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“We will not approve wind or farmer destroying Solar,” Trump posted on Truth Social Wednesday. “The days of stupidity are over in the USA!!!” It's just so self

“We will not approve wind or farmer destroying Solar,” Trump posted on Truth Social Wednesday. “The days of stupidity are over in the USA!!!” It's just so self fulfilling. Someone is being very stupid. Maybe it's me. Maybe it's him. Possibly it's both of us. But there is no way out of the conclusion that the country is (at least) a near majority of very stupid people. Not merely mistaken or holding different values, but genuinely incapable of distinguishing reality from fantasy. Of course if I'm the stupid one, maybe my reasoning there is also wrong. I know I conflated individuals and groups in a less-than-rigorous fashion. But either way I feel unable to find a solution to this conundrum. Certainly I can't if I'm stupid. And if a majority of voters are stupid, then it undercuts the principle that enables us to live in the same region together. I am rapidly running out of ideas to continue that.

deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
amanaplanacanal 1y ago
I think about one third who heard what they wanted to hear in his campaign promises, one third completely against and one third who consider themselves "apolitical". With any luck the midterm elections will allow sanity to return.
- SoftTalker 1y ago
  I think you will be disappointed but we'll see.
- jfengel 1y ago
  As far as I can tell, those who heard what they wanted in his campaign promises are reasonably satisfied that they are getting it. There's some loss of approval as reality precludes some options, but that happens to everyone. Nor do I think the "apolitical" will become any less so. I see no reason why the midterms should give radically different results. Now, it just so happens that historically things swing a bit back at midterms, and given how close things are that's enough to sway the entire power structure. It's an unfortunate reality of voting: a one-vote margin is no different from unanimity. Even so I do not expect the overall tone to change any time soon. Those proportions seem fairly durable.
anon191928 1y ago
Voting for masses lead to this. Voting with some IQ tests, education or income/wealth background check would at least improve it. not a perfect solution but way better than random people voting all. Everyone needs to driving license or other licences to do things. Voting is more important but no selection????
- bitfilped 1y ago
  Ah yes, segregation at the polles. The true definition of freedom and democracy.... Give me a break.
  - anon191928 1y ago
    we are seeing what democracy leads to. Intel stake bought via democracy? lol. give me a break
  - JumpCrisscross 1y ago
    > segregation at the polles I disagree with it. But I think it is worth discussing. We don’t have universal suffrage. The most-successful democracies in history never did. In our day-to-day lives and commerce we weigh opinions based on their source. And the current system isn’t working, in many cases because the majority votes for something stupid.
    - dragonwriter 1y ago
      The current system isn't working because, we know from comparative study of modern democracies, the US has all of the features that contributed maximally to disfunction: strong presidential system, unequal legislative representation, and first-past-the-post single-member-district elections for both houses of the national legislature. We could fix those peoblems, or we could add additional problems by layering even more broken systems that the US (among others) has tried before and rejected on top of the existing problems.
      - jfengel 1y ago
somewhereoutth 1y ago
> genuinely incapable of distinguishing reality from fantasy Having spent some time in the US, my theory is that things have got so complicated over there (or more precisely nobody is incentivized to make them simple), that it has fried people's minds. They just respond to the last stimulus, having given up trying to make sense of anything, as they attempt to get through each day as best they can. Healthcare is the obvious example, but I'd say that that is representative of most things in the US, in terms of being a minefield where one foot wrong can wreck your life.

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

amanaplanacanal 1y ago

I think about one third who heard what they wanted to hear in his campaign promises, one third completely against and one third who consider themselves "apolitical". With any luck the midterm elections will allow sanity to return.

SoftTalker 1y ago
I think you will be disappointed but we'll see.
jfengel 1y ago
As far as I can tell, those who heard what they wanted in his campaign promises are reasonably satisfied that they are getting it. There's some loss of approval as reality precludes some options, but that happens to everyone. Nor do I think the "apolitical" will become any less so. I see no reason why the midterms should give radically different results. Now, it just so happens that historically things swing a bit back at midterms, and given how close things are that's enough to sway the entire power structure. It's an unfortunate reality of voting: a one-vote margin is no different from unanimity. Even so I do not expect the overall tone to change any time soon. Those proportions seem fairly durable.

anon191928 1y ago

Voting for masses lead to this. Voting with some IQ tests, education or income/wealth background check would at least improve it. not a perfect solution but way better than random people voting all. Everyone needs to driving license or other licences to do things. Voting is more important but no selection????

bitfilped 1y ago
Ah yes, segregation at the polles. The true definition of freedom and democracy.... Give me a break.
- anon191928 1y ago
  we are seeing what democracy leads to. Intel stake bought via democracy? lol. give me a break
- JumpCrisscross 1y ago
  > segregation at the polles I disagree with it. But I think it is worth discussing. We don’t have universal suffrage. The most-successful democracies in history never did. In our day-to-day lives and commerce we weigh opinions based on their source. And the current system isn’t working, in many cases because the majority votes for something stupid.
  - dragonwriter 1y ago
    The current system isn't working because, we know from comparative study of modern democracies, the US has all of the features that contributed maximally to disfunction: strong presidential system, unequal legislative representation, and first-past-the-post single-member-district elections for both houses of the national legislature. We could fix those peoblems, or we could add additional problems by layering even more broken systems that the US (among others) has tried before and rejected on top of the existing problems.
    - jfengel 1y ago

somewhereoutth 1y ago

> genuinely incapable of distinguishing reality from fantasy Having spent some time in the US, my theory is that things have got so complicated over there (or more precisely nobody is incentivized to make them simple), that it has fried people's minds. They just respond to the last stimulus, having given up trying to make sense of anything, as they attempt to get through each day as best they can. Healthcare is the obvious example, but I'd say that that is representative of most things in the US, in terms of being a minefield where one foot wrong can wreck your life.