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How Decades of Conditioning Shaped America’s Political Reality
I’m not a Democrat. I’m not a Republican. I’m not a Libertarian. I don’t belong to any political party, and frankly, I don’t want to. I’m just a citizen who believes that people deserve the freedom to make their own choices, to live their own lives without unnecessary government interference, and to exist in a system that values them as humans—not pawns.
But that’s not the America we’re living in. It hasn’t been for a long time.
We’re told we live in the “land of the free,” yet our elections boil down to a binary choice between two parties that are more alike than they’d like to admit. Both tilt toward the right in their political leanings—one overtly, the other while pretending to be the “left.” But let’s get one thing clear: America doesn’t have a left. Not in its mainstream politics.
Instead, we have two corporate-backed entities that use every tool at their disposal to ensure we never have real alternatives. They gerrymander districts, enforce restrictive ballot access laws, and weaponize the legal system to block third parties from gaining traction. It’s not about representation; it’s about control.
A Symptom of Decades in the Making
What we see today—the dysfunction, the division, the scapegoating—isn’t the result of one or two bad elections. It’s the product of decades of groundwork.
For years, citizens have been conditioned to see one another not as people with dreams, struggles, and lives of their own but as enemies to be defeated. Every policy disagreement becomes a war. Every differing viewpoint is a threat. This isn’t accidental—it’s by design.
When you spend all your energy fighting your neighbor, you have none left to question the real power structures. You don’t notice how our freedoms are slowly eroded, how the cost of living skyrockets while wages stagnate, or how corporations gain more influence over our lives than the government itself. You don’t realize that the lives you want to live—your autonomy, your freedom—have been weaponized against you.
A Government of Corporations, by Corporations, for Corporations
Let’s just be honest: politicians don’t work for us. They work for their donors. Always have, and probably always will unless something seriously breaks. These aren’t public servants—they’re brand reps for whatever industry cut the biggest check.
Do you think those ridiculous bills stuffed with corporate loopholes and kickbacks write themselves? Nah. Lobbyists practically hand them the pen. And then we get the crumbs—if we’re lucky. Usually, we just get the lecture.
Meanwhile, regular people are out here working 2–3 jobs just to stay afloat, buried under medical debt, student loans, and rent that keeps climbing because some investment firm bought the neighborhood. But sure, tell me more about how “the system works if you just play by the rules.”
It’s not dysfunction—it’s design. The whole damn setup is meant to keep us scrambling while they rake it in and keep us blaming each other.
The Cult of Political Allegiance
This part? This one hurts.
Because it’s not just policies or news cycles anymore. It’s personal. It’s your cousin you grew up with who now thinks you're part of some grand conspiracy because you didn’t vote the way they did. It’s your friend from work who can’t talk about anything except politics, and not in a “hey, let’s fix the world” kind of way—but in a “you’re either with us or you’re evil” kind of way.
It’s wild how fast it turns into cult behavior. Like... they’ve stopped thinking. It’s just reaction after reaction. Talking points. Memes. “Dunking” on the other side. And god forbid you disagree or say “hey, maybe both parties kinda suck?” Suddenly you’re the problem. Traitor. Idiot. Lost cause.
It’s exhausting. Especially when you care about these people. You want to connect, you want to talk about life, but they can’t step outside of the script. And deep down, you know they’re not even happy. They’re just running on fear and adrenaline, waiting for the next “gotcha” headline to validate their worldview.
The Heartbreak of Losing Loved Ones to Propaganda
This one’s brutal.
Because it’s not just politics—it’s them. It’s their identity now. It’s how they fill every silence. It’s what they bring to dinner. It’s what they text you at 2 a.m. when a story drops that proves their “side” was right. Again.
You try to steer the conversation. Ask how they’re doing. What they’re working on. What they’ve been reading or watching or dreaming about lately. But nope—it circles right back to outrage. Always. You didn’t sign up for this relationship to be a cable news rerun, but here you are, stuck in a loop.
And the worst part? They think you’re the one who changed. Just because you don’t want to argue 24/7 or pick a damn team. They can’t see how far they’ve been pulled in. How the real damage wasn’t your “apathy,” but their own tunnel vision.
They don’t realize that you still love them—you just miss them. The version of them who laughed. Who listened? Who didn’t look at every conversation like a battlefield?
History Repeats Itself
Look, this playbook isn’t new. Divide people. Pump them full of fear. Make sure they hate each other more than they question who’s pulling the strings. It’s been done a thousand times in a thousand places. And somehow, we keep falling for it.
They don’t even have to hide it anymore. They count on us being too distracted, too angry, or too exhausted to notice it happening again.
A Call for Perspective
I’m not here to preach. I don’t have a 10-step plan to fix it all. But damn, we’ve got to start talking like humans again. Not Twitter bots. Not party mascots. Just people—messy, confused, trying-our-best people.
We don’t need to agree on everything. Hell, we shouldn’t. But we’ve got to stop letting politicians and talking heads draw the battle lines in our homes, our friendships, our lives. That’s not democracy. That’s marketing.
Maybe if we start treating each other like actual people again, we’ll remember we’ve got more in common than the systems want us to believe.
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