The Lines of the Modern Democracy
The model of modern democracy has been busy drawing lines, though none of them are ever truly crossed. Instead, they are redrawn to accommodate military invasions in foreign countries launched in the name of freedom, or financial crises fueled by institutional greed. We see these lines in the skyrocketing debt of student loans and overpriced medical insurance. We see them in the widening gap of privileges reserved for the wealthy 1%, while the bottom 90% of the population struggle through three or four jobs just to meet their basic obligations. These lines define a landscape of mass shootings in schools and massive raids to deport human beings, along with anyone else who dares to critique “Big Brother.” To truly understand why some societies follow this model of democracy, we must scale these lines down to their base components.
Foremost, the “prize" for freedom in this system must be paid through military deeds. Historians could argue that since the United States gained its independence, the country has known only about 16 or 17 years of peace, both inwardly and outwardly. This is an age gap comparable to a teenager in the depths of puberty, a brief window where hormones are either not yet volatile enough to spark a life of conflict, or where the body is simply trying to grow peacefully amidst rapid change. The outcome, however, has been a legacy of perpetual conflict: the struggle for independence from the British Empire, the Civil War (or the War of Secession), and conflicts with the Spanish Empire. This list expands into the World Wars, the Cold War (encompassing Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, and the Gulf Wars), and various military coups orchestrated by the CIA across Africa, Latin America, and Asia. It continues through the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, reaching current events involving bombs in Iran, Venezuela, and Nigeria. As history suggests, this country is a war machine; its “teenage years" have been remarkably rough.
To maintain interest in this system, the U.S. is built upon specific beliefs regarding massive consumption, ranging from general goods to firearms. The latter is enshrined in the Second Amendment of the “holy" Constitution: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” Thus, just as we see outward conflict, the Constitution protects that same “battle-mind" within the territory, ostensibly as a safeguard in case the Statue of Liberty transforms itself into an orange-turd Emperor or something worse.
However, the protections of the Second Amendment don’t seem to prevail when it comes to school shootings. One must ask why children, teenagers, and young adults feel compelled to bring guns to school to shoot their classmates. As surreal as it sounds, many schools have installed metal detectors to prevent massacres, yet news of a new shooting arrives nearly every week. In response, school and university syllabi now propose “shooting simulations,” complete with tests and grades. Students can effectively earn a diploma in “bullet survival.” It’s no wonder that the academic level of the country is dropping as fast and dangerously as a meteor entering the Earth's atmosphere.
Adding to the decline of our academic standing is the crushing weight of student debt. Numerous presidents have promised to pardon the $1.833 trillion debt, yet it remains. While education should be a core pillar of a democratic system, in our modern version, schooling has become a lucrative business and a ladder to power. Consequently, the few who can afford the fees of a private education are the ones who make it through the capitalist system. Meanwhile, the “mob”, those who can barely afford community college or state education, are meant to carry the burden of the poor and middle-class struggle. Analysts of the “new aristocracy” argue that we need this caste system to create wealth through their labor and taxes.
This leads us to a system where everything has a price tag: health, education, housing, food, infrastructure, and even leisure. If you break a bone, your insurance premium dictates your level of care: you might be relegated to a facility that is little more than a mat on the ground, or you might enjoy “Marriott-style" hospitality in a five-star private hospital. In this context, some might argue that Luigi Mangione was a logical byproduct of the system for his alleged actions against the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, occurring at a time when medications are denied while insurance prices inflate. It provides a stark image of modern democracy: insurance CEOs driving Lamborghinis and Ferraris while their clients die at hospital doors due to a lack of services linked to their policies. Who would choose a different path? Would you sue the company and spend ten years in due process while dying? In this capitalist-surveillance paradise, there isn't even time for that.
Last but not least, the Epstein files. Yes, they’re a fundamental part of our modern democracy. Taking a closer look at the list, almost every person named, from presidents to tech-oligarchs, academics, gurus, spiritual plunderers, and even the staff, is linked to a web of criminal pedophilic activity. It’s as if our community representatives must share a common psychological and sexual disorder. The ultimate irony is that this entire global elite was scammed by an undergraduate quitter and pathological liar like Jeffrey Epstein, revealing one of the most ridiculous and dangerous pedophilic classes in history.
Finally, Big Brother is on the rise. Tech companies are developing a massive surveillance web through their platforms so that our modern democracy can “happily" live out its transition into total control.
If you are reading this within the U.S., print it and pass it to your friends, but delete it from your phone. ICE could be heading to your home at this very moment to take you to a “confession area" equipped with a tickle-torture system, because this is how we keep our modern democracy exactly as it is. You can download ICEBlock to know in advance the raids or ICE Activity Tracker.
The Statue of Liberty is no longer holding a torch; she’s pointing a gun at us, whispering, “You do as I say, because I am bigger than your freedom.”
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