The SeedSing 2016 Year in Politics and Society: The Top Political Stories

Happy 2017 all.

Sorry to say, but we need to look back at 2016 one last time. The upcoming year is going to be quite different in politics than any year within many of our readers lifetimes. With that in mind, we here at SeedSing want to count down the five most important political stories of 2016. There are many important things that happened globally when it comes to politics, but our stories mostly look at the United States. What happened in the US will have massive global implications in the years to come. These events were crucial in creating the uncertain future that will begin in 2017.

We are going to start with the most overhyped political story of 2016. The endless coverage of Hillary Clinton being the first woman to be at the top of a major party ticket for President is the most inconsequential story of 2016. The Clinton campaign barely used this angle when the Secretary Clinton was on the campaign trail. It was widely accepted that Hillary Clinton was going to be the Democratic Party nominee, and the media decided not to cover the historic angle. It is a shame, because what Hillary Clinton did, by winning the election by a margin of nearly three million votes, is historic. It is an overrated story because no one talked about like they should have.

The fifth most important political story is the insanity that was the Republican Presidential Primary. Many, including us, thought that former Florida Governor Jeb Bush would easily win the nomination. If there was going to be a Barrack Obama like upset, it would maybe come from Florida Senator Marco Rubio. As the weeks went by, and New York businessman Donald Trump kept getting just enough of the plurality in primary states to win, things started to get strange. The endless debates started to focus on penis size, the attractiveness of spouses, and whose father helped to get JFK assassinated. There was no substance, no vision, just a comedy of errors. This chaos led to Donald Trump finally securing the nomination in June.

The fourth most important political story is the fact that the British people voted to leave the European Union, or Brexit if you want. Brexit is a bad, bad, idea, and the voters knew this. In what was soon to be a trend, the middle and lower class voters of Britain did not care about the consequences and wanted to send a message. No one in the press got it right. The stats gurus who set betting lines on public opinion got it wrong. Brexit sent a shockwave out that saw British Prime Minister David Cameron resigning, and most of the Conservative leaders actively running away from being the new leader of the British government. Theresa May stepped up to the plate and has actively delayed Brexit, even looking for her own exit to Brexit.

The third most important political story is the failure and incompetence of the professional media. During most of 2016 many media outlets, including SeedSing, treated Donald Trump as a joke. Many media outlets, mainly NBC, were treating Trump with kid gloves. Clinton was questioned for every small detail, but Trump's glaring problems were glossed over so the news networks could get better ratings.The stats gurus at Princeton, 538, The New Times, and many others were giving Hillary Clinton a huge advantage to win the presidency. They were all wrong. Once the election was over, these newspeople spent their time covering their own rear ends. It was never their fault. The only people taking actual responsibility were comedians like Stephen Colbert and John Oliver. People like Nate Silver and the clowns at Morning Joe were busy throwing fire in every direction. The need the media has for fame and profit outweighed the safety and future of America.

The second most important political story is the death of the Democratic Party. Since Bill Clinton was elected as President in 1992, the Democratic Party has almost entirely given up on trying to win any competitive election outside of the President. In the early part of the 21st century, then DNC chairman Howard Dean started to reverse this trend, but once Barrack Obama was elected, Dean’s plan was scrapped so the Obama campaign could demand all the money and resources. 2016 proved to be the Waterloo of the DNC’s President or bust strategy. The so-called “safe” Senate map did not give the Democratic Party a majority. Republicans took control of more state legislators, Governor mansions, and the White House. The Democratic Party responded to these humiliating setbacks by maintaining the status quo. California Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi was once again elected to the position of Minority Leader. The same old talking heads the party has been keeping around far too long on the news networks all kept their jobs. The Democratic Party’s choice to keep the same failed leaders shows that personal glory for a few is more important than a more secure America for all.

The number one most important political story of 2016 is the ascension of Donald Trump. From the first rally, where Trump had to pay people to attend, to election night, Donald Trump is a political candidate like one not experienced in our lifetimes. He used juvenile insults on his opponents, threatened to jail Hillary Clinton, bragged about sexually assaulting women, claimed his use of bankruptcy law makes him a good businessman, and put the reputation of Russia ahead of the safety of the United States. All of these issues still caused the Republican nominee to lose the popular vote by nearly 3 million, but he did gain the needed electoral votes to be the next President of the United States. Since his popular defeat, but electoral victory, Donald Trump has spent his transition time insulting CIA intelligence professionals, media outlets, and his opponents. His cabinet is mostly made up of wealth seekers who actively want to make America less welcoming to anyone that is chasing the American dream. The rise of Donald Trump to the highest office in the land has not humbled the thin skinned tabloid mainstay. Over half the country does not want him to be President, but he is, and America needs to be ready.

RD

RD Kulik is the Head Editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Are you part of the minority that voted for Donald Trump? Tell us why. 

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The Day After: Nevada and South Carolina Edition

We know that you just voted, but South Carolina and Nevada are just not rid of us yet

Now the muddy waters are starting to clear. The Democrats of Nevada gathered and had their caucus. The Republicans of South Carolina voted their individual minds. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton started to take full control of their respective party's primary. Bernie Sanders, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio are starting to fall further out of the race. John Kasich and Ben Carson should have followed Jeb Bush out of the door. The end of February looks like the end of the 2016 Presidential primary. March will bring about the beginning of the 2016 Presidential election. Clinton vs. Trump. Who would have picked that?

The Nevada caucus became part of the national political scene in 2008. Many Democratic party leaders thought that the non diverse mostly white populations of Iowa and New Hampshire were not very representative of 21st century America. Nevada dropped their primary system and implemented a caucus. The date of the contest was also moved in order to be closer to the historically significant Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary. In the two contested Nevada caucus (2008 and 2016) the winner has been Hillary Clinton, and the margin has been small.  Then Senator Clinton pulled out a razor thin victory against eventual nominee Barack Obama in 2008 and manged to defeat Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders by a few percentage points last night.

Like the Iowa caucus, Hillary Clinton's ground game seemed to bring her campaign the victory that was expected. What was once again unexpected was just how close Bernie Sanders came to taking the victory. The Clinton campaign has won two out of three primary contests, is poised to crush the Sanders campaign in the South Carolina primary, and still has very large cash reserves. With all of these advantages, Hillary Clinton is the forgone conclusion to win the Democratic party's Presidential nomination, but the Bernie Sanders campaign seems to be sticking around much longer than expected. The resilience of the Sanders campaign is fed by two key factors.

The first reason Hillary Clinton has not closed out the nomination is the fact that Bernie Sanders is the only other credible choice in the Democratic Party. His message and campaign platform gets a lot of attention, but the true reason he is still involved is that no one else legitimately challenged Hillary Clinton. The idea behind the primary process is for the voters to choose the best candidate. When there are only two choices, the lesser one will look stronger than they actually are. Many people voting for Bernie Sanders are actually voting against Hillary Clinton. There is a negligible amount of people voting for Clinton who are mainly against the Sanders campaign. The Hillary Clinton supporters are loyal and will carry her to the eventual nomination.

The second reason Bernie Sanders is still a credible candidate is because the national media so badly wants a horse race that they prop up Sanders campaign and make it look stronger than it actually is. The media has had an ugly, and misogynistic, vendetta against Hillary Clinton since the early 1990's. In order to be "fair and balanced", the political media gives voice to the ugliest voices in American society. The way Sanders near losses are covered make it look like Hillary Clinton is failing again. The press has it's personally created narrative out in the public discourse, and they have the stories that the media wishes to cover.

Speaking of the ugly voices of American society, the Republican South Carolina primary went exactly as predicted. Texas Senator Ted Cruz tried to out mud sling his opponents, but Donald Trump's hate speech won over the Palmetto state voters. Many in the political press corps thought when Trump criticized former President George W. Bush for September 11th that his chances would dwindle. The consensus was that the Republicans in South Carolina loved the former President, and Trump had finally gone to far. Candidate Jeb Bush even brought his brother out on the campaign trail to hopefully gain some support because W was so beloved. Donald Trump took just under 33% of the vote, Jeb Bush took under 8% and promptly dropped out of the 2016 Republican Presidential contest. 

The big discussion coming out after South Carolina is how the Republican party will nominate one of three men, Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, or Marco Rubio. Trump seems to be to far ahead, and gaining momentum. Who would have guessed that? Senators Cruz and Rubio are the only people who have been able to mount any kind of campaign against Trump. The established Republican Party has thrown in with the inept, and bad campaigner that is Marco Rubio. The Cruz campaign is being kept alive by tea party zealots and dirty tricks. Either Rubio or Cruz will falter and fall out in the next few weeks. If Ted Cruz leaves first, Trump will coast to the nomination. The Cruz supporters hate the D.C. republicans, and Rubio is the current champion of that group. If Rubio continues to fall flat on the campaign trail, Trump and Cruz will started slinging acres worth of mud at each other's campaign. Donald Trump has spent his entire career destroying people. Ted Cruz will be no match for Trump's onslaught. Donald Trump will win the Republican Presidential nomination.

The end of February traditionally brings the near end of the Presidential primary process. 2016 does not look like it will be any different. Hillary Clinton may not seem like a candidate in control of her destiny, but she is. Donald Trump's campaign may still be unbelievable, but he is on the path to victory. The parties will be switching up states this week with the Democrats in South Carolina having their primary and the Republicans in Nevada will caucus. Will Clinton and Trump come out further ahead? Will Cruz or Rubio began their exit plan? Will anybody pay any attention to the single digit support John Kasich and Ben Carson will recieve? The biggest question is what are the Republicans going to do when Donald Trump is their nominee? It will be an election for the ages.

RD Kulik

RD is the Head editor for SeedSing. Every morning he wakes up, reads the news, and goes back to sleep hoping the Trump campaign is just a weird dream. It is not a dream. Show your liking of SeedSing over at our Facebook page.

Why do the Republicans love losers so much?

How most of America watches the Republican Presidential debates

Another pointless Republican debate, another stage full of idiots, another lost night for America. The Republican party doesn't care, they love losers. The modern party embraces the failures and quitters of the political world. The current crop of national republican leaders are the height of failure. When your policy is to avoid real leadership at all costs, the biggest losers will become your leaders.  Good thing that none of these never been Republicans will be President of the United States. They are losers. They lose.

It may seem harsh, and Trump like, to ascribe the loser label to the entire Republican party. Well take a look at their nominees. Donald Trump is an ill prepared hate monger who lost money because he tried to be a business man. Dr. Ben Carson may actually be a stupid person. Carly Fiorina is one of the most comically bad CEOs in history, plus she is a pathological liar. Marco Rubio is a lazy opportunist, oh and he is also a lying about his family history. Jeb Bush is an entitled spoiled brat. Ted Cruz is a crazy person who hates the very idea of America. The rest of the cast doesn't matter because they will be lucky to win a single delegate. There is not a uniter in the group. They learned to only be dividers, like a dog learns to shake. Do a simple task and then get your reward. So not only are the Republicans losers, they do not have intelligence beyond the common dog.

How did one of our major political parties come to embrace and celebrate losers? Is it racism? How about sexism? Is the current republican white male (that  is the large majority of the party) so insecure that they have to embrace known losers? The Republicans claim to be the tough ones, yet Vietnam was lost on Nixon's watch. They claim to be tough on terrorism, yet Reagan illegally sent weapons to known terror groups. They claim to have America's safety front of mind, yet George W. Bush admitted to not being that concerned about Al Qaeda or Bin Laden just a month before September 11th. The modern Republican party has been a colossal failure in nearly every aspect of foreign policy.  Even the idea that Reagan ended the cold war is comical in how much his administration over estimated the strength of the Soviet Union. The Americans had next to nothing to do with the fall of the Soviet empire. People like Reagan were very lucky to be around when history was taking its inevitable course. The war in Afghanistan had more to due with the downfall of the Soviet Union than any US military build-up. Once the Iron Curtain came down the Republican party had no idea how to handle post Soviet Russia. Years after the fall of the Soviet Union, Reagan disciple George W. Bush gave Russian premiere Putin a pass. Good old George saw into Putin's heart, and he thought all was good. Another Republican getting it horribly wrong.

Now the question becomes how can these incompetent losers still rule much of our political landscape? We have discussed many, many, many, times about how the Democrats have ceded the US Congress and state governments to the Republicans. We have also discussed how a lazy, greedy, and overall incompetent media likes to prop up the failures in the republican party. Any Republican candidate is given a head start because we have been force fed this idea that the GOP is tough on terror and good with money. The facts show a completely different story. The current Republican Party has no bold leadership, look at the folly of errors leading up to Paul Ryan reluctantly accepting the honored position of Speaker of the House of Representatives. The party has horrible when it comes to fiscal policy. George W Bush inherited a strong economy, fiddled with it, drove it into a massive recession, and then President Obama fixed his mess. The Republican parties work in foreign policy led directly to the creation of ISIS, and America's overall sense of isolation from the rest of the developed world. All of these actions are not the mark of an intelligent and winning direction for America. The debate on Tuesday night had a bunch of losers continuing to embrace philosophy that has failed.

It must be incredibly frustrating for many republicans that the competent members of their party have to be shoved aside for all the losers. Ohio Governor John Kasich is very popular in a state the GOP must win, yet the national press and his own party treat him like a pariah. Rand Paul may very well be the only one on that stage that can actual create votes, yet he his sabotaging his own campaign by trying to dumb down to the rest of the group. Mitt Romney is the best candidate the Republicans have had in a generation, but he had to cower to the zealots on Fox News and therefore ruined any chance to reach new voters. Failed Governors like Chris Christie, Bobby Jindal, and Scott Walker recieve more respect than viable candidates like George Pataki and the aforementioned Kasich. The entire Republican party is not a bunch of losers, just the people who lead them.

While the media treats the Republican party with kid gloves, and the white male Christians claim to be victims, America can feel good about itself because no one on stage last Tuesday will ever win the presidency. The GOP primary debates are entertaining in their chaos, and infuriating in their lack of truth. Americans like success, the Republicans are lacking. Americans like practicality, the Republicans fail to deliver. Most importantly, Americans like winners. The Republican Presidential candidates are losers. They lose.

RD Kulik

RD is the Head Editor for SeedSing and the host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He enjoys the idea of political debate and welcomes any one who disagrees to write for SeedSing. Make sure you get all of our great thoughts by follow us on twitter @seedsingrdk.

Terrorism Turns us into Monsters

The only way to defeat the terrorists

The tragedy in Paris is still raw. Many people have expressed their unfiltered opinions of the attacks. Some have been more careful in their reactions. The common chorus coming out of the political class, and the media, is that ISIS needs to be bombed into oblivion. Another horrible terrorist attack on an industrialized country, another call to level another nation. We see those like us being killed and maimed, we demand double retribution. The only way to end terrorism is to counter with our superior firepower. This is a trap. The terrorists need our aggression The way terrorism thrives is when we become the monsters.

The way we used to respond to terrorism was through strategic police action. The criminals would be identified, their locations would be found, and the terrorist activity would end via death or capture of the bad guys. Some of the time we would change policy to make terror activity more difficult, such as London removing trash bins from the tube and central downtown. That all changed after September 11th. President Bush days after the horrible attacks promised to do to the attackers what they did to us. Bush promised to level a nation for America's wounds. Bush was good to his word, he did level a nation, two nations. The American people cheered on our campaign of "shock and awe". We incorporated words into our culture like "collateral damage" in order to justify the death of Afghan and Iraqi innocents. The new way to respond to terrorism was to retaliate with our superior might and technology. We became angry when terrorism hit our shores, and the world did not like us when we are angry.

Terrorism caused America to turn into the Incredible Hulk. Extremely powerful, unable to control, and a danger to everyone around us. We were big, green, and willing to destroy anything that got in our path. The United States was so focused on the enemy, that any unfortunate thing between us and our prey was going to be caught in the crossfire. It did not matter how many weddings were bombed, we had to get the Al Qaeda number two. A few hospitals get destroyed, we must depose of Saddam. The US was angry, the US must smash.

In the safety of our shores we cheered on this destruction. The destroyed hospitals, weddings, and innocents was never shown on the news. The bodies of kids sent to die in war were not covered on the network news. When Saddam was executed via hanging, we celebrated the end of Iraqi unrest. We were wrong. When Osama Bin Laden was gunned down in a bedroom we celebrated the end of Al Qaeda. We were wrong. When Jihadi John was bombed off of earth, we celebrated the death of ISIS. We were wrong. 

Every time the United States used over the top crushing force to destroy the latest identified terror group, we create a new and more dangerous group. The Bush administration was built for starting wars. These hawks had no idea, and no intent, to end these wars. Bush's folly of endless wars created the unstable and overtly dangerous ISIS. The terrorists who use a warped incorrect version of Islam as their ideology need to have a clear cut enemy. These monsters need the western world to be overtly aggressive to Islam. Charlatans like Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, and Bill O'Reilly are some of ISIS's greatest weapons. The need to define Islam as a central problem helps ISIS to recruit. Young, unemployed, and ostracized Muslims are more receptive to the idea of hating the west when the popular media of the west preaches hate towards Islam. When innocent Muslim families are destroyed in a drone strike intended for a few terrorists the idea of the west as the enemy starts to take hold. When the U.S. can justify the killing of innocents in the name of global security, ISIS will use the killing of innocents as an equal method of war. If ISIS was able to wipe an entire US city off the map because a military base was close by, the world would scream in horror. When we kill innocents because they unfortunately live close to terrorist bases, the monsters gain sympathy. Our fear and anger is delivering new, desperate, recruits to the terrorists. 

The monsters of ISIS caused over 400 casualties in Paris. So far 129 innocent people have died. The French government over the weekend bombed known ISIS strongholds in Syria. Innocent families were undoubtedly killed in these bombing runs. Here in the United States we continue to bang the drums of war. Hillary Clinton regrettably used the specter of terrorism to justify donations to her presidential campaign from Wall Street billionaires. Egoist Donald Trump ramped up his hate filled campaign for President of the United States by telling the nation he would consider shutting down mosques he deems dangerous. Failing republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush is using the attacks to try and jump start his fading campaign. The rest of the republican field is falling all over each other to blame President Obama, Hillary Clinton, and anyone else their followers hate. Hours after the attacks, the US political class was screaming for more war. The media was demanding the current crop of presidential candidates to come up with a plan to destroy these terrorists. We were angry, we need to smash.

Smashing everything in our path is not a solution. Terrorism needs to end. Peace is the natural evolution of humanity, and terrorism is causing us to not evolve. To honor the innocents of terror, we should not create more terrorism. Killing Saddam, Bin Laden, Jihadi John, and a number of other monsters did not end terrorism. Killing children and families has increased the perception of the West wanting to destroy Islam. The media feeds the terrorists when they cheer on war. The political class emboldens the terrorists when they argue over what words we should use to describe the monsters. The need for the right wing to alienate all Muslims is making fighting terrorism much more difficult. Our past and current course of action feeds terrorism. We need a new plan. We need a global community to end terrorism. Paris should be the wake up call. Terrorism has turned us into a rampaging monster. Peace will bring us calm.

Stand with Paris, and with Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, anywhere else terrorism and war has touched. Stand proud and demand peace. Terrorism will end when we refuse to be the monster. Peace will prevail when we learn to not be the Hulk.

RD Kulik

RD is the Head Editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. His opinions are strong, but really needs your strength. Write for SeedSing.