FT is NOT about "trusting President Obama". FT is NOT just about the TPP.

[woo me with science]

27. To the Greatest Page. Re: "Trust" and politicians:

Last edited Tue Apr 21, 2015, 10:15 PM - Edit history (7)

Thank you for this important OP.

Mouthpieces of corporate candidates are always exhorting us to "trust," and the frequent follow-up to that is an insinuation that you are somehow being mean or unfair if you *don't* trust...a bizarre and disturbing attitude to take toward politicians who enact policy that affects millions of human lives.

It's the same general attitude we see in the constant stream of OP's by corporate posters suggesting that people "hate" Hillary or are being mean "if [they] can't say anything nice about her."

We are witnessing a disturbing dismantling of our democratic processes in this nation. Parallel with that removal of the processes that give citizens power and reason to participate in elections, we are witnessing steady, systematic efforts by corporate politicians to detach political loyalty from policies and principles and to turn elections into a team sport or personality contest, instead.

It is impossible to carry out the corporate agenda of increasing the power and profit of the One Percent at the expense of the 99 percent, if citizens retain an awareness of the purpose of political discourse and criticism in a democracy....if they retain the expectation that elections are about policy direction, and that politicians need to be pressured to represent their interests and earn their votes.

Thus, we get a deliberate shift in rhetoric by corporatists *away* from civic discourse/discussion of policy and *toward* the social and personal, accompanied by bullying to conform to the new rules. When we try to engage in the civic responsibility of criticizing our politicians' records and policies, we are treated as though we are criticizing someone at a *social* event. We are told that if we can't say something nice, we shouldn't say anything at all, or that we are "haters." Absurd, outrageous expectations like not being "mean" to the candidate by disagreeing with her publicly, or "trusting" her because that's the nice thing to do.

We are being propagandized and taught how citizens are expected to behave in a fake democracy, in which elections are for show and political discourse is merely social. Yes, we are witnessing the systematic dismantling of democratic processes that are fundamental to representative government. No, we should not "trust" politicians, and the hectoring to do so is a symptom of the perversion of our political landscape that corporatists *need* in order to complete the transformation of America from a representative system into oligarchy.

Thank you for this OP.