The SeedSing 2016 Year in Politics and Society: The Top Political Stories

Happy 2017 all.

Sorry to say, but we need to look back at 2016 one last time. The upcoming year is going to be quite different in politics than any year within many of our readers lifetimes. With that in mind, we here at SeedSing want to count down the five most important political stories of 2016. There are many important things that happened globally when it comes to politics, but our stories mostly look at the United States. What happened in the US will have massive global implications in the years to come. These events were crucial in creating the uncertain future that will begin in 2017.

We are going to start with the most overhyped political story of 2016. The endless coverage of Hillary Clinton being the first woman to be at the top of a major party ticket for President is the most inconsequential story of 2016. The Clinton campaign barely used this angle when the Secretary Clinton was on the campaign trail. It was widely accepted that Hillary Clinton was going to be the Democratic Party nominee, and the media decided not to cover the historic angle. It is a shame, because what Hillary Clinton did, by winning the election by a margin of nearly three million votes, is historic. It is an overrated story because no one talked about like they should have.

The fifth most important political story is the insanity that was the Republican Presidential Primary. Many, including us, thought that former Florida Governor Jeb Bush would easily win the nomination. If there was going to be a Barrack Obama like upset, it would maybe come from Florida Senator Marco Rubio. As the weeks went by, and New York businessman Donald Trump kept getting just enough of the plurality in primary states to win, things started to get strange. The endless debates started to focus on penis size, the attractiveness of spouses, and whose father helped to get JFK assassinated. There was no substance, no vision, just a comedy of errors. This chaos led to Donald Trump finally securing the nomination in June.

The fourth most important political story is the fact that the British people voted to leave the European Union, or Brexit if you want. Brexit is a bad, bad, idea, and the voters knew this. In what was soon to be a trend, the middle and lower class voters of Britain did not care about the consequences and wanted to send a message. No one in the press got it right. The stats gurus who set betting lines on public opinion got it wrong. Brexit sent a shockwave out that saw British Prime Minister David Cameron resigning, and most of the Conservative leaders actively running away from being the new leader of the British government. Theresa May stepped up to the plate and has actively delayed Brexit, even looking for her own exit to Brexit.

The third most important political story is the failure and incompetence of the professional media. During most of 2016 many media outlets, including SeedSing, treated Donald Trump as a joke. Many media outlets, mainly NBC, were treating Trump with kid gloves. Clinton was questioned for every small detail, but Trump's glaring problems were glossed over so the news networks could get better ratings.The stats gurus at Princeton, 538, The New Times, and many others were giving Hillary Clinton a huge advantage to win the presidency. They were all wrong. Once the election was over, these newspeople spent their time covering their own rear ends. It was never their fault. The only people taking actual responsibility were comedians like Stephen Colbert and John Oliver. People like Nate Silver and the clowns at Morning Joe were busy throwing fire in every direction. The need the media has for fame and profit outweighed the safety and future of America.

The second most important political story is the death of the Democratic Party. Since Bill Clinton was elected as President in 1992, the Democratic Party has almost entirely given up on trying to win any competitive election outside of the President. In the early part of the 21st century, then DNC chairman Howard Dean started to reverse this trend, but once Barrack Obama was elected, Dean’s plan was scrapped so the Obama campaign could demand all the money and resources. 2016 proved to be the Waterloo of the DNC’s President or bust strategy. The so-called “safe” Senate map did not give the Democratic Party a majority. Republicans took control of more state legislators, Governor mansions, and the White House. The Democratic Party responded to these humiliating setbacks by maintaining the status quo. California Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi was once again elected to the position of Minority Leader. The same old talking heads the party has been keeping around far too long on the news networks all kept their jobs. The Democratic Party’s choice to keep the same failed leaders shows that personal glory for a few is more important than a more secure America for all.

The number one most important political story of 2016 is the ascension of Donald Trump. From the first rally, where Trump had to pay people to attend, to election night, Donald Trump is a political candidate like one not experienced in our lifetimes. He used juvenile insults on his opponents, threatened to jail Hillary Clinton, bragged about sexually assaulting women, claimed his use of bankruptcy law makes him a good businessman, and put the reputation of Russia ahead of the safety of the United States. All of these issues still caused the Republican nominee to lose the popular vote by nearly 3 million, but he did gain the needed electoral votes to be the next President of the United States. Since his popular defeat, but electoral victory, Donald Trump has spent his transition time insulting CIA intelligence professionals, media outlets, and his opponents. His cabinet is mostly made up of wealth seekers who actively want to make America less welcoming to anyone that is chasing the American dream. The rise of Donald Trump to the highest office in the land has not humbled the thin skinned tabloid mainstay. Over half the country does not want him to be President, but he is, and America needs to be ready.

RD

RD Kulik is the Head Editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Are you part of the minority that voted for Donald Trump? Tell us why. 

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Brexit, Democracy, and the Ash Heap of History

The first on the fire?

Have you heard about how the Brexit referendum has destroyed democracy? It definately ended Prime Minister David Cameron's political career. Since the British people voted 52%-48% to leave the European Union, almost everyone with an opinion has decided that Britain made the wrong decision. The "Leave" voters have been called racist, children, and ignorant. People are trying to make the referendum vote as proof that there is a divide between people living in urban areas and those living in rural parts. Those of two different generations have views that are diametrically opposed. The young urban intelligentsia have compassion, and the old uneducated hick is an idiot. The war between the future and the past was fought during the Brexit referendum, the old barely won, and the rest of the world has lost. Democracy has failed to secure our future.

Almost everything written, or televised, about Brexit is insulting and wrong. The coverage is focusing on a small group of angry remain voters, and discounting the 17 million plus majority voters who want to leave the European Union. Let's take a closer look at how the British people actually voted.

A big deal is being made out of the urban "Remain" voters against the rural "Leave" voters. The majority of the urban centers did vote for "Remain", along with all of Scotland and Northern Ireland. It was not just the far out, lowly populated, rural areas that carried "Leave to victory. The majority of England and Whales voted "Leave". Once you exit the center of the urban areas, nearly all of the suburban parts voted "Leave". Almost all of the blue collar, highly populated, areas pushed "Leave" over "Remain". 

The higher educated were also applauded for wanting to remain in the European Union. Nearly three quarters of UK citizens with a college degree voted "Remain". The problem here is that less than one third of UK citizens have a college degree. The media tries to make it look like half the country is college educated and the other half is not. The fact is that by using this group in one's analysis, the whole truth cannot be seen. A minority this small is insignificant in swinging an election.

Another interesting piece of the Brexit vote is party affiliation. Predictable the "Leave" voters mostly identified with the conservative party and the UK Independence Party (UKIP). The conservatives are currently the majority party in the Parliament, and had won a hard fought election just over a year ago. Even if the former Prime Minister David Cameron was backing "Remain", many of the voters stuck to their conservative principles and voted with their nationalistic hearts.

The most telling voter data can be easily described by the BBC.

"Younger people voted Remain

According to polling by Lord Ashcroft, younger voters were much more likely to vote Remain than older voters.

But turnout in areas with a higher proportion of younger residents tended to be lower."

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-36616028

The millennials who are being championed in the media as the sensible losers in Brexit, most of them did not even vote. Lack of interest in voting is not being discussed in the Brexit vote because the media would rather paint the millennial generation as victims of baby boomer excess. Once again voter turnout is a problem.

Why do we swallow the media narrative of the disappointed electoral minority and immediately discount the majority votes of an entire nation? More than seventeen million people voted to leave the European Union, and the global narrative is focused on the exact opposite. The answer is quite simply. It's all about the money.

Every single post Brexit story focused on the fall in the global stock market and the devaluing of the British Pound. The concern for a few peoples wealth was way more important than the humanitarian consequences of Brexit. President Obama and Speaker Ryan supported Britain staying the EU because of how it would effect US trade policy and what an exit would mean to the business owners in the United States. That is exactly what the elected leaders of the United States should do. It was the same thing around all the industrialized economies of the world. The world's economy was going to suffer if Britain left the EU. Quietly, Vladimir Putin supported Great Britain leaving the European Union, but that has more to do with consolidating power than it does for global economic stability. If Putin supports something, it usually means the rest of the global economic powers will be against it.

If the economic consequences are so dire, why would 52% of the voters want to bring about the chaos? The answer is that the majority of Britain's citizen's, and the citizen's around the world, have been exploited and held down by the politicians and business leaders of the twenty first century economy. When David Cameron took the keys to 10 Downing Street, he immediately enacted programs that drained the social programs of needed funds. These so called austerity measures were supposed to restore the economy to pre-2008 levels. The Prime Minister's family was named in the Panama Papers as someone who was avoiding taxes. He has no idea how important the government funded social services are to people that cannot afford to hide their money and dodge taxes. Cameron did not have anything to lose by demanding that the working people pay more, and sacrifice much more. He did not care how much the majority would suffer.

The non-college educated working class suffered the most from Cameron's austerity plan, and the rich got even richer through tax cuts/incentives. London Mayor, and fellow conservative, Boris Johnson enthusiastically blamed immigrants for the city's economic troubles. The people who could not afford to live in downtown London saw their social safety net being cut to shreds by Parliament, and had immigrants to blame through the mayors racist rhetoric. Nigel Farage, the head of the UKIP, was even running advertisements in the suburbs telling people that the money saved by leaving the EU was going to help strengthen the drained National Health Service. The day after the vote, Farage sort of rescinded that promise on national television. When the majority of your voters are non-college educated, struggling to get by, and looking for a way out, leaving the European Union was their only viable choice. That is why leave carried the day.

The myth of democracy is what caused the Brexit vote. David Cameron could not find anymore of the people's money to give away to his rich business donors, so he approved the Brexit referendum. Boris Johnson had a small period of time to maintain the immigrant hatred, so he pushed hard for Brexit. Nigel Farage is another demagogue he wants to justify his hate through the will of the people. Brexit was formed out of fear and economic hardship. The rightfully elected majority party in Parliament created and fed this flame of discontent. The will of the people was created by these leaders of government. Modern democracy created the majority leave voters.

Today we are questioning the will of the people. It has been weeks since Brexit, and our global economy is begging for a do over. David Cameron has resigned, and new Prime Minister Theresa May has promised to carry out with Great Britain's exit from the European Union. Democracy must be respected. The people have spoken, even if their voice said the wrong thing.

Brexit should represents the end of our love affair with democracy. The fact remains that 52% of Britons voted for the wrong thing. The leave supporters were fed a bunch of lies, and voted on baseless fear. The voters were used as pawns by rich men who were trying to hold onto the little bit of power they can still embrace. Austerity did not work, it only made things worse. With the failures of austerity, the leaders turned to racism. That will also one day fail. Great Britain has shown that an up or down popular vote is not the answer. The conservatives gained power by standing on top of the majority. The weight of the conservative party's greed has crushed their nation. Leaving the European Union was politically their only way to hold onto ill gotten power. The fallout from Brexit will hurt all of Britain, and leave the conservatives with no avenue forward in their quest for wealth and influence. 

Democracy has exposed the mob as not fit to govern. Brexit is the most glaring example popular voting's failure. More than 17 million people believed that leaving the European Union would improve their rapidly declining economic conditions. They never thought the people they supported in previous elections were the ones who were causing the economic decline. Once democracy relies on racism and fear to gain power, it is time to find a new way. Leave won because the supporters relied on lies and fear, while the opponents were met with low voter turnout and disorganization. Is this the best way to govern an entire nation, or a global economy? Democracy has failed, and Brexit is one of many examples to come. The fires of history has produced a lot of ash. Democracy will be next. What do we do know?

RD

RD Kulik is the Head Editor for SeedSing and the host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. What is our new way forward? Tell us by writing for SeedSing.