There's probably 40 million different reasons that Hillary lost. The one that motivated me is that I was tired of elite liberal jerks acting so damn sanctimonious that it turned my stomach. As if these priggish little Democrats had a fucking clue about who or what middle America and Americans are all about. Rich little hypocrites that supported the biggest crook and corporate sleaze that ever ran for President and lied and lied and lied about her and for her. I'm glad she lost, i'm glad all the leftist hypocrites are crying about it and i'm glad the era of mainstream media is over. Keep on lying though, keep on acting superior and condescending to your inferiors because nothing does more damage to the Democratic party and liberal causes then you little pompous worms.
Read my screed on Sonniku's thread on whether "conservatives were suckered."
The Dubya Bush era seems like yesterday to me. Like the Commie journalist recommended in "The Quiet American," that's when I "chose sides" -- at age 53. I had given $250/annum to the RNC as late as 1984. As for the fictional character, the quote was "If you are human, you should choose sides." It had nothing to do with ideology in Greene's book and the 2001 movie.
I recognized what Eisenhower had said incompletely in 1961. The two major pillars of concentrated industry were Big Oil (strategic minerals) and Defense/Aerospace. Two-percenters move their money back and forth between those industries -- tying again to Wall Street, Big Pharma and other industries.
I chose as basis of my conviction that I didn't want decision-makers from those industries sitting in the white house. I literally predicted the unfolding events from that point (2000) forward -- the terrorist attack, the housing bubble and stock market collapse, the war in Iraq -- all of it. Whether you believe it or not, I have to believe myself.
Politics can be dirty business, and I don't care about that aspect. I'm a Democrat -- once a Repub -- for those reasons I cite, and many others. You could call me a "Colin Powell Republican," or an "Obama Democrat." I see the hypocrisy; that's just a backdrop.
But I make my choices -- not on the basis of feeling "victimized," not on the basis of my perceived "self-interest" alone as one might guess displayed by the rust-belt voters. I make my choices based on both self-interest and a sense of the public interest.
Playing "thumbs-up, thumbs-down" like a Roman Citizen sitting in the Coliseum is something I see others doing. It's either that, or simply demonstrating their rage, playing into the same forces of power-elites and industrial concentration.
What's more important? Maintaining the federal tier in our system of government, paying for our mistakes in wars, keeping the air clean, funding education, transportation and other things? Or getting worked up about abortion, trivial lies about sniper fire, perceived inequities of NAFTA etc.?
What is more important? Because the gladiator you just gave thumbs up to cannot simply revive the economy, reduce taxes, spend a trillion on infrastructure, and double the defense budget all at once. That's a pipe dream, my friend. A pipe dream.