In response to the meme at left, a reader notes:
Republican candidates in Texas: “I’m going to fix the mess the Democrats made” – who is more pathetic, those GOP conmen or the morons who keep voting them in?
This is an astute observation. There is always a market where supply and demand meet. It doesn’t matter if that market is a social evil like heroin (there are heroin dealers because there are heroin addicts), or a good one (there are excellent colleges because some parents are willing to pay a great deal to have their kids well educated).
As America descends ever further into ignorance, do not expect voters to have the epiphany to the effect that they’ve been lied to.
There is also a psychological effect at play here. As Carl Sagan said:
“One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.”
It’s interesting that the countries that have the highest levels of education have the lowest levels of crime.
Some have suggested that the United States deliberately under-educates its people so as to fill its for-profit prisons. I’m not so cynical, but it’s clear that we care very little about educating our masses, and we seem to accept higher rates of crime than our more progressive counterparts.
Nations in Northern Europe and elsewhere around the world are tearing down their prisons, because so few of their people turn to crime. No one is hungry, impoverished, or living on the streets.
We regard the underclass as animals; others regard everyone as a human being.
This asshole’s only strength is his ability to prey on Americans’ ignorance, in this case, failure to understand that the platforms of the Republicans and Democrats flipflopped in the early 20th Century.
Margaret Thatcher made this comment in the 1980s, before the Internet made it possible for most people to figure out that:
- The countries that make universal healthcare and free education available to their citizens are the happiest nations and Earth, and
- The United States offers its people a great number of free services: roads, bridges, tunnels, firefighting, national defense, embassies, air traffic control, food safety, libraries, public schools, FEMA, criminal justice and corrections, law enforcement, OSHA, auto safety, disease control, the upkeep of our local, state, and national parks and beaches, animal control, space exploration, and dozens of other items.
-
Climate Change10 months ago
Guest post: Why China is still building new coal – and when it might stop
-
Greenhouse Gases10 months ago
Guest post: Why China is still building new coal – and when it might stop
-
Greenhouse Gases2 years ago嘉宾来稿：满足中国增长的用电需求 光伏加储能“比新建煤电更实惠”
-
Climate Change2 years ago嘉宾来稿：满足中国增长的用电需求 光伏加储能“比新建煤电更实惠”
-
Climate Change2 years ago
Bill Discounting Climate Change in Florida’s Energy Policy Awaits DeSantis’ Approval
-
Renewable Energy7 months agoSending Progressive Philanthropist George Soros to Prison?
-
Carbon Footprint2 years agoUS SEC’s Climate Disclosure Rules Spur Renewed Interest in Carbon Credits
-
Greenhouse Gases11 months ago
嘉宾来稿：探究火山喷发如何影响气候预测