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#  When are We Going to Stop Being Played for Suckers?

January 25 2018

Written by David Bell.

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BELL VIEW--It should feel good to be right all the time, but it doesn’t. It feels terrible. Arguing with people on “the other side” – whatever that is – of virtually every issue of importance to the survival of our species and the continuation of democracy can be a tiring exercise. Being right all the time doesn’t make it any less of a slog. I have friends – whatever that means – who have deleted everyone from their world who disagrees with them. They tell me that feels good. But I doubt it.

No one feels good any more.

Winners and losers … we all feel terrible. Recently, I’ve come to notice that even the people on my side seem to be talking nonsense most of the time. Trump makes a verbal slip about how it’s “wrong” for babies to be born at [nine months](https://www.thewrap.com/trump-demands-babies-stop-being-born-after-nine-months/), and I get 97 memes about Trump’s ignorance of basic biology.

The news is obsessed with who will be blamed for the shutdown. My friends keep pointing out the obvious hypocrisy of Christians supporting a guy who slept with porn stars while his wife was recuperating from childbirth.

As Bernie would say: Who cares about all that crap?

Yeah, Republicans are evil hypocrites; Democrats are sell-out cowards. The question is “What are we?” Are we really a nation of distracted Internet trolls waiting for the thrill of the next gotcha moment? The old adage about how no one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the America people may be true – but do we have to work so hard at maintaining the stereotype? People all over the country are searching for the key to unlocking the great flood of 2018. The experts tell us we need to stop all the [Trump-bashing](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/24/opinion/enough-trump-bashing-democrats.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fopinion&action=click&contentCollection=opinion&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=3&pgtype=sectionfront), not veer too far to the left, and appeal to the needs of those real Americans out in the heartland if we ever hope to take our country back. Women will save us! Black people! Millennials! Just flip the right meme at the right time and all our troubles will be over.

There is only one real question for 2018: When, exactly, will Americans decide they’re no longer going to be taken for suckers? You want a better life? Take it. You want a bigger paycheck? Demand it. Scared of immigrants? Get out of your basement and talk to one. You don’t want politicians telling you what you can do with your own body? Get up off the couch and vote.

![](https://mail.citywatchla.com/images/stories/Jan-2018/1608f.png)Liberals are flabbergasted that Christians can support a guy so clearly divorced from Christian values. Did you ever hear of King David? He slept with the wife of one of his soldiers and then sent the guy to the front to be killed. But he was beloved of God. Trump is like that. Get over it. It doesn’t matter what he does to 35% of the population.

But that leaves 65% for our side. It should not be difficult to convince these people that Wall Street doesn’t care about us. Remember ten years ago, when seven million regular people lost their homes and the Wall Street guys took our bailout money and bought themselves bigger yachts? Remember how you used to be able to drink the water in Flint Michigan? Remember how our grandfathers joined unions and turned crappy factory jobs into the American Dream? Remember how 50,000 Americans died over who was going to run the government in Vietnam?

When are we going to stop being played for suckers? You want to eat out of a garbage can when you’re 90 years old? You want your kids to be stupider than all the other kids in the world? You want black air, poison water, dead farmland, drought, and devastation? You like being chained to your miserable job so your kid can get his asthma medication? Then by all means, keep holding onto your dream that we’re on the path toward making America great again. But if you’ve had enough of being played for a sucker, then get up off the couch and vote for someone – anyone – who’s willing to put an end to this crap.

 *(David Bell is a writer, attorney, former president of the East Hollywood Neighborhood Council and writes for CityWatch.)*

-cw

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