Since the dawn of time, politics has been both relevant and the catalyst for
many moments in time and history. From the assassination of Julius Caesar to the
founding of the United States of America, there has always been the influence of
politics on the people of their times. What is uniquely American is our experiment
of Self-Government, a style of governance that had yet to be attempted.1 This was
the first time in human history that the government was not bestowed by God to a
Monarch to rule over subjects. This experiment in self governance continues to
this day and we are in a unique moment in our history. We are living in a time
where the major players of the political machines that we elect to enact our laws
can no longer hide behind the proverbial curtain. The veil has been lifted.
The United States first Presidential Election was held in 1788 in which 8
candidates were on the ballot for the newly established office of President of the
United States. George Washington won the election by resounding results and
served in office until 1797. As our country grew in size, our nation became more
and more powerful and rich. With that influence and capital, the highest office in
the land became much more valuable. Since Washington’s time, elections became
a vicious dogfight where candidates would stop at nothing to gain the office.
Throughout the campaigns of 1876, future President Rutherford B. Hayes was
referred to as a “drunken syphilitic” just to name one of the ugly terms used.2 This
form of politics became a part of American life and the players would stop at
nothing for your vote. Candidates would travel around the country to convince
the citizens and peers to vote for them. The harder they worked for the vote, the
more likely they were to be elected. As Television became more of the medium
that Americans relied on, the campaign trails became less and less traveled.
Instead of traveling across the country, politicians began to rely on political ads on
television to get their message across.3 If the First Era of American Politics was
Whatmore, Richard. The History of Political Thought: A Very Short Introduction
(Very Short Introductions). Oxford UP, 2022.
1
King, Gilbert. “The Ugliest, Most Contentious Presidential Election Ever.”
Smithsonian Magazine, 7 Sept. 2012, www.smithsonianmag.com/history/theugliest-most-contentious-presidential-election-ever-28429530.
2
King, Gilbert. “The Ugliest, Most Contentious Presidential Election Ever.”
Smithsonian Magazine, 7 Sept. 2012, www.smithsonianmag.com/history/theugliest-most-contentious-presidential-election-ever-28429530.
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ruled by actual physical campaigning, the Second Era of American Politics, what is
to be said about the Third Era of American Politics?
This past election cycle was one of the first in history to be driven
specifically by the Internet, most notably by Social Media giant Twitter.4 Twitter is
a social media platform where the free expression of ideas are exchanged by users
on the internet who sign up via email. Many people of influence have used this
platform as a vessel for change, advertisement, and personal gain. None were
more successful at using Twitter to their advantage than our first Tweeting
President Donald Trump.5 An outsider when it came to politics, business man
Donald Trump took the world by storm for the election cycle of 2016 and entered
us into the Third Era of American Politics, The Cyberspace Era.
Not only did his own tweets impact the thoughts and minds of voters, but it
was the public discourse that occurred on Twitter by every day users as well.
Never in our Nation’s history could an American have access to so much
information and have their very own soapbox to stand on when expressing their
own opinion. As of this essay, there are 396 million Twitter users.6 Although not
all of these users are located in the United States, people of influence, like Donald
Trump, can go viral and have a potential 396 million eyes see his message or
statement. Earlier I had commented that the veil on American Politics had been
lifted, and that was not because Donald Trump was using twitter, but it was
because people were now able to communicate and share information on a level
that had never been seen in human history. It also exposed our Politicians as
scripted fakes who use citizens as pawns in a horrible chess game of votes and
electioneering via news conglomerates and lobbyists.
“How Twitter Affected the 2016 Presidential Election.” CEPR, 30 Oct. 2020,
cepr.org/voxeu/columns/how-twitter-affected-2016-presidential-election.
4
Seth A. Richardson, cleveland.com. “New Study Examines How Donald Trump
Used Twitter to Craft an Alternate Reality for His Followers.” Cleveland, 17 Jan.
2021, www.cleveland.com/open/2021/01/new-study-examines-how-donaldtrump-used-twitter-to-craft-an-alternate-reality-for-his-followers.html.
5
Aslam, Salman. “• Twitter by the Numbers (2022): Stats, Demographics and Fun
Facts.” Omnicore Agency, 21 Aug. 2022, www.omnicoreagency.com/twitterstatistics.
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I argue that the game is rigged. Look no further than to what happened to
Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Election cycle. According to Wikileaks, an agency that
dedicates its existence to exposing secrets large and small, a leaked Email from
CNN showed that the DNC (Democratic National Committee) conspired with
CNN, the most “trusted” name in news, to bury any Bernie Sanders coverage in
order to sink his campaign.7 How did this information come to light? The internet.
How did this information spread to regular average day citizens at lightning
speed? Twitter. We get to see first hand the inner workings of government that has
been hidden for decades. When CNN got this message from their friends at the
DNC they did exactly as they were told. They buried Bernie Sanders and the
nominee for the Democrats for President went to Hilary Clinton. Can you look at
this and arbitrarily say that this is not rigged? That the fix is not in?
The Cyberspace Era is one where citizens are able to exchange ideas faster
than ever, and work to expose hypocrisy and malfeasance in the people we trust
with our lawmaking. Citizens are now able to disseminate information at
lightning speed and no one can control their thoughts and minds other than
themselves. If people fail to utilize these tools at their disposal? They will
continue to live in the dystopia of the scripted movie, “America; Believe What We
Say Just Because WE Say It”
Rose, Sandra. “Shocker: WikiLeaks Emails Prove Clinton, CNN and DNC
Conspired to Sabotage Sanders’ Campaign; DNC Chairwoman Steps Down in
Shame.” Sandra Rose | Latest Celebrity News, Sports & Entertainment, 17 Oct.
2021, sandrarose.com/2016/07/wikileaks-emails-prove-clinton-cnn-dncconspired-to-sabotage-sanders.
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