62,984,825

I am finding it less and less useful to talk about the things The Toddler does. Not that I don't think he is deserving of criticism mind you, nor do I think he shouldn't be fought at every step. But I am getting tired of being outraged and I don't think it does me a whole lot of good to write about it, I mean what am I gonna say? "The president did another horrible thing today, and yes he is still president and 35% or so of the population loves him no matter what."

That last number there is a good example of the point I am trying to make, the president, as horrible as he is, is just a symptom of the disease that more and more I am coming to believe is the primary characteristic of this country. The last election was poorly handled in many ways by both sides, that is not something there is much debate about, but look beyond that, look beyond Clinton being "untrustworthy" the DNC collusion to prevent Sanders from winning the nomination (still have my doubts that is why he lost by the way.), look beyond the fucked up electoral college system, even look beyond Russian influence in the election and you see one inescapable fact:

62,984,825 people voted for him, 62,984,825 people heard "grab em by the pussy" and thought "this is my guy", 62,984,825 people heard "build the wall" and thought "yes, this speaks to me", 62,984,825 looked at him mocking a disabled reporter and said "but emails".

That is three million votes less than Clinton got sure, but it still means something in the neighborhood of 1/6th of this entire country, assuming those ratios hold up, agree with his "ideas", and not just agree, embrace.

62,984,825 people, I have 104 Facebook friends, on average slightly fewer than twenty people read my blog every day. I serve just under 150 people a day at work. 62,984,825 is a number that we are not, evolutionary speaking, equipped to easily comprehend.

Oh there are explanations for it sure, the conservative media empire kind of slipped the leash over the last decade or so and can only nominally be said to be working for the GOP proper at the moment, and it has a huge influence over many voters, our culture from the very beginning of the nation trains us to fear and hate different people, our religious institutions are run by what could honestly be described as heretics and are increasingly seeking, and being granted, secular power. It all ads up, and it all makes an impact. But eventually you have to confront the fact that 62,984,825 wanted a man in power who explicitly promised to hurt millions, millions.

The man himself is nothing compared to that, he is a symptom of a disease that has been festering since the founding of the nation, a tumor if you will. But you know, removing the tumor, while medically necessary a lot of the time, oftentimes doesn't actually cure the disease, others can and will form. Which is why I don't put a lot of stock or hope in rumors of impeachment.

The disease can go into remission of course, and likely will come 2020, at least for a little bit, but it won't go away, it can't go away while the power structure it inhabits exists and is comprised of the people who currently make it what it is. And those people are supported by 62,984,825 voters, gleefully hurling themselves towards oblivion as long as it means they don't have to help anyone else avoid it either.

People talk about education, I've been told that I should maybe respect the fears of the small town Americans, but how much education do you need to choose not to kill millions of people? It isn't a complicated issue, any number of the policies embraced by this administration could do it, and those voters absolutely love it apparently. How do you educate that?

It isn't their fault precisely, they are idiots sure, but idiots who are unable to escape their conservative bubble and the culture they were brought up in, when your world is expressly designed to raise idiots, then that is what you get.

We should treat the symptoms, because that is what we can reach, and palliative care is better than no care, but the cause, the cause goes back some three hundred years and more, and I don't know that it can truly be rooted out.

Happy Independence day