Democrats, Republicans, and Russians

POTUS cheats on his wife?  Goes to war? Eats his pizza with a fork? Wears a tan suit? If he's a member of their party, they defend him.  If he isn't, it's impeachment time.  To the child I was, and the woman I am now, that's...  just stupid.

When I reached voting age, I made it a point to learn as much as I could about the candidates.  Did they share my views on the issues of the day?  How did their personal habits bear on the performance of their duties?  Did they have the courage to disagree with The Party Line?  Did they run smear campaigns? How did they speak to voters one-on-one?

2016.  The Russians meddled in our Presidential Election.  Both major parties believe the other was behind it and/or in on it.  Here's what I believe:  The Russians acted alone, to undercut the groundswell of support maverick candidates were receiving.  Do I have evidence to support this theory? No more or less than either party has on the other.

Two of the most popular candidates in that election were mavericks.  Independent Bernie Sanders and Libertarian Gary Johnson.  For the first time in my life, there was a very real chance we would have a sitting POTUS who was not from the Big Two.  The DNC played Bernie for a fool - come join our party, agree not to run if you aren't our guy, and then they nominate Clinton.  Democrats - not the hard-liners, but Democrats nonetheless - started questioning things.  And Johnson was still out there, drumming up support.  The Two-Party System (something the Founding Fathers were very against, by the way) was in danger of being disrupted if not outright destroyed.

Well, my theory is that Russia didn't like that.  They stepped in, threw gasoline on the smoldering partisan embers I'd grown up with, and here we are.  They had at least two factions pouring propaganda on us - "Trump is great/Clinton is evil" and "Clinton is great/Trump is evil".  They wisely ignored Johnson and the other Third Parties - no real threat if they properly manipulated us.  We'd either forget about them or continue to believe those parties were a joke.

Despite their best efforts, Gary Johnson did get enough votes to lift his party to Major Party status.  But they also accomplished what they set out to do.  We've had riots fueled by partisan concerns. Partisans sound like bad defense lawyers: "Yes, my client killed some people.  But Ted Bundy killed lots more!"  Political Polarization is at an all time high and, frankly, I'm scared.  I'm more afraid of a partisan American than I am of ISIS.

Here's where I go total conspiracy theorist on you.  "XXX colluded with the Russians."  "A third party vote is a wasted vote."  "XXX is the Anti-Christ."   "XXX was sent by God."  "The system is fixed, so don't bother voting." THAT IS WHAT THEY WANT YOU TO THINK.

Well, that last one is partly true.  The system is fixed, but only because we believe all that other stuff instead of thinking for ourselves.  Russia wanted a schism in America and made one.  I'm just really disappointed in my fellow Americans because they let it happen.  And still are.