It's been along time (again); It's not that I haven't had a lot on my mind; just the opposite. I can't seem to seem to decide where to begin. I've tried to stay away from politics since the current state of affairs is so aggravating it's almost paralysing. Nevertheless, I feel the need to express my thoughts about what's happening to our country and things more immediate to me; e.g. the impending demise of my alma mater Westminster Choir College. Today it's Trump et al and our critically flawed electoral system — Russia notwithstanding.
Unfortunately, I was one of that small number of Democratic voters (although I'm registered independent) in 2016 who believed Michael Moore was right in predicting Trump's technical win. As anybody with a modicum of intelligence can determine, the 2000 and the 2016 elections resoundingly illustrate how completely dysfunctional the Electoral College concept has become. In today's world it has become not only antiquated but is patently anti-democratic, as it disproportionately advantages the smaller, usually more rurally populated states. As we all know those states which are primarily located in the midwest and the south and are traditionally very conservative; states in which women, people of colour, and non-traditional sexual orientation are still not not only disenfranchised, but often oppressed. Id Est, states whose primary electorate is made up of white, marginally educated (i.e., yes, they can read, and may be able think, but simply refuse to do either), consciously or unconsciously racist and sexist, and unremittingly xenophobic.
These people, by virtue of their dismal education, are easily subject to pontifications, simplistic ideas and provocations of demagogues. These are the same people who are more than happy to accept and believe in the casus belli of such a provocateur, not unlike the those who followed, Chairman Mao, Hitler, Stalin, Napoleon, Joseph McCarthy, etc. This are the vulgus whose motto is: "My mind is made up. Don't confuse me with the facts." Quite simply this is the part of the electorate who simply can't fathom making an error in judgement. As a result, the more they ARE shown the truth they dig deeper into the quagmire of their deliberate ignorance and will grope for anything, ANYTHING, that befits their preconceived and ill-informed ideas. The end result, by means of the incommensurate Electoral College is a corrupt, sociopathic, charlatan such as Donald J. Trump becomes the buffoon leader of the free world; and everything the United States has endeavoured to achieve over the past seventy plus years goes to hell in a hand basket.
The truly depressing aspect of all of this is that this moronic, simpleminded segment of our society comprises over 30% of our electorate! Ladies and gentlemen, we're talking millions, MILLIONS of people here who think this moral reprobate, this incessant prevaricator, emotionally arrested man-child; some one who has demonstrated over, and over that 1) he has absolutely no comprehension of constitutional governance and 2) doesn't care to learn about that or any other aspect of what his job entails is the greatest thing since the wheel. They love him because he talks and acts like a sixth grade bully. They'll excuse his lying about the wall, they'll excuse the loss of jobs he promised to keep, they'll excuse the higher cost to everything he's caused because of his trade wars with virtually everybody, they'll excuse his disgusting attitude toward women, the handicapped, and his overt racism because he talks their language. They've deluded themselves into thinking he's "one of them." The blinders are on so tight they simply can't see that Donald J. Trump doesn't give one iota, not a damn about any of them. He knows how easily the stupid can be manipulated, and they've proven him right.
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