Election Time Again? Or Has the Circus Come to Town?

It really shouldn't surprise the "rational" citizens of America that this year's presidential election is nothing more than a circus of debauchery and con-man one-upsmanship.  

Look at what televised political debates look like in other nations:

They are decent, non-flashy, non-sensational, serious conversations.    Notice the absence of a wild audience in "stadium" seating.  

Now look at the American debates: a mix of circus, talk show, game show, rock concert, phony wrestling match, and Hollywood.

     Notice that even the commentator desk is illuminated, with upturned spot lights in front of it.  See the Red, White & Blue light displays encircling the audience.  It resembles the stage from "Dancing With the Stars"!

Below, even the podiums are illuminated.  It's like a game show... or "Stupid Human Tricks".  Corporate advertisements surround the set, just as if it were a sporting event.  There's more work put into the "staging" of the event, than into the content of the debaters' statements.

     Most of the "debates"--supposedly involving "professionals" quickly deteriorated into childlike antics, like an episode of "Jerry Springer" or "Howard Stern".  In fact, they resemble scenes from the movie "The Boss" (seen below)...

No surprise there!  The movie is about a money-hungry egomaniac who breaks the law (by cheating the taxpaying public), gets temporarily imprisoned, but is allowed by society to become profitable in business again--just like the film "Wolf of Wall Street", and real-life Leona Helmsley and Martha Stewart.

     Does anyone wonder how such a group of misfits got to the final stages of being nominated for President of the most powerful country on Earth?  Out of the millions of intelligent Americans, how come nobody of substance/brains is in the running?

    For the longest time, Americans have stupidly ignored real talent and wisdom, in favor of empty words and "smoke & mirrors".    That's the behavior of Medieval peasants!  You'd expect more from modern-day people--especially since everyone has a handheld device that COULD connect them to education, learning, advice, self-help and information.  Sadly, they'd rather occupy their time watching "Jerry Springer", "The Chew", "The View", "The Real", morning talk shows, the home shopping network, soap operas, "The Real Housewives", "MTV Real World", pornography, "white trash" on "reality TV", and drugged-up "music artists" lip-synching at concerts that charge hundreds of dollars per ticket.

Are you surprised that people are rooting for Donald Trump as a presidential candidate?  His banter--and globally-broadcast comments about his penis size--belongs more on one of those aforementioned trash TV shows.   

But that's exactly what's inundated this country for decades.   Trump knows it, and the folks steering him want to cash in on it.  [I'm sure he'll keep doing whatever he's paid to do].

This is what the voting public (who settles for living in a cocoon, like below) 

loves to watch (and throw their money at):

No surprise that people follow such fodder.  When someone makes a Facebook post about a child doing something cute or about "saving the environment", it gets 22 "likes".  A video of a horse farting gets 566 "likes".  If a shirtless gay guy takes his picture next to a wax statue of Lindsay Lohan, it gets 3,672 "likes".  Such are society's priorities.

What a shame.  Some people think THAT behavior is normal.

Films like "Greed II", "Falling Down", "Love & Other Drugs", "The Big Short", "See Dick & Jane" (all below) highlight the disaster that America is deteriorating into... all due to apathy and allowance from the public--the people that elected officials are supposed to answer to!  Why do they continue to let things go unanswered?

Electing a richly-pampered, wasteful, pure-Hollywood-type egomaniac to become governor of California opened the door to unqualified celebrities holding public office.

We need a leader with conscience and common sense, as fictionally portrayed in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington".

Even the idealistic creators of TV's "The West Wing", which was a pro-govt show, got disgusted with American politics and how the country was turning, so they created the political satire, "The Newsroom".  

Alas, some things/special interests haven't changed...

The table below makes you think of ALEC... which would be fun to see political candidates discuss, as a real issue.

Since aspiring politicians want to treat their role like a Reality TV character, we should be allowed to:

In the end, "it's all for show"... a game involving fake opponents--who are given their scripts in advance.  

As our political circus resembles ancient Emperor Caligula's crazy Roman capitol, the real work goes on behind the curtain.