Theatrical brutality makes people believe they have power, even if they don't

[Chainfire]

4. We are now sending people to the congress based, not upon their ability

to sell sound policies, not because of their judgment or their leadership abilities, not on their hopes to bring peace, harmony and prosperity, but on the basis on who can better articulate a message of hate and fear.

For Heaven's sake, American have sent QAnon representatives to our Capitol. We have a sizable proportion of the population that have been indoctrinated to believe that Democracy is "mob rule" and that only a Right-wing tyrant can save the country from Socialism. They have been being educated by propaganda posing as news, they have been taught to bury the truth. They have been taught! That is the key.

These people have invented blinders effectively block out all truth. They have tunnel vision of a land where there are only masters and slaves, and they intend to be the masters. It is a population that believe that medical science is a hoax and the real truth comes from screaming heads. A population that deny that there is a Covid crisis. "They would have died anyway" "The numbers are faked" "The hospitals are not overrun" "masks are an attack on my freedom."

Like it or not, we are two Americas. It has not happened by accident, but through years of thoughtful planning and execution. We have been under attack for decades, led by people who invented the Rush Limbaughs of the world. They have mastered the power of The Big Lie, where the lie is patriotic and exciting and the truth is subversive and boring.

I believe that the main source of the Right's success has been the dumbing-down of Americans. The results of Republicans attacks on the American system of public education for decades. Rightwingnuts consider higher education as nothing more than indoctrinating
students with Socialistic Ideals. We have to change that.

It is going to take time but we need to wage a national war on ignorance. Fascism can not survive in the sunlight of an educated population. We have been brought to the brink of a civil war by the tools of Fascism, propaganda and ignorance. We need to turn our schools away from being day care centers, vocational training centers and pre-prison. Athletics should not drive school programs and successful students should be the college heroes. We need to concentrate on subjects that create thinkers, not followers. Education will reduce poverty and crime faster than any other method. We can not afford to scrimp on education. We can not afford to price higher education out of the reach of families. Students, that we depend on to raise our country up, should not be saddled by a lifetime of crushing debt.

Our founders, with the exception of Washington, were so successful because of their classic educations, their knowledge and respect of the history of successful civilizations that preceded us. Washington, while not having a classical education, was self educated by listening and absorbing the ideas of others. They were taught that truth, honor and service were the ultimate goals in life. Now we send cultist to congress to conduct our affairs. The end results of this is as predictable as the sunrise. The Decline And Fall of the American Empire has been written is in the editor's office. We only have one more chance to edit the story.

Our current problems are symptoms, not the underlying disease. The underlying disease is malignant and deadly. This may be our last chance to eradicate it. We have a brief period of power to change the country, we can not fail.

We are going to have to multitask. We do not have the luxury of handling the symptoms before curing the disease.