It’s as much of a shame that we were denied the sanity and sobriety of a Hillary Clinton administration as it was that we were forced to endure the four years of mind numbing incompetence that Donald Trump brought to office. These are twin tragedies for America. The socio-political direction of the country took a sharp downward turn when Trump was elected to office and then an even sharper one still occurred in his last days as he sought fruitlessly to hold on.
.@HillaryClinton to @TheView: “We’re at a very dangerous, continuing high-level attack on the legitimacy of our government and the election of our president. And obviously, [former Pres. Trump] is not only behind it, he incited it, he encouraged it, and he continues to do so.” pic.twitter.com/8pERcKCG7H
— The View (@TheView) October 11, 2021
The GOP has decided to act as a cult and follow its charismatic leader, toxic though he may be. Power is the name of the game there. They don’t care about anything else.
And then there’s Facebook and their motivation is the almighty dollar. Facebook may be headed for a real accounting, at least that is devoutly to be hoped. They’ve stirred up way too many problems over the past five or six years.
A lot of people use Facebook as their main source of news and information, incredible as that may seem. I recall back in 2016 talking to a friend who happened to be attending a Seventh Day Adventist church. I said, “Did you know Obama was raised as a Seventh Day Adventist? His father was brought over to the United States by their missionaries.” Her response to me was, “How interesting. That means there’s actually some possibility that Obama was born in this country.”
Now I nearly fell off the chair. Because I liked and respected this lady, I asked her where she got the birther conspiracy theory. Her answer? Facebook. It was “all over Facebook that Obama was born in Kenya.” That led to a discussion of his having been born in Hawaii and how this very basic fact would have been uncovered many years ago if in fact it were true. She was fascinated to hear all this, because the fact of the matter is, she was another one of these Americans who doesn’t know how government works.
That’s why conspiracy theory has taken the firm roots that it has in this country, because people don’t know the basics. I have spoken to people who don’t even know how many senators we have. One woman told me, “I thought there might be about 150.” I patiently explained to her how the three branches of government are set up, how many representatives there are, how many senators, how that came to be. It was new information.
This is why Fox News thrives, because they can sell lies to the uninformed and the unknowing. So can Facebook. Facebook and right-wing social media did an incredible smear job on Hillary Clinton. The woman was hated beyond all proportion in red states because of all the b.s. people had been told and are still told to this day. This is what is terrifying. We are a stupid nation and if we don’t wake up soon and get informed, we may lose our way of life.
The quote which is attributed to Thomas Jefferson, “People get the government they deserve” is true.
Another Jefferson saying: any people that believe they can be ignorant & free, believe in what never was & what NEVER WILL BE.
OH YEAH TY Ursula and Scott+
.. sharing as TEASER with piece.
When I was growing up in the 50’s and 60’s, education was top notch. It may not have all that historically accurate (Washington and the cherry tree, etc.) but we had to learn every state and its capitol, every country and its capitol. We had to learn civics and political science, as well as natural science. We had to learn how to parse and construct a sentence, know grammar, know how to spell. Since Reagan, schools have been systematically starved of funding, teachers vilified (while being required to get Masters Degrees), and music and arts disappearing from curriculum. Of course there’s always money for sports.
I’m not surprised our citizens are ignorant. My own CT is that is was planned.
We didn’t have to learn all that, but my eighth-grade social studies class (It was a school district where music was, and still is, a big program. There’s a *long* wall of trophies in the music room.)
Aagh, I hate editors eating half my comment.
We didn’t have to learn all that, but my eighth-grade social studies class was US history and government, and we had a honking big test on the Constitution. Had to learn the Preamble, too. (It was a school district where music was, and still is, a big program. There’s a *long* wall of trophies in the music room.)
Hardly a C.T. Rainyj. It is well known that an ignorant population is an easily controlled population. Of course the other part of that is an ignorant population is one that does not innovate, does not produce much, and is a poor population which is death to capitalism. Countries with low literacy rates, few highly educated men and women, are for the most part third world countries. They are generally over-populated and troubled by famines, starvation, disease, internal conflicts/violence, etc.
There was a very good reason, to republicans that is, for starving the public education system and sending money to religious schools (which are ALWAYS at the bottom of education rankings) and charters (not much better than religious schools). They want an ignorant population they can control so they can get and keep power. That idea is now bearing fruit.
Hillary was competent-damned competent. There is no question she was extremely competent. She is also hated, loathed in fact, by at least 1/2 of the entire nation and a large part of that segment votes (and voted in 2016). This was known in the 2016 election and she knew it before she threw her hat in. Instead of acting on this knowledge and doing what was best for the nation she selfishly decided the presidency was her due. Quite frankly at this point in time Hillary ought to go for another walk in the woods and STFU. Had she done what was right for the nation rather than what she wanted, regardless of how bad an idea that was, she might have something valuable to say.
And yet 3 million more Americans voted for her than tRump. She was undermined by Putin because he sure as hell didn’t want a competent president in the White House to run roughshod over him. She was undermined by Comey and the damned ‘her emails’ non-event. And she was undermined by persistent misogyny and ignorance in this country that prevented us from having the most competent, experienced person to have ever run for president, and man, have we suffered as a result. So keep your Hillary-hating to yourself. It’s part of why we ended up with tRump.
Don’t 4get her hubby’s crap unfairly tainted her also. I know this isn’t news but I’ve known some highly educated men who have issues with women. Her comment about keeping the dog on the porch didn’t help. Think of the climate damage during frump’s years heading us faster to the tipping point of no return. Tragic. How can anyone reasonably argue we have a ‘democracy’ when Nixon makes a deal with North Vietnam to sink johnson; Reagan makes a deal with Iran to sink carter; bush gets appointed cuz his brother’s state fucks up the vote & daddy’s court appoints him president; & Trump breaks election laws, conspires with Russia to cheat, & loses the popular vote. Some democracy. Decades of self delusion as a nation. I remember when ford/Rockefeller were in office, dick Gregory spoke on campus & pointed out in any other nation that had its top two leaders, neither elected to the office they held, it would be called a coup. I wonder if we will ever have a democratic nation.
Her having 3 M more votes than former guy meant nothing if those 3 M votes did not get the E.C. They did not. Yes, putin did not help matters but a lot of the E.C. is in states she did NOT win a majority of votes. I know this is a very good reason for tossing that damned thing into the trash heap of history but it isn’t there yet and I do not see anything even approaching the possibility of getting rid of it. Point is there were states she was never going to get and those states go a very large way toward getting to 270. The surprises have somewhat to do with putin AND somewhat to do with just how loathed she is. It’s never a good sign when people in safe districts and states “hold their noses” while pulling the lever. When you have that possibility in battle ground states-you’re fucked pure and simple.
Yes we are a very stupid nation at this point in time.