Idiocracy

 

With what's going on in America these days, I wonder if we're already in an Idiocracy.  The movie was supposed to be one big joke.  Yet, somehow, reality is becoming stranger than fiction.

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To start, I'll note that as I have become more educated, my politics have turned leftward.  No, it is not because my core values have changed.  But it is because I understand the world as a complex system that has no ideal solutions to its many problems.  People who lean right see the world in simplistic terms, as if the universe was a simple binary system.  

Unfortunately, the more complex a system becomes, the more unlikely it is to work well as there are a greater number of failure points.  America was designed well for simpler times.  Our constitution was designed to be flexible enough to be adopted to changing times.  But the one thing that couldn't be foreseen was that as our nation grew and technology advanced, that we would have millions of poorly educated people stuck in dead-end jobs, bereft of opportunities to advance themselves.  To make things worse, each of these uneducated people has an equal power in their votes which determine the direction our country takes.  Since each of these poorly educated people is a point of failure in our nation, no wonder why we are so dysfunctional as a nation.

Our founding fathers' big mistake was to assume that the majority of men (now people) running this country would be people of reasonable virtue.  They could not foresee a time where a person like our president to be could get elected by lying in his campaign statements.  Although educated people did not believe these lies, the poorly educated echoed them as if they were truth, helping to get this convicted criminal elected president.

When one looks at the president to be and his cabinet nominations, one sees great incompetence ready to take over the reins of government.  The best example of these bad choices is RFK jr. to be in charge of the nation's health.  Vaccinations have been responsible for the eradication of Polio; the reduction (if not elimination) of diseases such as Rubella, Whooping Cough, Measles and Mumps; as well as helping to slow down the spread of Covid-19.  Yet, RFK jr. is the darling of the conspiracy set who believe that vaccinations should be banned.  I have met the man, and found him to be lacking in the things needed to be an effective leader.  And he is only the tip of an iceberg.

I fear what will happen on inauguration day.  Will we be a nation run by idiots?  Or, will congress and the courts come to their senses and stop the executive branch from hastening the decline of our nation?  Only time will give us an answer to these questions....

Miscellaneous Thoughts

 

Right now, many things have been going thru my head.  Here's a list of some of the things that are giving me a little angst:

1. Trump's Cabinet Choices. 
   
   All of our future president's cabinet choices so far seem to have escaped from a clown car.  People such as RFK Jr. should be nowhere near any positions of power in any agency related to public health.  While watching the news, I was reminded about RFK's visit to Samoa, and the misinformation he likes to spread regarding vaccines.
   
   
2. Trump's Political Revenge.
   
   DJT has vowed to take revenge on people who opposed him.  Can we afford for the Justice Department to be weaponized?  I doubt it.
   
   
3. A possible upcoming trade war.
   
   We get cheap goods from the world over.  We can no longer produce low-cost goods, as they depend on low-cost labor.  Who can afford to live in the US if paid Mexican wages?  Making threats against Canada and Mexico will be counter productive, as the economies of the 3 nations are tightly integrated.  Do we want to dismantle NAFTA (or, whatever it is called now)?  I don't.  Most US goods are produced with other goods sourced from around the world.  We can not untangle this profitable web of trade connections without becoming North Korea.
   
   
4. The Christian Nationalist war against the LGBT community.
   
   When blowhards are trying to deny Sarah McBride her right to relieve herself in one of the Capitol's lavatories, it shows how deep seated hatreds based on religious bias can cause us harm. We're seeing states like Texas, Louisiana, and Florida making moves to teach the bible in their public school classrooms.  Do we want to become like Iran, where only one religion and one standard of behaviors is acceptable?  I don't think so.
   
   
5. Health Care.
   
   Recently, my partner, RQS had a medical issue that caused her to go to the emergency room, and then be admitted to the hospital.  However, once admitted, the hospital's bureaucracy got in the way of her being released due to non-medical reasons, causing he to miss having a fancy holiday dinner at a local restaurant.  Something has to be done to monitor both the progress of medical care, as well as the administrative process that could result in a person being kept in the hospital longer than medically needed.
   
   No one likes feeling like a product on an assembly line, and that is how RQS felt during her stay in the hospital.  Somehow, patients' emotional well being has become the least important item in a hospital's priority list.  No wonder why people fear going to the doctor.  Once a person has no control over any part of what is being done to him/her, they avoid losing any control at any cost.  The emotional trade off isn't worth having good health.
   
   
6. Family.
   
   My brother and sister in law do not have the best of marriages.  One day, when my brother was out, I called the house and we got into a conversation.  Without going into details here, she still loves my brother, but feels like she is being neglected by him.  On his side, he resents how her illness has affected his life - as if it was a moral failure.  It is a recipe for disaster, as neither of them are able to communicate well with each other, and long standing resentments get in the way of breaking down the walls between them.
   
   
7. Friends.
   
   The divisive political climate we have in the USA reminds many of a dysfunctional marital relationship, where two spouses constantly bicker all the time.  Sadly, my country at a macro level reflects what many people are experiencing at a micro level.  For example, the friend who was the best man at my wedding has changed in a very different way than I have.  He has effectively consumed the Kool-Aid, while I have learned to detect it and avoid it.  His attitude towards transgender people would be acceptable in the backwoods of Texas or in the deep reaches of Louisiana's Bayou country, but not around here.  I believe in live and let live, not imposing yourself on others.  I can only imagine his reaction if he knew I was Trans.
   
   Other friends are more accepting.  The host and hostess of game night have a Trans child, and have no problems with me.  Yes, their child has to live in both worlds and make their way through life.  Yet, the parents are preparing their child for their life ahead.  It's amazing that when people are continually exposed to different people how accepting of differences they become.
   
   
8. Planned and Unplanned Expenses.
   
   I bought my car knowing that I'd be spending a prince's ransom to keep it in running order. This is not a bad thing.  If one has a well designed car, one can keep it on the road for a long time with proper maintenance.  I was willing to trade money for a safer car than I was driving for the past 10 years.
   
   However, cell phones are designed to be disposable commodities.  I hate spending money on a new phone when the old one works perfectly well, but should need only minor maintenance.  In my case, my current cell phone has a dying battery that needs immediate replacement.  (It shouldn't even be used until the battery is replaced.)  Sadly, my phone wasn't designed in a way that I could replace the battery (as I could with my first cell phone).  Instead, I have to buy a new phone, or order a replacement battery and have a specialist install it for me.  Something is very wrong here.
   
   Now that I am retired, I am much more sensitive to money that leaves my wallet.  Yes, I'm in the age bracket where one should expect to drain one's lifetime savings.  And yet, the weight of all these expenses will always bother me a bit.