Of elections and alternate realities

The party's over: Bernie being led out of the DNC

So confession time about election time: a sense of unreality has taken over me during this presidential election cycle.  A month or so ago – before either party had officially declared their candidate – is when I first really felt this uncanny feeling.  And it wasn’t with Trump.  With the Republicans I could care less: remember the cast of characters Trump was running against?  No, it was when Hillary finally got the delegate counts that the little voice said, “This is really happening”.

Perhaps age makes this feeling possible and not the candidates themselves.  I’m older, seen more shit.  Maybe people felt this weirded-out when, say, Reagan became president in ‘81.  Part of it too is my interest in the Sanders’ campaign.  He was an unreal alternative with a very real network of support.  When Hillary got her unsurpassable lead down the stretch it became clear that The Machine had spoken.  Inertia would rule.  That is when the feeling kicked in: when the Democratic Party demonstrated that ultimately they had a lid on things.  The Party had decided on Clinton and the Party was, in end, getting its way.

That is what made the Sanders’ campaign so exciting.  He was an independent who switched to Democrat for the election, i.e. he was an outsider going against the status quo.  Again, maybe others felt this feeling of unreality.  Maybe Ron Paul supporters felt this when their candidate was finally eliminated from contention in ’08 and ’12.  Just like Paul was running in a Party that had an ideological foot in libertarianism, Sanders was operating within the recently sympathetic to progressivism.  Different dreams, same result.

It turns out that, to me, Sanders was last chance for doing something.  And that chance disappeared and the sense of unreality unfolded.

Now we are operating in the wholly symbolic.  Choice has been reduced to political acts that align with a political point of view – purchasing certain products, shopping at certain stores, listening to particular types of music.  All surrogates for real choice.

Unreal reality has been restored.  The illusion that voting is your voice may continue.