By Nick Bernabe
In an age of hyper-partisan political polarization in the United States, Americans are closing in on a 2016 presidential election that features two of the most disliked candidates in history. While the majority of the public dislikes both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, there must be a reason they both have solid bases of support, right?
People must think Trump is going to be good for the economy by building a wall on the southern border, killing multinational trade deals, and ratcheting up tariff trade wars with China, right?
And people must think Clinton will help out the poor, uplift minorities, and bring equality for women in the workplace through government mandates, right?
Not exactly.
A Pew Research survey published on September 21st shows voters’ biggest reason for supporting a candidate is not actually their policies, but because they’re not the other candidate. Sounds confusing and illogical, right? Well, that’s because it is.
America’s political system is so broken and divided that the strongest factor driving voters’ decisions is that their candidate is not the other candidate. According to Pew:
This ‘opposition as support’ takes place in the context of an election campaign that is far more likely to be viewed in negative than positive terms: Majorities of Americans describe themselves as ‘frustrated’ and ‘disgusted’ with the campaign, while few declare themselves ‘interested,’ ‘optimistic’ or ‘excited.’ And these negative takes have only become more widespread over the course of the summer.
With so many voters casting a ballot against both Trump and Clinton, you’d think independents and third-party candidates would have a strong shot at competing in this election, but that isn’t the case. Though between Libertarian Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein, there is a higher level of support for other options now than in recent memory, these candidates are written off by the media as simply spoiler candidates who can either help or hinder the chances of Hillary or Trump.
Despite third-party candidates’ immense popularity, the Commission on Presidential Debates has barred them from participating in the highly-anticipated debates. The first takes place tonight and, coincidentally, is governed by operatives from the Republican and Democratic parties. This is despite the fact that 50 percent of Americans favor the inclusion of Gary Johnson and Jill Stein in the debates. This is because in the United States, voting isn’t about choosing someone you agree with anymore, it’s about not choosing someone you don’t agree with — and that should be a wake up call to us all.
This article (Wake up Call, America: The Real Reason People Are Voting for Hillary and Trump) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Nick Bernabe and theAntiMedia.org. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11pm Eastern/8pm Pacific. If you spot a typo, email [email protected].
I wonder if anyone else thinks, in light of the fact that we just had a ‘debate’ between the two most hated candidates for president in the history of the nation, that the choice to put the “right of revolution” from the Declaration of Independence on the backdrop behind Hillary was a little odd?
It’s all part of the back-to-front Orwellian messaging from the NWO elite, designed to dupe the unawakened.
My take: this election will be decided by either the courts or by congress, it will not be “We the People”
HillBillary must have been meds up, on account of, she didn’t even cough and she looked like a million miles away.
When the rigged voting machines anoint her as potus she will become terminal and will be whisked away before the inauguration. Then the current no-name potus will be planted in place for a third term.
TRUMP!TRUMP!TRUMP!MAKE AMERICA GREAT, AGAIN!
Gary Johnson is the worst of Trump and Clinton, and he destroyed New Mexico. Gary Johnson is 100% in support of the TPP and other trade treaty arrangements with slave owning countries. He’s definitely not a Libertarian by philosophy. As for the Green Party, their best candidate was Ralph Nader, and he couldn’t garner more than 2-3% of the votes because he’s opposed to a Nation run by Corporations and Pay to Play schemes. Who wants someone who speaks the truth and cares about all Americans.
Believe it or not, there are many who support one candidate or the other because they actually agree on policies! Anyone who thinks they are only voting to express disgust with the opposition, is not looking to really change anything at all. Our problems will disappear when we decide to work together to maintain and protect the liberty we have under the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Vote for the candidate who reflects your own views, not because that one is the opposition. No man is perfect, but it appears to me that Trump is the only one who really understands liberty and the power of the people to make this country great again.
You drank your own kool-aid when you finished your paragraph with, “”…make this country great again.”” Your antidote lies in American history without the revisionist point of view.
There are many who can make this country great again by revising their thinking to match the moral values on which this country was founded. If that’s the “kool-aid” you are accusing me of drinking, I gladly plead guilty. Many more ought to drink it because the only way to return to greatness is to return to the founding principals that made us great at our beginning.
YES!!!!!!!!!!!
Yeah. I support Hillary because I agree with her positions.
But her positions just simply don’t matter in this election because The Other Guy is so terrifying. I would vote for Romney if he were the not-Trump candidate. I would vote for McCain or Dole or Bush if one of them were the not-Trump candidate. Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, Colin Powell — even freaking Donald Rumsfeld would get my vote if he was up against Trump.
To make it a difficult choice you’d have to scrape down to Sarah Palin or Allen West level or something. If the election were Trump v Palin or Trump v West I can’t even imagine what I would do.
But luckily that isn’t the case. It’s Trump v A Great Choice, so I’m going with the great choice.
hahahaha…you, my dear, are not to be taken seriously at all. 🙂
Forget the kool-aid i think you’ve been hitting the magic mushroom tea
The spoon man cometh.
Agree,,,,,,,,Trump’s policies are right for America……Hillary will bring American down further…..so you don’t like some of the things he says, but he will work for the American people……I believe it!!!!!
The majority of Americans seem to have a limited mental capacity. They could not find their way out of a paper bag with a map, flashlight and a knife.
LudVanB:Look Who’s Talking, You,Not Me…Hmm
Do you need a guide dog to find your way out of that paper bag?
I WILL NOT VOTE FOR ANY CANDIDATE FOR CONGRESS, 435
REPRESENTATIVES AND 34 SENATORS UP FOR REELECTION OR PRESIDENT, WHO DOES NOT SIGN THIS STATEMENT! MILLIONS OF OTHERS ACROSS THE COUNTRY ARE WILL BE VOTING THIS WAY.
THERE ARE THOUSANDS OF INTERRELATED COMPETING “GOODS” BUT THE COMMON GOOD 90% OF THE TIME LOSES OUT TO SHORT TERM SUBJECTIVE SPECIAL INTEREST GOALS WHEN THE MAJORITY OF ALL PEOPLE WORLDWIDE SURVEYED BELIEVE ABOUT 85% OF ALL
PEOPLE ARE GOOD AND WOULD WORK FOR THE COMMON GOOD IF THERE WERE A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD. ONE 6 YEAR TERM LIMITS FOR CONGRESS IS THE MOST EFFICIENT AND EFFECTIVE WAY TO LEVEL THE PLAYING FIELD. EVEN THE POWERS THAT BE WILL BE BETTER OFF BECAUSE FREE PEOPLE, WITH A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD, PRODUCE MORE, KEEP MORE AND SHARE MORE.
http://WWW.ONE6YEARTERMLIMITS.ORG
TAKE ME OFF YOUR EMAIL LIST IF YOU DO NOT PUT THIS PETITION FOR ONE 6 YEAR TERM LIMITS FOR CONGRESS ON YOUR WEBSITE AND ON ANY EMAIL YOU SEND TO ME. IF WE DO NOT WORK SMARTER YOU WASTE YOUR TIME AND MY TIME.
CANDIDATES CLINTON AND TRUMP CAN SIGN THE STATEMENT TO DEMONSTRATE LEADERSHIP AND DO MORE FOR THE COUNTRY
THEN ANYTHING THEY WILL DO IN THEIR WILDEST DREAMS AND CAMPAIGN SPEECHES. POWERS THAT BE WILL OWN CONTROL OF CONGRESS NOT MATTER WHO WINS UNLESS WE PASS ONE 6
YEAR TERM LIMITS FOR CONGRESS. WE WILL NOT RUN OUT OF GOOD HONEST CAPABLE PEOPLE TO WORK FOR THE COMMON GOOD FOR ONE 6 YEAR TERM.
HALF OF THE WORLD’S POPULATION IS 25 AND UNDER. WE HAVE TO
CHANGE TO THE 21ST CENTURY REALITY AND DISRUPTION FOR GOOD.
Wake Up Call: Patriots and Christians alike!
The real reason Americans have Trump and Clinton as their candidates: When, in Article 6, the constitutional framers banned Christian tests they thereby eliminated mandatory biblical qualifications. In so doing, they doomed America to nothing but nincompoops, scoundrels, and outright criminals for fer “leaders.” Sound familiar?
For more regarding Article 6’s Christian test ban, see online Chapter 9 “Article 6: The Supreme Law of the Land” of “Bible Law vs. the United States Constitution: The Christian Perspective.” Click on my picture, then our website. Go to our Online Books page, click on the top entry, and scroll down to Chapter 9.
Then find out how much you REALLY know about the Constitution as compared to the Bible. Take our 10-question Constitution Survey in the right-hand sidebar and receive a complimentary copy of a book that EXAMINES the Constitution by the Bible.
Oh, sheesh, do you seriously go around from website to website and copy-paste one stupid comment over and over again? That’s pathetic. Really, like sad. At least rewrite your thoughts each time.
Govenments are Corporations
Nearly all politicians in the USA are TREASONISTS, because they swore an oath to a privately owned foreign corporation known as the UNITED STATES INCORPORATED. Washington D.C. or the District of Columbia is also a privately owned foreign corporation. Washington D.C. is NOT part of the USA, just like Vatican City is not part of Italy.
To find the evidence that nearly all politicians in the USA are treasonists, you need to be aware of Title 8 U.S. Code § 1481.
Under Title 8 U.S. Code § 1481:
“(a) A person who is a national of the United States whether by birth or naturalization, shall lose his nationality by voluntarily performing any of the following acts with the intention of relinquishing United States nationality—
(2) taking an oath or making an affirmation or other formal declaration of allegiance to a foreign state or a political subdivision thereof, after having attained the age of eighteen years;
(4)(A) accepting, serving in, or performing the duties of any office, post, or employment under the government of a foreign state or a political subdivision thereof, after attaining the age of eighteen years if he has or acquires the nationality of such foreign state;”
In simple terms, once an oath of office is taken by an American citizen, his citizenship is relinquished and thus he becomes a foreign agent. This happens because he is swearing an oath to the foreign UNITED STATES INCORPORATED and the foreign organization that controls it.
All of the candidates chosen for the highest positions in government are not chosen by party members or the public but are pre-selected by the Royal and Elite and each approved candidate must swear an allegiance to and render a pledge to adhere to the demands of these Corporate Directors and Masters.
The right to vote in the United States of America is a FRAUD….when you vote, you are voting for a president of a FOREIGN corporation known as the United States of America, Inc.
How did this come about? Find out here: http://humansarefree.com/2015/12/why-right-to-vote-in-united-states-is.html
This isn’t an election based on all the issues we’ve fought about for the last 40 years, this is about re-prosecuting the one big issue from 50 years ago: yes or no to racism. Fifty years ago we decided no and shockingly five decades later it looks like we need to revisit that decision.
“How is it that so many otherwise intelligent people are being fooled by our masters yet again?”
It’s not confusing if you look at it this way. Here are a list of things that conservatives claimed they cared about for the last dozen Presidential elections:
* Small government
* Low taxes
* Free trade
* Unwavering anti-abortion
* No lewd anything
* Divorce is bad
* No nationalized health system
* Cheating on your wife is bad
* More foreign intervention
* No homos
And here is a list of things that liberals claimed conservatives cared about, but :
* No racial minorities
Now look at this election. Donald trump is:
* For big government
* Wants to raise taxes
* Against free trade
* Because “against abortion” shortly before his campaign
* Appeared in lewd videos
* On his third marriage
* Cheated on every wife and girlfriend
* Isolationist
* Supports LGBT rights
Whoa! That doesn’t make sense! Oh, unless you’re a liberal, then it does make sense because Trump is:
* A racist
That’s it. None of the other issues ever actually mattered. It was always about the racism and this election proves it.
If we looked at it your way, we’d be as nuts as you are. Thanks, but no thanks.
You are:
* A friggin’ moron
The Real Issue Isn’t Who A Person Votes For, It’s The Person Who Counts The Votes Which Matters Most…
I talked with a congressman last night, a friend who I had known for years before he ran for congress, and who I served with in the military. He knows I’m independent but he shared something with me that I know he is being truthful about. He told me that most of congress know that Paul Ryan has been bought by the democrats. Some of them are already laying plans to remove Paul Ryan from the Speaker’s position. But Ryan has already done the damage. Those who really support the party and are sticking with the candidate, Trump, know that Hillary Clinton has laid plans to continue the Obama administration’s work. The whole battle has become, for them, to get the Supreme Court foundation laid to further these plans, the major obsession being gun control. Those who are still supporting the republican candidate are doing so because they were given information by one representative who had a secret meeting with Ryan and his cronies about his efforts to sabotage Trump. This is not a recent thing. Ryan has been about supporting Hillary against Trump for at least eight months He knew of the eleven year old tape that Bush would be releasing, and also had talked with former president GW Bush about it. My friend told me that there was little doubt that Hillary Clinton would “win” the election because the whole thing has been “fixed” from the beginning, with Bernie Sanders being the spearhead chosen by the DNC to pull supporters to Clinton in the final race. I’ve known my friend to be an honest person. He is disgusted with Paul Ryan and the sleaze he has caused. So much so that he does not intend to continue when his time for reelection comes up. His words ” I will not be a part of the sleaze that has overtaken this congress”
To a person of at least normal intelligence, this obviously isn’t a battle between left and right any longer. This is a battle between the globalist 1%ers who infest both parties, their financial ties that are more important to them than any appeal to patriotism or America, their frantic quest to maintain their power and the vast majority of Americans who are being laid low by globalism. They want their rape of America and it’s citizens to continue through open borders that drive wages down, prices up and the continuation of shipping businesses and jobs overseas in order to get that last penny in profit while they literally gut this country and it’s people. They own the MSM and will stop at nothing. That is the explanation for the never Trump GOP elites, the mainstream media and the corrupt DNC agreeing on electing corrupt hillary, laid bare.
I read your post twice. Nowhere in it did I see a plan. So what is it? What do you suggest we do? You criticize without offering a different approach or method. What do you suggest we do? We are going to have another president. What is your answer?