two candidates do not care about who they have affected or what they have done to become President because if they win they will control all the power in American Politics.  American politics have become a place where strictly winning is the end goal and they will do anything to win.  They do not care if they have to change their views or ruin friendships.

 To change our political system for the better we need to find politicians who represent the American people rather than politicians who only care about bettering their position.  We do not need politicians who care strictly about winning, but ones who care about making our country better and getting it to the place we want it to be.