1) Nobody gives a shit about the Democrats. The Republicans are running things, and everybody knows it. Why elect a Democrat who will simply compromise and let the Right have what they want? Why vote for a Democrat when the Republicans can pass Voter ID laws, suppress the vote, send out goddam lying voting information, and the Democrats just let them?
Republicans Do.
Democrats Complain, then Let Them Have Their Way.
Why bother voting for a Republican ally when you can vote for a real Republican?
And if it turns out that the Republicans used fraud and voter tampering to win, well, nobody's going to do anything about it. Nobody rose up over hanging chads, did they?
Now look below. And weep.
2) America is full of bullies. Bullies are a) loud, and b) scared. They hate and fear others. They want absolute control over others, and nothing less. They do this by intimidating others, by insults and lies, and by sheer volume. They cannot be reasoned with, because any change in their beliefs has to maintain their fiction of being powerful and in control over others, and because they can't accept orders from those they bully - even good ideas have to be prefaced with insults so that the bully still feels superior to the brainy geek.
We like to see ourselves as a better country than all the rest, valuing freedom and the Rights of Men. Bullshit. The Internet did not create all the trolls, racists, and misogynists - it provided enough cover that they dared to bellow in public.
3) America is full of bumpkins. A bumpkin is someone who rejects new ways and ideas, preferring "old fashioned common sense". A lot of this is plain old fashioned fear - fear of being obsolete, fear of change, fear of loss of status. They are peasants in Walmart fashions. They want someone to keep things the way they always was, so that they can go on living a good life. This is a part of the Authoritarian mindset, and it is found, not just in the majority of Americans, but in the majority of people. It's how dictators avoid being overthrown during their first week in office. People LIKE being a part of something powerful, even if it's a menial part, so long as they can rub it in the face of someone who is not.
The Common American is, alas, common. He is not particularly brave, educated, or caring, any more than the average Third World citizen.
4) America is a Right Wing Nation. And it LIKES being a Right Wing Nation. Except for some trivial squeaks and squawks and protests that quickly peter out, Americans are fine with
a) bombing the Middle East
b) government surveillance
c) Tammany Hall politics and official corruption
d) open carry and Stand Your Ground
e) heavily armed police
f) profiling and violence against blacks and browns
g) violence against women and anti-abortion laws.
They know these things exist. They have seen the footage from Ferguson and read about Zimmerman. They may not like these things; they may in fact disapprove of them, but they are willing to let them slide. It makes them feel better. They want to be strong. They want to be a superpower. These are things they see as making America strong and free - or at least tolerable.
5) Americans are self-absorbed. If they are not personally being shot by police, prevented from getting an abortion, or personally inconvenienced by government corruption, then they don't care. They have lives to lead, bills to pay.
They do not follow politics, read the flyers, listen to the phone calls, or turn out to vote. They also don't care about problems in foreign countries, or even other cities. Most of them don't care about others, period.
6) American history is full of Disney. History, as taught, is full of truth. True, it has some conjecture and more than a few flat out lies, but on the whole it is correct. American History's big problem is that it has been cleaned up. The nasty everyday details are missing, like Jefferson's love life, or how Daniel Boone's sons were mostly killed off, or Davy Crockett's politics. Like in a Disney movie, everyone has been bathed and shaved and manicured - even the slaves and Indians. As a result, they are incapable of making informed choices.
History is the collective experience of Mankind. In a perfect world, people would know not to start foreign wars the same way they know not to touch a hot stove - by knowing what happens when you do. They don't know - or worse, they think they know, and they are wrong. The majority only know about history at a childhood level. They cannot make proper decisions.
7) The Left does not, and cannot, accomplish anything. Civil Rights have been won by organized Blacks. Marriage rights were earned by organized gays. Suffragettes changed the voting laws.
Earned by them. Changed by them. Not by the "Left".
The "Left" is a fiction, derived from the idea that not everyone is a right winger. The term "Progressives" also assumes that everyone who is not a Tea Party Patriot is a member of a single group. It is not.
The opposition to the Right is a bunch of little tribes with similar beliefs, who sometimes head in the same direction. There is no Movement containing more than a few thousand active members, plus a few thousand more cheerleaders. As long as you hope the Left will come through, you will lose.
8) Social changes will not come overnight. Or in a generation. Or in 50 generations. It has been 50 years since the Civil Rights Act. 150 years since the Emancipation Proclamation. The news doesn't seem to have reached Ferguson. Or Missouri. Or Louisiana, for that matter. And the Indians have suffered even longer.
For every person who teaches their kids that women are people and that they should act civilized, nine others teach their girls to "act like a lady", and their boys to "be a man".
America is an outlier. It has promoted beliefs that very few cultures, both current and historical, have ever done. The amazing thing is that there is anyone who believes this stuff, not that it is believed. If the nation had not been founded by proponents of the Enlightenment like Jefferson, we'd probably have a repressive theocracy running on slave labor.
We may yet, in the end.
9) The 1% will win and keep on winning . . . until they lose. Citizens United is still the law. ALEC is still in business. Wealth inequality continues to grow. In fact, it can be argued that the gains made during the last couple of decades are in areas the 1% don't care about. They still get profits under the ACA; they can still run over gays and get off.
Not convinced? Mitch McConnell. The tea party hated him. The 1% wanted him. Who won again?
Experts say another crash is inevitable, given current policies. They also say climate change will do massive damage to the world - economy and all. These events may lead to the downfall, perhaps even the lynching, of the 1%. Don't expect anything else to. Don't be surprised if they come out of this as emperors.
10) Only the Network news counts. There are millions of websites. There are dozens of news channels. Everyone is lazy.
Everyone knows that CNN exists, and how to get to it. Next to nobody knows about Daily Kos - or Salon, or the Drudge Report, or any other given news site. Salon reaches thousands. CNN reaches hundreds of millions. No contest.
11) Changing things means changing America. Forever. The system allows, even encourages, the problems we have today. It will have to be re-thought out, starting with The Constitution, with new and unbreakable checks and balances built in. America will have to accept a world where they cannot bomb who they please, where they cannot elect simpletons, even if they want to, and where they cannot push their beliefs onto others. They will have to accept a society which values everyone the same; rich and poor, black and white, straight and gay.
I don't believe this will happen. America will collapse first.
It would require changing the people. Changing the people would require control of the message. A good first step would be the purchase of CNN by a consortium of rich progressives. Not going to happen. A good first step would be taking control of the textbook system away from Texas. Not going to happen. A good first step would be reclaiming control of the police and armed forces from the racists, evangelists, and those who prize order over all. Not going to happen.
Which is a shame, because . . .
12) The vote in America is not all about America. The politicians we elect don't just hurt us. Those elected to Congress affect events in the Middle East, West Africa, South America and Mexico. They will affect the world's climate, and the future of mankind.
The citizens of America are unique in the world in that they are the only ones who really have a say in the fate of the world. And in how it is ruled.
Foreigners know that. They know that changing the world requires changing America.
Most realize that it will require force.
Pity.