kamala-harris

We Are the Experts!

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It’s been great fun since Trump took office, to read local letters to the editors in our local paper. Our city and county are relatively small, but we seem to have an inordinate number of experts and know-it-alls. Is it the same where you live? (I just started reading the local paper last year, when I moved to Trump Country.)

As a natural troublemaker and aspiring (since birth) Devil’s Advocate, parrying with local wits is enjoyable, entertaining, and often enlightening. My only responses are to those who write and profess, or hint at the fact they are smarter than everyone else. The local author who “knows how to solve the immigration crisis”, for example. Or the modest intellect who tries to support an idea using phrases and verbiage “copied” from what ever information silo they inhabit.

Intellectual Curiosity (IC) has been discussed here, before, and it is the root of all the merriment. Anyone who believes in Trump is an idiot. Don’t blow a gasket, yet, because anyone who believes in Biden was/is an idiot, too. Or Obama, Or Bush, Or Clinton. Or the elder Bush. Sadly, I can strike up a spirited and eventually personal debate about any one of them with certain letter writers. You can support them, but you shouldn’t adore them. They’re humans. And don’t give up your IC.

We need to start with the definition, the urban definition, of what politicians are: they are people who want you to hire them for a job. The “job” is not lawn maintenance, but a job where complicated, personal, and impactful decisions about the direction of the city, county, state, and nation (and world?) are decided. And the politicians are asking you to send them to an institution where it takes more than one person’s will to get something done. More on that in a later post.

We vote almost every year for one sort of politician or another and a majority of Americans just don’t vote. In the last election 77 million voted for Trump, and 75 million voted against Trump. According to internet sources, most of the “Voting Eligible Population (VEP)” of the United States, about 89 million people, did not vote. (Note: VEP 244,666,890** per US News. Do your own math.) More people DID NOT VOTE, than voted for either candidate.

A smart person can see neither party presented a candidate that appealed to at least half the population. So, what does it mean when we say we “hate Joe Biden” or we “hate Donald Trump”? Is it a rational hate or a tribal hate?

Got way off track, but the point is most politicians (if not all) spend most of their time trying to convince YOU to vote for them. And once you do, they tend to start looking ahead to the next election. It’s a mistake if anything ever gets down. When IC kicks in, you begin to question the whole system, and not in a good way. Maybe those 89 million people know something.

The solution? Outlaw “homogenous” voting. The two-Party system demands you vote with (or against) one party or the other…no matter the issue! Ever hear of “Majority and Minority Whips? Guess what they’re supposed to do. It really is a wonder the government has survived for 200 and some years.

Mixed in with all this nonsense are the experts and arm-chair quarterbacks who know all about everything. In a local locker room one time, two guys were commiserating about how bad America looks to other counties. “We aren’t respected anymore.” When I asked if either had ever been to another country, or had friends in another country, or could even name another country…silence.

While it is great fun to poke and prod the local geniuses, I’ve been fortunate to never have to express my own opinions. Sounds like a cop-out, right? But my own opinions are not party-oriented or any particular color. And I don’t truly know half of what I say about issues since I’m not personally in the middle of them. I just know what I think I know. I’m not sure, for example, why SignalGate happened, but know we’ll learn more from the fuss after an issue than we knew before, so pay attention. IC.

I am afraid to state my own beliefs, too, because they are too naïve. Too Jimmy Stewart, too “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.” They are easy to make fun of in a world full of experts and internet snipers.

So, I’ll continue trying to pop other’s balloons and wait for the world to get its act together. It’s only been about 55 years, so far, but what else is there to do?

** Numbers for 2024. VEP includes all legal American citizen over the legal voting age. Note that only 160 million are “registered” to vote. A few VEPs might be way beyond that legal age, so…

Voting Conspiracies and Numbers

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As with all presidential elections, there are lots of “stories” floating around.

From available data, subject to MINOR changes as votes are still being counted, here are some numbers:

In 2016 there were 157,596,000 registered voters. 136,787,187 voted. 20,808,813 registered voters DID NOT VOTE.

In 2020 there were 168,308,000 registered voters. 158,487.688 voted. 9,826,312 registered voters DID NOT VOTE. Factoid: the total number of votes cast in 2020 nearly equals the entire registered voter population in 2016. Conspiracy?

In 2024 there were 186,500.000 registered voters as of 9/2024 per USA FACTS. 140,980,281 voted. A staggering 45,519,719 registered voters DID NOT VOTE.

A deeper research to federal election sites will show where all 2016 and 2020 these numbers come from and keep in mind 2024 numbers are still incomplete, but close enough for this discussion.

One conspiracy story says there were 20 million extra votes in 2020, proof of fraud. Numbers prove that conspiracy is wrong.

Both Trump and Harris (Biden) lost votes from their 2020 numbers…so far. And that should be the big story. Over 40 million registered voters did not vote. Why did they register? Or was it older voters who did not vote? Or was it aliens?

The numbers show registration efforts by both parties were successful between 2020 and 2024. But getting the new registrants to vote, not so much. Why?

It’s interesting to note Harris and Clinton got nearly the same number of votes, 8 years apart. And Trump got fewer votes in his 2024 victory than his record haul in 2020, when he lost.

Deeper research will be conducted by smarter people smarter than me but my opinion is since Harris in 2024 and Clinton in 2016 got the same number of votes, and Biden, got 13 million more in his 2020 election, there is a gender gap in the American voting system. Trump’s support was basically consistent with increased voter registration and his small 2024 loss, may be made up by late counting, making his vote totals understandable.

Numbers will never explain why over 62 million people voted for Trump not once, not twice, but probably three times. One of these days there will have to be a discussion on what may or may not disqualify a candidate from elected office. 2024 proved there is nothing, now.

Of note, Trump’s election sent the stock market soaring as corporations expect less regulation, lower taxes, and larger profits from the Trump years. For fun, google how much money billionaires made IN ONE DAY, from that market increase. Musk made the most, IN ONE DAY! Google it.

Trump won. So?

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Several of my friends posted “We are Doomed” on social websites. Are we?

First critical lesson from the election: this country will NEVER elect a woman. Females are 51 percent of the electorate and have never been in the Oval Office except to bring coffee, but the conservative female tribe is stronger than the all-female tribe. Many women voted for Trump, the obese, handsy billionaire, sexual assaulter instead of for a woman. Their choice. And many millions of men either sat it out or voted for Trump RATHER than for a “women”. Trump has now won 2 electoral college elections and one popular vote election over…women. That window is closed for good, ladies.

Second: Latino voters are just like white voters. Once they have made it, they don’t give a hoot about the fate of others. (FYI: look up definition of SONDER). How else to explain Trump’s increase in Latino voters weeks after he promised, on “day one”, to deport millions of immigrants. He’s only going to deport the millions of bad immigrants.

Hm. Maybe we are not doomed. Trump won, so we are spared the whining about a stolen election. That’s good, right? All those “election reforms” in swing states worked, yes?

Back in 2016, Donald became a surprise president and–as noted in earlier columns–he is not a stupid man. At that time, I hoped, even prayed, his victory would propel him into one of the greatest presidents, ever. Yes, I think he is capable.

It did not.

But that was because, as sharp as he is, he knew he needed an ignorant, riled up base to get a second term. As with most Republicans, his first thought was about getting re-elected and holding on to power. For fours years Donald played to that base, and he was voted out of office after an uneven, some say disastrous term in office. Time, of course, will judge.

Now, he doesn’t need that base any more. He’s done with elections, but he is not done with his legacy concern. He wants to be the best president, ever. And he can be. He is intelligent enough to know his base represents half of America, not all of it. There is a chance he will understand his last term of office, his last chance at a lasting, positive legacy, will mean something different in 2024 than it did in 2016. He is lucky to have a second chance at being a great leader. Let’s see how it goes.

To Evangelical Christians: Trump is not the Second Coming. Never was. And Harris is not the Anti-Christ. What the hell are you people doing? For once, see Jesus, read Jesus, and DWJWD. My, God.

For most Trump voters, think long and hard about your unwavering support of a billionaire president. It is so funny it’s sad, that working people worship him as a supporter of the working man. Let’s see how much money he and his family make off the second term, if he doesn’t care about his legacy. And no whining or lamenting when Trump chooses policies for the billionaires, instead of you. Let the union busting begin.

As for Law and Order? Simple. Be a billionaire, do whatever you want, and not only pardon yourself and get unwavering support from “law and order” voters, but let other billionaires in on the fun. Musk?

One last sentence about modern America, and it is NOT anyone’s fault: everything is now officially for sale and we’ll see, soon, how much democracy and the constitution are worth.