Their purpose is to get you to doubt that you are in the majority. Don't buy it for a moment.

Part of what the one percent have created as they have purchased into our government is a devastating propaganda machine to create exactly the type of helplessness you express here. They have purchased both parties, and they have purchased our media, and don't think for a moment that "media" is limited to the cable television channels and newspapers. Corporate-political propaganda is as ubiquitous now on the internet as surveillance is now in our daily lives, and discussion boards like this are a major focus of the corporate political elite. Money talks, and these people have very deep pockets. You will have a very difficult time these days finding any major discussion board on the internet that is not heavily patrolled and propagandized by those who have an interest in shaping public opinion and responses. DU is no exception.

If you watch the board closely over time, you will see the patterns and the tactics coming from the very same group, over and over and over again. Their goal, quite simply, is to create the illusion that their views are mainstream and to intimidate people from expressing opinions critical of the corporate status quo in our party. But watch the actual recs, and you will see that you are very much in the majority when it comes to opinions about policy. The purveyors of Third Way corporatism will use every tactic to talk about anything but the policies; they will personalize the discussion, they will try to make it all about Obama and loyalty to the party, and they will try to swarm and intimidate and mock you. Their goal is to create the impression that everyone thinks as they do, and that you are in the minority.

But you aren't. Recs here on the actual policies coming out of this administration show clearly and devastatingly that you aren't. Polls of Americans across the country show clearly and devastatingly that you aren't.

You are part of a vast majority of Americans who recognize that something is seriously, seriously wrong with our "representative" system and the institutions, like our media, that have historically played the role of watchdog for corruption. We do not have a government that is using its resources to serve the people. We have a government serving the interests of a monied elite. They have an agenda for profit, and their goal is no longer to represent us, but to use every resource they have, and can buy, to keep us as passive and submissive as possible while they implement that agenda.

The propaganda has reached the point of being blatantly Orwellian. That is why you feel crazy and out of step. We are continually told that things are getting better, while we observe every single day a new, serious betrayal by those who claim to represent us. You are not crazy. Things are not getting better. They are getting worse. The chocolate ration has not been increased.

Trust yourself. Keep speaking out. Watch the board closely and see how the game works. Don't let the propaganda win.