Election day celebrations? why?

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     At some point, we have to stop treating American politics like a goddamn football game. The United States Government is not the Eagles vs. The Giants. There are no trophies for defending your team, no extra points for insulting the other side, and no championship parade when your preferred political party wins an election. This is our country. Our communities. Our livelihoods. Our future. Yet somehow, we've reduced the entire political process to an endless shouting match between Republicans and Democrats, with each side convinced that everything wrong with America is the other side's fault. Meanwhile, the people actually running the country get to keep doing what they've been doing while we argue over which color jersey they're wearing.

     Here's a radical idea: Hold every politician accountable. Not just the ones you didn't vote for. Not just the ones whose political beliefs make you uncomfortable. Every. Single. One. If a Republican makes a decision that hurts the country, call him out. If a Democrat does the same thing, call her out. If an independent, third-party candidate, governor, senator, representative, president, or local elected official fails the people who put them in office, demand answers. Their party affiliation is not a magical shield against criticism. Their campaign promises aren't a lifetime immunity agreement. And the phrase "Well, at least they're better than the other guy" is not an acceptable substitute for accountability.

     And let's talk about the voters, because this responsibility doesn't stop at the doors of Congress or the White House. You voted for these people. Maybe you voted enthusiastically. Maybe you held your nose and voted because you hated the alternative. Maybe you believed the promises, bought the campaign slogans, or convinced yourself that this time things would be different. Fine. But you helped put these people in positions of power. That comes with responsibility. You don't get to spend four years defending every stupid decision they make and then pretend to be shocked when the consequences arrive. You don't get to blame the other party for everything while refusing to acknowledge what your own candidates have done. And you certainly don't get to claim that you're powerless when you keep handing the same people the same opportunities to disappoint you.

     If you still have faith in the electoral system, which I do not, then you must remember this: Voting is not the end of your civic responsibility. It's the beginning. Politicians work for the public. They are elected representatives, not royalty. They are not celebrities, religious figures, sports heroes, or members of some exclusive club that deserves unquestioning loyalty. They are public servants. Their job is to represent the people who elected them, and that means answering difficult questions, explaining their decisions, acknowledging their failures, and accepting consequences when they get things wrong. If you wouldn't tolerate an employee repeatedly failing to do the job for which you hired them, why the hell would you tolerate it from someone entrusted with running your government? A campaign slogan is not a job performance review.

     The other problem is that we've become so invested in defeating the other side that we've forgotten to ask what winning is actually supposed to accomplish. What good is celebrating your party's victory if your healthcare costs are still climbing, your paycheck isn't keeping up, your infrastructure is crumbling, your schools are struggling, and your elected officials are more interested in scoring political points than solving problems? What exactly did you win? A bumper sticker? A social media argument? Bragging rights at Thanksgiving dinner? Meanwhile, the people paying the price aren't Republican or Democrat. They're Americans. They are people trying to pay bills, raise families, find decent jobs, afford a home, and have some confidence that the people making decisions on their behalf actually give a damn about the consequences.

     We need to start judging politicians by what they do, not by what letter appears next to their names. Examine their records. Question their decisions. Demand transparency. Pay attention to their votes, their promises, their conflicts of interest, and the results of their policies. Apply the same standards regardless of party. And when they fail, don't make excuses for them. Don't change the subject. Don't point across the aisle and shout, "But what about them?" That's not an answer. That's an admission that you've stopped thinking critically and started behaving like a political fan club member. We should expect better from our elected officials, and frankly, we should expect better from ourselves.

     This country doesn't belong to the Republican Party, the Democratic Party, or any politician who happens to occupy the Oval Office. It belongs to the people. But ownership comes with responsibility, and that means looking in the mirror as well as looking toward Washington. Stop blindly defending politicians. Stop treating elections like sporting events. Stop blaming everyone except the people you helped put in power. You voted for these assholes. I used to vote for these assholes. We all have a stake in what they do once they get there. If they're doing a good job, hold them to that standard. If they're failing, say so. If they're abusing the public's trust, demand consequences. And if they can't do the job, vote them out. Not because they're on the wrong team, but because they aren't doing the job. It's time we stopped being loyal to political parties and started being loyal to the country and the people who live in it.

     Last time I checked, it was We The People.  Not We The Elected.

The claim of "no agenda" is a mask worn by the new consolidated power—a deceptive posture designed to lull the citizen into a state of passive compliance. We are told by the great information houses and their connected satellites that they merely observe the world as it is, offering a neutral window into the affairs of the state and society. But look closer at the mechanism. The very act of choosing one event to amplify while burying another is not a neutral act; it is a declaration of intent. To believe that these choices are made without a design is to ignore the fundamental nature of those who seek to direct the public mind.

To claim you have no agenda is, in itself, the most dangerous agenda of all. It is a posture of supreme arrogance, used to disarm the individual and silence dissent by labeling it as mere "opinion" or "uninformed speculation." When these institutions position themselves as the sole arbiters of truth, they are not serving the people; they are building an enclosure. They seek to monopolize the narrative so that the citizen is forced to see only the world as it is framed for them. This veneer of neutrality is the primary tool used to prevent the public from questioning the structural foundations of their power.

Political objectivity is a chimera. It is an impossible goal for any system, and a lie when claimed by any institution. Human affairs are rooted in interest, local condition, and perspective. No body of men—whether a corporate monopoly or a state-sponsored assembly—can ever strip themselves of their own biases. To believe that an organization can be truly neutral is to ignore the reality of human nature. Every report, every broadcast, and every dispatch is filtered through the specific interests of those who own the press and those who hold the levers of governance.

The danger grows when the citizen, weary and searching for comfort, mistakes this manufactured consensus for the truth. We are encouraged to outsource our discernment to these "trusted" sources because the alternative—the hard, individual task of analysis—is demanding. But by chasing this mirage of objectivity, we allow ourselves to be tethered to the goals of those who benefit from our confusion. The system thrives on this dependence, keeping the public occupied with the distractions of the day while the real architecture of control is expanded in the shadows.

It is time to cast off the role of the passive consumer and adopt the rigorous habits of a forensic analyst. The consumer is a subject, fed whatever narrative is deemed necessary to maintain the peace. The analyst is a free man; he approaches every dispatch from the capital or the corporation as a piece of evidence at a crime scene. He does not ask if the account is "balanced"; he examines the omissions, the timing of the release, and the fingerprints of the architect. He looks for the motive, not the veneer.

Everything published today is a tool, a means to an end. Once we accept that every source has an agenda—that every voice in the public square is driven by a specific interest—we are at last freed from the illusion of authority. We no longer wait for a "trusted" outlet to define our reality. We take up the burden of our own understanding, weighing the intent of the speaker against the evidence of our own eyes. It is a heavier path to walk, certainly, but it is the only path that leads to genuine independence.

The rejection of this "no agenda" fallacy is the first step toward self-governance. It is an acknowledgment that no institution can be permitted to own the truth of your world. By stripping away the mask of neutrality, you withdraw your consent from the system that demands you play by its rules. You are no longer a consumer of someone else’s managed reality; you are an individual observer, standing on your own ground, seeing the world as it truly is.

A. - Citizen

Note: A.- Citizen is an independent author currently working with terrywilkerson.com.