I mean no disrespect for those of you who live in "red" states in the BB. I know it's only an illusion that every citizen who lives in the south is a cretin or idiot with creationism in his head and moonshine on his breath. I know this because I have a lot of friends in the south, and I am only talking about conservatives who AREN'T capable of understanding some of the major problems in our society at this time.
But out of the whole country, there are more southern states with evangelicals and fundies, who homeschool for religious reasons, who are very nasty when it comes to intolerance, who don't believe or understand evolution, whose schools are among the worst education in the country--and the world, and who have more guns on their brains than good sense.
I admit--I was born and raised in Boston, so I really don't have the ability to understand how some of these things came about. I might have been raised a catholic, but I consciously left the church in my teens, and I went to a college prep high school for gifted kids. So it's difficult for me to understand some of these things to begin with.
What amazes me, though, is how filled with pride some of these people can be about their ignorance, intolerance and religious beliefs, and how so many of them simply eschew education and someone with a brain for president.
I know this hasn't always been true. It seems to me it began about 30-40 years ago, but I'm sure it's been longer. There doesn't seem to me that any of these prideful people can understand how it's their attitude which is ruining our country by not voting for someone who can help heal some of the greatest wounds we've ever received. I remember when idiot 43 was elected how many of these people said he was a "regular" guy who you could sit down and have a beer with, unlike "Mr. Stodgy" who was so "arrogant" and "elitist." And then so many of them vote strictly on the basis of a single issue--and against their own best interests--without taking into account that a single issue is bullshit as compared to the rest of the things a president has to contend with. Do these people know that because of themselves, their children might never be able to get Social Security if the Pukes take away more money from the social safety nets? Do they know that their kids could get more educational grants and future jobs if their science and math skills, as well as all their other skills, were improved? Do they realize that Dems aren't against gun ownership, only for RESPONSIBLE gun ownership? How can so many of them be wishing their children fail when and where it counts most, and that so many of those kids are failing because of their parents' deliberate sabotage of the educational agenda?
Like I said, I know a lot of southerners who are intelligent, well educated, with promising gifts in many different areas. But I look at the average, undereducated person who is denying that they are undereducated or non-educated, and I get uneasy, because it seems obvious to me that we used to have an electoral college for the very reason that in the 18th century there were many citizens who didn't have the same access to schooling or who weren't informed as much about current affairs or unable to make informed decisions.
Are we going back to that kind of a world again? If people like the Kochs had their way, the US would once again be able to divide the populus into a two class system, and those at the high end would be well educated, and poor families would have to once again teach their kids by lamplight or the light of the fireplace. Only nowadays, at least they'd be taught with the dim light of a computer tablet, all made in industrial China, which would be the next booming super power.
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