“I need to write, but I don’t know what to write.” I told my girlfriend, Carrie. “I really don’t know what to tell people. I’m angry. I’m hurt and I’m feeling defeated and if there’s one thing this campaign does not allow, it is negativity. I’m trying to put a positive spin on all of this, but the fact of the matter is that the corporations decided that Clinton was going to be President years ago and nothing was going to change that. I don’t think any of us realized how deep the corruption went. We knew it, but we weren’t prepared for it. I don’t know if it will take violent revolution to take back our government or if everyone just needs to run for office and I’m not sure either one would work anyway. I don’t know what to do and I certainly don’t know what to write, but I feel miserable and only writing helps with that.”
“Write about that.” Carrie said. “Write about the fact that you’re scared, angry and confused, because everyone else is too.”
Carrie is right.
Because I AM scared.
I AM angry.
And I AM confused.
And I know this is exactly what THEY want me to feel.
As I say “THEY”, I realize I sound like a crazy person, which to be fair, I surely am at this point…
I am the fly ramming it’s head into the windshield, hoping without reason, that the next time I will smash through this invisible barrier and find my freedom.
The fly’s friends say “Come play with us.”
The fly says “But there is this barrier imprisoning me.”
The flies laugh.
They do not see the barrier.
Like the insane fly, I feel the invisible barrier and like the insane fly I am bludgeoning myself to death trying to fight it.
I rage against the machine, but the machine feels no rage for me.
It is dispassionate, churning forward, crushing everything in it’s path, seemingly unstoppable, completely unconcerned with the life it severs between it’s blades.
The machine exists only to become stronger.
As science fiction writers pontificate the inevitability of Artificial Intelligence enslaving the human race, I watch this occur, but with corporations, before my very eyes.
I watch as they purchase my government and pass laws to protect their sovereignty.
I watch as they purchase the media, so they can program our minds.
I watch them tear down good people and exult fools, all in the name of selling products.
I listen to their lies , but rarely believe them.
I am defective.
The programming won’t take.
Syntax string error.
File not found exception.
Return to factory.
Wipe drive.
Scrap for parts.
The ones who cannot see the barrier say…
“Bernie lost. Hillary had more voters. Stop crying and unite the party or else we get Trump.”
It would be comical, if it weren’t so tragic.
There is nothing you can say to these people.
They are asleep in The Matrix and you cannot wake them.
If they had a desire to be awake, they would have awoken already.
I do not envy them their blissful sleep, nor do I begrudge them it.
It is just how they were programmed.
Willful ignorance is an effective method of maintaining one’s sanity.
The path to enlightenment is fraught with peril, but it is to those seeking the truth to whom I speak, when I say…
This was never about Bernie Sanders.
It actually pains me to say that, because I, like you, have tremendous love for this amazing man.
I, the cynical misanthrope, who held everyone with skepticism, fell madly, head over heels in love with a man I have never actually met.
So, there is a part of me, that just wants this whole thing to be about Bernie Sanders.
But this is not about Bernie Sanders.
This was never about Bernie Sanders.
When I was a child, I had the innocence required to hold rock stars in idolatry.
My bedroom was a shrine, walls covered with the musical prophets of my time.
One by one, the pictures and delusions came down, to be replaced with the harsh realities of adulthood, where simply keeping sane is an accomplishment that few could honestly lay claim to.
One by one the idealistic song lyrics were replaced with a 9 to 5 that became a 9 to 6 and then a 9 to 7 and all those ambitions of changing the world had to be fit into an occasional act of civil disobedience.
I marched for this cause or that cause, but wondered if I was doing anymore than just stroking my own desire to feel like I was actually making a difference…
And I doubted that I was making a difference.
Then Bernie Sanders stood up in a backyard somewhere in the Midwest.
He opened his mouth and said what I had been thinking my entire life.
And people came from miles around to hear this message.
Bernie Sanders saw the barrier and he asked us to fly into it with him.
Bernie Sanders reawakened a part of me that I thought was dead.
I started making t-shirts.
I hung his picture on my wall.
Bernie Sanders was and is my rock star.
So when I say “This was never about Bernie Sanders.” it cuts me very deeply, because I really wanted it to be about him.
I’ve seen the 80’s movie where the boy loses the girl, but gains a lesson about life and I’ve seen the 80’s movie where the girl wakes up and sees that the perfect boy was there all along.
I really wanted the world to wake up.
Just this once, I wanted the happy ending.
From day one, Bernie told us, what this was about.
You can forgive us if we lost ourselves from time to time, as we were bathed in a light so bright, we were often intoxicated, our brains swimming in serotonin, flooded with the promise of revolution and starstruck by one so simple and humble.
Bernie Sanders was our flaming arrow, shot from a mile away, drifting unnoticed over the battlefield, with a trajectory destined for the Emperor’s heart.
But Sanders reminded us daily that it was “Not me, but US.” who were responsible for Our Revolution.
Bernie reminded us that WE are the arrows.
Bernie reminded us that revolution only happens when millions stand together.
Now, as the establishment gloats over another victory, taken at the expense of those they were sworn to serve…
As the Emperor swats away the flaming arrow and smiles indignantly, completely ignorant to the fact that a million more have already been launched and that there is simply no way to deflect them all.
As the establishment laughs at our great effort, I am reminded..
That this was never about Bernie Sanders.
This was always about YOU.
Just as a young Bernard Sanders stood up in 1962 to fight against segregation, YOU must stand up, every time you see injustice.
Just as Sanders had the guts to be dragged away in handcuffs, fighting every step of the way, WE must have the courage to stare evil in it’s face and not let our fears stand in the way of doing what is right.
Just as Bernie reluctantly accepted a position in government, so that he could serve the people of his community, we must also step up and take charge of our own government.
This was never about Bernie Sanders, but Sanders has been our light, leading us back to the path when we were lost.
This was never about Bernie Sanders, but Sanders reminded us of the importance of standing up and refusing to sit down in the face of oppression.
This was never about Bernie Sanders, but Sanders is the one who dusted us off and told us to get back in the game.
And I pledge to myself, to you, to my children and yes, to Bernie, to never forget his example.
I promise to oppose evil everywhere I see it.
I promise to feed the hungry and put the greater good ahead of my own gain.
I promise to take up positions of service when I am needed and I promise to oppose and expose those who use the suffering of others for their profit.
I promise to never settle for the lesser evil, but always strive for the greater good.
This was never about Bernie Sanders.
This has always been about revolution.
This has always been about us.
So what now?
Like I said, in the beginning, I don’t know…
But I’m searching..
I will be in Philadelphia on July 24th because Bernie Sanders asked me to be there and I strongly encourage you to use any and all means necessary to get there as well.
If you don’t have the money to go, then you need to go.
Our Revolution is about standing up for the poor.
If you are afraid that you will be arrested, then you need to be there.
Our Revolution is about standing up to government oppression.
If you feel that your presence there will not make a difference, then by all means, find a way to get to Philadelphia.
You need to see firsthand what a million people united can accomplish.
We do not go because we believe that the “super-delegates” will see us and grow a conscience.
We know that the majority of them are sociopaths that care nothing for human suffering.
We know that they have already been bought and paid for, before the first vote was even cast.
We know they will support the evil one, because they want to protect their power.
We do not go to change their sick, selfish-minds.
We go to stand in solidarity with one another.
We go to remind them that Our Revolution is strong and that if you oppress us then we will come back more powerful than before.
We go to be the conscience of those who have no conscience.
We go because they built a wall to keep us out.
We go because they were planning to put us in prison, before the ACLU stepped in and said “NO WAY!!!” and because to fear one’s government is completely unacceptable.
We go, because to not go would let them think that we were okay with what they are doing.
We go to let them see the generations of voters, activists and volunteers that will be working against them.
We go to Philadelphia for liberty.
We go for justice.
We go because we are revolutionaries.
theindependentthinker2016 
Checking in here just in case you get kicked off of Facebook. This was always about all of US.
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