Vote for the red pill

In the movie The Matrix, the red pill allows you to see the truth of things, which is that humans are living in a virtual fantasy while machines harvest their energy. The blue pill allows you to continue comfortably in the fantasy. While the parallels to modern life, especially in America, are obvious, the reality is as always a bit more nuanced. There are, in fact, many pills of various colors between blue and red.

In political life, the Republican party primarily offers pills in shades of blue. What this means is, for voters who take these pills, America remains the beacon of freedom in the world, stationing troops in over a hundred countries in order to preserve their freedoms. Globalized corporations are largely positive influences in our lives, and are the best means to bring prosperity to an increasing number of world citizens. Unrestrained trade will solve our environmental problems. Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East, and thus deserves to wield enormous influence over American foreign policy, especially because we are both allies in the war against Islamo-fascism, which struck with such deadly force on September, 11, 2001 in the homeland of America. The Iraq war, as disastrously as it has turned out, was a noble effort and is only one battlefield in this war for the very survival of our cherished democratic way of life.

Unfortunately, the Democratic presidential candidates, so far, don’t shift very far to the red. Hillary, for instance, offers a kind of sky-blue pill, which when taken allows you to admit the Iraq war is a disaster, probably was a mistake of some kind, and should be fixed somehow, maybe with more troops. John Edwards has a little green pill, which in addition to admitting the Iraq war is a mistake, lets you admit that you made a mistake by supporting it, and throws into the bargain that the American middle class is being screwed. Barack may be skirting into the yellow, but it’s too soon to tell. Even Dennis Kucinich barely gets us into the orange.

Here’s what the red pill does. You see that American troops are stationed around the world, and the Pentagon budget claims half of our taxes, because America is an empire that doesn’t give a damn about people’s freedoms, and on the contrary actively suppresses democratic movements around the world. You see that corporations are not persons, and do not deserve to be treated as if the Bill of Rights pertains to them. You see that the Israeli lobby has skewed America’s foreign policy more toward Israel’s interests than our own. And finally, you notice that the laws of physics simply do not allow two airplanes to bring down three buildings in a way that looks exactly like controlled demolitions.

So, go ahead and rearrange the deck chairs in the Matrix (to mix metaphors.) Or, if you think you can handle the truth, vote for a candidate that offers you the red pill, and a chance to wake up. So far, one candidate that does so is John Buchanan.