Greetings and Salutations;
I wanted to take a moment and look back a the groups of eligible voters who did (or did not) take part in the last Presidential Election. This essay was triggered by a question discussed on a video cast by Tennessee Brando. The question was “Can the United States regain its level of respect and world leadership that has been destroyed by the current administration?” My (somewhat lengthy) answer was this:

Can we regain the respect we had in the world? My answer is “probably not”. Once trust is broken, it may be rebuilt, but it will never be back to what it was before it was broken. No matter what, though, I suspect it will take decades (at least) before the United State’s reputation begins to be repaired. I agree with Brando’s point that we, as a society, need to work together to get back on a better path. Right now, I see the following groups of eligible voters.

1) The voters that got to the polls and actually voted Democratic. I am sure that some of these voted against #45, instead of for VP Harris. However, in my view these were the people who were on the right side of history… I happen to be in the camp of voting FOR VP Harris. While I did have a few misgivings to start, her performance and growth in the 100 days or so she had to campaign before the election convinced me that she was, by far, the superior choice.

2) The millions of voters who came out to vote for Joe Biden in 2019, but stayed home in 2024. This group needs to sit down and do some serious reflection on their choices…While I know that a chunk of this group did not vote because they were disenfranchised by the Republicans, far too many of them simply did not vote. I submit that, an honest evaluation of their attitudes will reveal a deep vein of misogyny and racism hidden in their hearts.

3) The millions of voters who voluntarily cast a vote for #45. Specifically…the deep-in cultists who worship him as their cult leader who can do no wrong. To me, they reveal the ugliest aspects of society. The hypocrisy of the so-called “Christians”, who choose to deify a man who is the opposite of Christ. The people, such as white nationalists, who have been given permission to fly their flag of evil and hate in front of all, without consequences. The misogynists and racists who are so filled with hate for anyone that does not look exactly like them, and hold the same beliefs that they do. The folks with a cult mentality, who are frightened by the very different world we live in, and devote their full support to anyone who claims they can take them back to the simpler days of their youth. This group are the folks who believe “Andy of Mayberry” is a documentary…not a sit-com. Can this cult subset of voters be returned to being good citizens? Probably not…but some could be saved with intensive deprogramming.

4) The rest of the folks that voted for #45 because they were taken in by his lies. One thing about the orange twatwaddle, his skills at manipulating people are almost without peer today. He has found how to fake sincerity so well it will fool a lot of the population. These folks lack the critical thinking skills to look at his message with skepticism, and, insist on some truthful evidence to support it. A vast majority of these folks are “single issue” voters. This is demonstrated by, for example, the anti-choice crowd. They are so focused on taking away a woman’s right to choose that they willfully ignore the many, many other character flaws that #45 has. They also are able to ignore the fact that his message is tailored to the audience he is in front of. This enables him to claim to support two, mutually contradictory policies at the same time. Can this group be lured away from voting for #45? Perhaps, but it is very difficult and requires a very strong response. A big roadblock to changing these minds is the fact that, having bought into one of #45’s lies, they are reluctant to look away because their ego has kicked in, and they do not want to admit to having been fooled. Addressing this can undercut the resistance, and make it “OK” for them to acknowledge the fact they have been fooled, and that does not make them a bad/stupid person.

There were several factors that gave the electoral college to #45, some of which are touched on in the proceeding examination of the groups of voters. Another puzzling factor in the outcome of the election was the reality that, while Harris was polling at or ahead of #45, the vital swing states mysteriously ended up turning Red in the actual election. While the Democrats did not play the cry-baby game that the Republicans did for the four years of Biden’s administration, I would have liked to have seen some non-partisan audits of a number of states that went Red in spite of polling quite Blue before election day. A couple of motivations for this stem from #45 continual comments about not needing his cult to vote, combined with a repeated, off-hand remark recently about how Muskrat was amazingly skilled with computers and knew the polling systems inside and out. That kind of struck me as odd…

Another issue was that, while Harris did a great campaign, the media did not give her nearly the coverage that they have for the dumpster fire that is #45. I think there should have been a LOT more very vocal support for her by the Democrats. She did have a few moments where she spoke poorly…which, thanks to the short attention span of today’s voters did hurt her chances. For example there is that famous, oft-repeated interview when she said she would not change a bit of Biden’s policies. I believe that, had she said something like “President Biden’s policies and actions have improved society for all of us..so, while I have some thoughts on evolving them to expand their impact, I would not radically change any of them” it would have been more accurate, and would not have given the Republicans the sound bite that they played constantly.

So, like it or not, we have a fascist administration in power, that controls all branches of the government, and, is sucking up to Putin, and turning on our friends and allies in the world. It is an ugly situation and one that is going to ensure that the next decade or more are going to be bad ones for the United States. What, though, can we do to improve the situation? I suggest one or more of the following:

• Do NOT obey in advance. Resist any actions that degrade our society until there are no options left. Apathy and defeatism are the enemies here…never say “There is nothing I can do…”
• Take a little time from your busy life to be aware of what sneaky things the Republicans are doing to remove YOUR power and take it for themselves.
• Vote. Anyone that tells you your vote is meaningless…so why bother? is lying to you. They understand that citizens that vote are the most powerful force in society. They also know that if they can convince enough voters to NOT cast a vote, the path for their agenda will be cleared and it will be trivial for them to take and hold power. Work to NEVER be the person who says “I am not going to vote, because I do not like either candidate.” THAT is one of the factors that got us into the situation we are in now.
• As a part of voting…remember that no candidate is perfect. Every one will make mistakes, will use bad judgement, and will annoy you with their actions at some point in time. I am reminded of the old aphorism which has been a rule of my life for decades: “Do not let perfection be the enemy of the adequate”. Most of the time, we will have to choose the candidate which comes closest to our internal picture of perfection…and that is perfectly O.K.
• Give feedback to your representatives, and other folks in government. All elected officials have a variety of ways to contact them. Use those to let them know when they are screwing up…and when you approve and appreciate a policy or law that they support. Our elected officials have pretty good jobs. They get perks, they get a pretty good salary, and while legislating can be complicated, it is not as tough as being in the trades. As such, they will pay attention to feedback from constituents, because they know that if they annoy enough of them, they will get kicked out of office and have to get a real job.
• One of the big issues that have allowed us to end up where we are today is the fact that in many ways, our election system is broken. This has happened over several decades, with small changes pushed through (mostly be the Right Wing) that have made it more and more difficult to have a truly representative election. As such, we need to become activists – to whatever level we are comfortable with – and push to reform the voting system. Here are some changes I submit would make elections far more equitable if implemented:

1. Repeal “Citizens United”. This law, which defines corporations as citizens (in essence) and removes limits to the amount of money they can pump into voting is, in my opinion, one of the worst abuses of the voting system in the history of the country. It is directly responsible for the huge amount of money flowing into the coffers of the candidates, allowing elections (and politicians) to be bought and paid for.
2. Restore the Fairness Doctrine, but, instead of a policy by the FCC, enshrine it in law.
3. Gerrymandering voting districts. This allows candidates to pick their constituents, rather than constituents picking their representative. It allows the parties to bias elections to ensure it is impossible for a candidate of the opposing party to win the election. Thanks to clever programming of computers, there are a number of programs out there which will create districts that are far more regular and NOT biased towards one party. I would like to see the districts re-drawn to ensure that every district is a toss-up..and could elect a candidate of ANY party.
4. I would like to see the Electoral College either removed from the Constitution, or legislated around so it is no longer the power it is today. When the Constitution was written, the Electoral College was created for three major reasons. Here is a detailed discussion of how it came to be…but, in short, it was a compromise between the Founders who thought that 18th century citizens were too stupid to elect a president – so Congress should pick the president; The Founders who did not want to give Congress that much power, because they all knew what deal makers were in the Body, and it would increase the chances of questionable deals being made, and, the Founders who wanted to give the slave states more power, but without the offensive necessity of declaring that slaves were full citizens, equal to the owners.
5. The Supreme Court should be reformed. Among other changes, the Justices on the bench should reflect the demographic distribution of the country. There should be term limits for Justices…I suggest in the range of 16 to 21 years. Finally, the Supreme Court should have a code of ethics that is at least as strong as the other courts in the land, and even better, be much stronger.

God Help Us ALL

Stay safe…get vaccinated…Resist! Persist!