Tribalism is, I think, built into people and it is not a bad thing in many circumstances. Most people cannot solve the problems that bother them. The problems are too big or those bothered by them are in too small a minority to do anything about them or convince anyone else to do anything about them. This is often manifested in the yearning for a savior of one sort or another: its what I think of as the “Sieg heil” reflex.

The current Trumpist-Republican Party has formed a coalition of all the normally fairly impotent disaffected groups — you know who they are — and, seeing it as a means to an end — of taxes, environmental regulations, unions, consumer protection, and on and on — the billionaire backers and their emulators at lower income levels are funding the Party and empowering the coalition’s groups — financially in some cases, only in perceived acceptance and a greenlight to act, in others.

Nixon’s Southern strategy started it, the Tea Party’s successful manipulation of the Republican primaries spelled the end of the former Republican Party, and the final push was the bizarre Supreme Court validation of the idea that corporations are people! They are not only people, but actually superior to actual people in that they do not really have the kind of responsibilities to the country in which they exist that living, breathing citizens have.

Please correct me if I’m wrong in any of this.

Tribalism is, I think, built into people and it is not a bad thing in many circumstances. Most people cannot solve the problems that bother them. The problems are too big or those bothered by them are in too small a minority to do anything about them or convince anyone else to do anything about them. This is often manifested in the yearning for a savior of one sort or another: its what I think of as the “Sieg heil” reflex.

The current Trumpist-Republican Party has formed a coalition of all the normally fairly impotent disaffected groups — you know who they are — and, seeing it as a means to an end — of taxes, environmental regulations, unions, consumer protection, and on and on — the billionaire backers and their emulators at lower income levels are funding the Party and empowering the coalition’s groups — financially in some cases, , in only in perceived acceptance and a greenlight to act, in others.

Nixon’s Southern strategy started it, the Tea Party’s successful manipulation of the Republican primaries spelled the end of the former Republican Party, and the final push was the bizarre Supreme Court validation of the idea that corporations are people! They are not only people, but actually superior to actual people in that they do not really have the kind of responsibilities to the country in which they exist that living, breathing citizens have.

Please correct me if I’m wrong in any of this.

When making the transition from feudalism and religiosity to reason and enlightenment, how does one deal with human flame throwers, their patrons and their sheep, who strive daily to bring us back to cave days? It is not an easy problem to solve.

“Enemy of the People”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/aug/03/trump-enemy-of-the-people-meaning-history

Because Trump is all light and truth. /sarc

I didn’t get the Trump angle out of it though.

Nobody who has put up with reading your reams of bullshit over the years will be surprised at that. Nor will they believe that you value knowledge.

We learn our numbers and abc’s when small to learn how to read, write and do arithmetic, which leads to knowledge.

Imagine how little any of us would know if we could not read, write or do math.

Of course you can learn by example (tying shoes for example).

I thought it was a good commercial.

I didn’t get the Trump angle out of it though.

I love the edit function. Thank you.