Should America be pitied or maligned or both?

Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.

– Thomas Paine

I often wonder, were he still alive, what impression Founding Father, Thomas Paine would have of the country he helped liberate. Would he be heartened by its superpower status achieved through years of imperialist bullying, or disheartened at its clear moral decline?

What would he make of its current stewardship? Would he look kindly upon a government that has spent the last seven months occasionally dancing, but predominantly tiptoeing around Israel’s vindictive campaign of retribution in Gaza resulting in the massacre of tens of thousands of innocent civilians.

The Biden administration’s explicit support for Israel’s inhumane campaign of mass slaughter in Gaza, that has resulted thus far in over 35,000 deaths with obscene damage to property, has split the country and the world into opposing camps. Only one camp though, is right on every possible merit, and it isn’t Biden’s.

It would be amusing if it were not so tragic, watching a succession of US government spokespersons shamelessly flailing in their attempts to convince the world that Israel’s response to the Hamas atrocities of October 7th, was both justified and moral. Only the most doltish true believers, however, consent to be taken for fools by these government henchmen. Most have rightfully called out these deplorable press conferences as gaslighting.

I remember similarly watching in shock and horror, Republican spokespersons during Trump’s presidency gaslighting the public on so many issues of importance, especially during the Covid pandemic. I remember wondering if we had somehow slipped into a parallel universe, and wishing earnestly for that mockery of governance to end.

It didn’t!

As an outsider, it’s clear to me that Americans have been conditioned through decades of election cycles to believe that they are compelled to select one or other candidate from a preposterously curated binary list – one Republican, one Democrat. Independents have no chance. The choice of candidates are indeed questioned, sometimes fiercely, but one eventually takes office without fail – even if the loser kicks up a tantrum about it.

Americans don’t seem overly concerned whether the best candidate takes office. They are quite happy to trust the process. The process however cares not a jot for them, even though they will bitch about it until a new manufactured outrage surfaces to grab their attention.

Personally, I see little to no difference between Republicans and Democrats when it comes to policy, or ethics, for that matter. They usually campaign around cultural issues, which are remarkably useful to keep the supporters wastefully engaged. Meanwhile, the politicians get on with the important business of fundraising and making speeches about things they need to do, but don’t. Occasionally they pass legislation that invariably benefits their rich donors handsomely.

Democrats and Republicans routinely accuse each other of bigotry and all sorts of crimes and misdemeanors, but it’s all an elaborate theatrical performance for the benefit of their support base. Projection is the biggest game in town.

Coming back to perhaps the greatest moral catastrophe of our times, everything both the American and Israeli governments have publicly stated about what’s happening in Gaza, is at a complete variance with observable reality. But they know all too well that they’re bullshitting. They also know, we know they’re bullshitting. Fortunately it’s becoming increasingly difficult for them to manufacture new propaganda consistently.

To that effect, the American government is now trying desperately to destroy its citizen’s ability to independently observe reality. They have passed legislation to effectively ban TikTok which live-streams the massacre of Palestinians from Gaza. They are also clamping down brutally on students who are exercising their democratic right to protest. More heinous however, was the bipartisan Congress vote to weaponize antisemitism which has absurdly rendered even Jews as self-hating. Meanwhile, just recently, Israeli government banned the news network, Al Jazeera from broadcasting in Israel.

Americans should be perplexed that their government can pass bipartisan legislation in record time to ban TikTok, and pass bills to provide foreign funding for weapons of mass death and destruction, but can’t find the same synergy and enthusiasm to pass any legislation that is socially beneficial to their citizens?

President Biden is a decrepit old geezer who has passed his sell-by date. His mental acuity and even his ability to walk a straight line have been questioned repeatedly. However, he appears to be sufficiently corpos mentis to nail his colors to the mast of USS Genocide.

His commitment to a Zionist government in Israel is both well-known and unflinching, and spans most of his political career. Meanwhile, his passion for this cult seems to have no boundaries or limits as it extends to immorally sanctioning a genocide politically and financially.

Worse still, Biden’s government has threatened punitive action against the International Criminal Court (ICC) if they prosecute any of the barbaric war criminals in Israel. Unsurprisingly, this flagrant violation of international law is not even a precedent. They have been kicking international law in the teeth for long time now, because they believe their illicit power renders them immune from it. They are not even a signatory to the ICC. Unsurprisingly, Israel isn’t a signatory as well.

The American government would do well to heed some of the sage advice from their celebrated revolutionary, Thomas Paine. It’s even more appropriate right now for Benjamin Netanyahu, the bloodthirsty Prime Minister of Israel, who is patently delusional about his own country’s security:

He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself

From where I’m sitting, it’s pretty obvious the American government believes its citizens are dunces. It also appears that they have enough ammunition to continue believing so. Ironically, America is the laughingstock of the world because while their government secretly laughs at its own people, the world laughs at them both.

Come November, Americans will be expected to choose a president once again. Their choice is between a genocide apologist and a narcissistic, lunatic, grifter who is currently facing both criminal and civil prosecution.

Liberals who are terrified of a return to office of Donald Trump are pleading with their base to choose the lesser evil. It hasn’t occurred to them they’ll still be choosing evil. By making that choice, Americans will ensure that the corrupt system that masquerades as a democracy will continue for four more years at least.

The only honorable way out of this conundrum is for Joe Biden to step down and give another candidate a chance to make certain that Trump does not set foot in the White House again. However, that’s easier said than done. There are too many vested interests and a lot of money at stake. Judging by the other potential candidates available, finding someone who is not compromised is going to be very hard.

Americans have about six months…