Embracing Mythology, American Style

AMERICAN CULTURE has always been heavily invested in fantasy, partly because the United States itself is a scam and a sham, and always has been. An oligarchical plutocracy governed by a small wealthy elite, disguised as a representative democratic republic, a purported democracy. a land of violent conquest and genocide, enslavement, servitude, exploitation of labor and misuse of resources, with a rigid class caste system, disguised and packaged and marketed as a land of opportunity, a shining city on a hill. Welcome to the fun house, land of illusions, where a carnival barking con artist is elected president, and his adoring cult followers blink not an eye when he calls the nation's fallen war heroes losers and suckers. The most pretentiously prudish and secretly promiscuous society on earth, assiduously refusing to take a long look ore even a quick glance at itself. The land of make p and plastic surgery, denier of wrinkles and stark reality, the United States of Advertising. More Americans believe in UFOs, extraterrestrial involvement in human affairs, and alien abductions than believe in the necessity of citizen participation in and oversight of public affairs in maintaining a functioning representative democracy. this is somewhat understandable, since none of these has ever been proven to actually exist. Half of eligible american voters don't bother to vote, also somewhat understandable, since, as Gore Vidal pointed out, those who do not vote are intelligent enough to comprehend that in our corporate oligarchy with carefully selected narrow choices, the vote means little if anything. A higher percentage of Americans believe that the world is governed by a secret cabal of "illuminati", and that Donald trump is trying to defend us against an imaginary "deep state" than believe that they can count of their government to represent their interests, or who have faith that their elected officials have any concern for their well being, once again, a somewhat reasonable position. What most Americans cynically ignore is that the government never concern itself with the welfare of the people unless we the people abandon our fantasies, our conspiracy theories, and our urgent need to escape and reinvent reality, and get down to the boring, tedious, and troublesome task of governing ourselves, by first insisting on our inherent right to so do.