Damn, how I wish many of us here were pissing and moaning about some policy of President Harris.

[NNadir]

I'm quite sure, too, many of us, maybe even me, would b pissing and moaning.

Now, all we can do is stare, wide eyed and horrified, at the complete destruction of the centuries old American Democracy.

[MineralMan]

1. Wouldn't that be loverly!

[NNadir]

4. We wouldn't even know how lovely. We'd lack perspective. My admiration for her has not waned though.

[MineralMan]

5. Perspective has been lacking for some time.

I refer to the 2016 and 2024 elections, specifically. Sometimes, the electorate is really, really stupid. Those were two of those times.

[NNadir]

7. It has always been true that masses are susceptible to propaganda. Democracy cannot function in the presence...

...of a politically monolithic media pushing propaganda.

I have a book, a Christmas gift from my son, Fears of a Setting Sun, The Disillusionment of America's Founders on the subject of the disappointment of our founding fathers on the functioning of the US Constitution. I have not found time to read much of it. Their work, the Constitution, survived more than two centuries, despite the primitive times in which they lived, almost disintegrating under the weight of their acceptance of the treatment of some human beings as if they were no more than farm animals.

I don't think that any of these men could have anticipated that the ultimate collapse would be in the face of raw stupidity, ignorance, and a system of mass disinformation, and a stupid and ugly man less worthy than a circus clown in a run down carny. They were subjects of "The Enlightenment" as opposed to "The Darkening."

[LuvLoogie]

14. The propaganda works because Americans cling to their myriad bigotries.

Last edited Sat Aug 23, 2025, 07:13 PM - Edit history (1)

It's the racism. The religious bigotry. And greed.

This is the choice people have made. They do t want to lose their privilege.

[JustAnotherGen]

2. They had their

Grievances - so hired a 34 times convicted felon who rapes young teenage girls.

[betsuni]

15. Taking grievances seriously but not vulnerabilities, the terrible consequences of Republican rule,

Not voting for Democrats even when it means potentially devastating consequences because they imagine Democrats "failed to honor a bargain whose terms she, as a citizen, felt free to shift according to her whim. It was an argument of such subjective force, and ingrained entitlement, as to be impervious. ... She saw no relationship between her life and the election beyond the lazy hope that the new guy would give her more stuff than the last. She felt no need to evaluate the veracity of the claims made by or about either candidate, the policies they proposed, or the likely consequences of these policies. This negligence didn't make her exceptional. It made her typical. ... she represents our national habit of taking our grievances seriously but not our vulnerabilities."

Steve Almond, "Bad Stories, What the Hell Just Happened to Our Country"

[2MuchNoise]

3. Big sigh.

[Turbineguy]

6. Yes, that would be enjoyable!

[CTyankee]

8. It took me a long time to get over that loss! I was certain she would win...

what was I thinking....

[NNadir]

9. I'm not sure I believe the result is real. If it is real, I don't WANT to believe it, but I must.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

11. I was also certain. In 2016 and 2024. No way Trump wins.

Gut punch. then, another.

[NNadir]

12. It's worse for me. Whenever my wife asks me to make...

...a political prediction I remind her of the grief she gives me for my prediction of a Kerry landslide.

[mzmolly]

10. Yeah, but the 'duopoly' thing.

And 'punishing the democrats' is working so well.

[LisaM]

13. Which gets to the point of the problem.

I know a few MAGA. They never complain about Trump's policies. They believe him when he says he's "getting things done". They spit back his lies. They appear unbothered that the Rose Garden has turned into a glorified bar patio or that the Oval Office looks like the waiting room of a bordello.

But Democrats and those who claim to align with Democrats demand absolute perfection. Well, the perfect doesn't exist, but we have had some pretty damn good candidates starting in 2000, all of whom would have introduced stability and sanity.

[NNadir]

16. Exactly.

There are zero Democratic Presidents with whon I agreed with everything the said or did. There are also none for whom I didn't vote, my disagreements notwithstanding.

[Grown2Hate]

17. That was part of my multi faceted pitch

to my non-voting friends. "You want to continue to be bored by politics and who the President is, or do you want to be horrified as we slip into fascism?" (with footnotes, proof, and evidence).

None of them took my advice. Enjoy, I guess, assholes.