Can't Fight This Feeling Anymore

"It takes a village.."   Hillary Rodham Clinton's book title

"We had to destroy the [village] in order to save it."
 Quote attributed to a US Major by reporter Peter Arnett February 7th 1968, about the bombing of civilians in the provincial capital Bến Tre in Viet Nam.

 When I attended the Bernie Sanders rally in Sheboygan earlier this spring a man was working his way down the line with a microphone and (I think) another one was holding a video camera asking a simple question.  "If Bernie loses the primary who will you vote for in November" or something very near that.  My unhesitating response then was, "Oh, I'll vote for Hillary!"  I am now rethinking that.

In recent weeks, as Sanders has continued his surge winning contest after contest, steadily closing the gap I have increasingly seen both outright corruption and an increase in personal attacks not just on Sanders but myself personally simply for asking that the entire election be played out and that super delegates consider election results in their own state.  My faith in the system was shaken by the Nevada State Convention where rule changes were implemented in secret putting all questions to a voice vote only and giving the chair sole discretion in determining the outcome of those votes.  My confidence was lost forever when I saw the video of the vote which clearly showed the chair ignoring the actual outcome and ruling in Clinton's favor.  It was obvious that the fix was in.

Hitler claimed the socialists did it

Then, when I read the charges that the Sanders people reacted violently and even throwing chairs.  But that was followed by video showing the charges were patently untrue.  You knew it was more than a fix, it was more like the Burning of the Reichstag.  Obviously the socialists did it!  Right?

Since then Ive seen a rising tide of vitriolic personal attacks, not just on Sanders but people like myself who support him calling him and us "pathetic losers" and "lunatics".  At the first level, this is upsetting especially when it comes from people or their acquaintances who profess to be your "friends".  But it is also perplexing as Clinton and those same supporters are calling for unity.  Last time I  checked "unity" does not spring from derision.

Consider this...  Aren't these the exact sort of attacks used by Donald Trump to fluster and silence his opponents?  Is this what American politics has become?

Las Vegas metro police-Nevada State (Democratic Convention. (Photo: Angie Morelli)

Increasingly I can't fight the feeling that both parties are completely broken and being manipulated not by leaders with integrity but by master propagandists whose true motives remain hidden.  Perhaps its simply a thirst for power.  That's not hard to believe of either Clinton or Trump, is it?
I do not nor have I ever listened to the conspiracy theorists.  I oppose Clinton on the merits.  DOMA, Three Strikes, repeal of Glass Stegal,  bad trade agreements failure to support single payer and the big one.... IRAQ - are all good enough reasons to think that she would not represent me if elected.  This is why we have elections, right?   But back room manipulation, false propaganda and bathing herself in the very big money she decries in the Citizens United case (which involved a conspiracy film about her!) have effectively destroyed any confidence I might have had in her Presidency.

That's a feeling I just can't fight anymore.

And I can't fight this feeling anymore
I've forgotten what I started fighting for
It's time to bring this ship into the shore
And throw away the oars, forever