If this election doesn't kill me, will it really make me stronger?!

I've found myself doubting a lot of the "Good American" ideals I've been indoctrinated to believe. Did the American Dream ever really exist? Is it really necessary to work yourself to death for an impossible dream? Are poor people really less deserving? Are socialism and communism really evil? Can capitalism breed anything except selfishness? Does an apple a day actually keep the doctor away? Will feeding a cold and starving a fever accomplish anything more than create stomach discomfort? Are we really a Great Nation or do we just say so on TV?

I don't know. Right now, so little about the practice of America is anything I can morally support. Our discourse is crude & belittling. Our populace is waving pitchforks and calling for punishment before trial. Greed has become a virtue. Struggling people are penalized. Any policy that promotes selfishness is heralded as "fiscal responsibility." The majority is loudly proclaimed to be "too stupid" to make good policy decisions. Our President is ignored - Congress doesn't even show up at his meetings. Propaganda has gone so mainstream that it's called journalism (I don't think I've seen propaganda used this well since Goebbels conned the German people into killing 6 million Jews. I'm terrified what FOX News will accomplish as its end game.)

I'm disgusted that this is what's become of Thomas Jefferson's experiment. It's a circus - a harmful, embarrassing circus.
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Just a personal message for all lovers of FOX News. Consider yourselves advised:

"All propaganda has to be popular and has to adapt its spiritual level to the perception of the least intelligent of those towards whom it intends to direct itself." -Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf ("My Struggle"), Vol. I

I reviewed some of my German propaganda lessons and realized that FOX is actually brilliant (as was Goebbels). FOX has taken our fears over Nazi Germany and then used the same techniques utilized in Germany to make fear of a Nazi state so palpable that a totalitarian state seems the only protection. It's ridiculously brilliant - use the same techniques with the same desired outcome but shroud it in fear of the technique's creators. It blinds the very people who are giving up control. And what has FOX created? A complete hijack of the US government "for our own good." Those Job Creators are working to save us - just as Hitler worked tirelessly to "save" the German people from the imagined threats of his day. In our day, collectivism is villainized - the Germans were united in their goals of a better future, so, therefore, wanting a better future must be evil! We should take our tough luck as engineered by the Job Creators and thank them daily for being poorer, less healthy, and less educated.