"I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time -- when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the key manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, nervously clutching our crystals and consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness. The dumbing down of America is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30-second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance." Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World (1997).
People get the politicians they deserve.
Back in early 2016, a young independent-filmmaker friend, Dennison De Morda, met me on the ETSU campus and invited me to his apartment. He said there was something he really needed me to see. When we got to his room, he sat me down in front of one of his desktop screens and told me to watch. He then flipped on a recording of the previous night's Republican primary debate. Not being a political junkie, I hadn't seen it. In fact, I didn't know the debate had taken place.
Transfixed and amused, I watched Donald Trump channeling his Apprentice character, demeaning the other candidates with various monikers and disapprobations. He was especially dismissive of Jeb Bush, whom he dubbed "Low Energy Jeb."
Dennison and I said nothing to each other as the recording ended. Finally he asked, "Watch it again?" I nodded yes. So we watched it over and over and over. We were each guffawing at various points, but we didn't really say anything to each other. After we'd seen Jeb Bush castigated as "Low Energy" more than half a dozen times, Dennison finally shut off the tape and asked, referring to Trump, "So, what do you think?"
I didn't hesitate. I said, "I think he's gonna win."
Dennison turned to me, "That's what I think."
What impressed us wasn't Trump's boorish behavior. I'd followed Trump my whole life, and Dennison had grown up in New Jersey in the shadow of the Taj Mahal. Trump's behavior, to us, was eminently predictable and unsurprising. What struck us was the reaction of the audience. They didn't seem put off by Trump's lack of decorum; they seemed to enjoy it.
Dennison went on to say that he was looking forward to "living under a dictatorship." I said something about anybody voting for Trump being nuts. He'd bankrupted four different casinos, where the odds are in your favor, and that took a lot of work. To bankrupt four casinos, you really must be committed to stubborn stupidity and not learning. But, I said, as an old German white male, if anybody could survive a Trump presidency, it was probably me.
The US of A
I'm not a huge fan of the United States. Somehow the citizenry has managed to overlook genocide, slavery, and geographic protections from two world wars as contributors to America's place in the world. Instead, "the American success" is somehow attributed to a unique work ethic, genius, and moral fiber that eludes other nations. I find it all quite comical.
And let me be frank here. I'm mortal. I probably have 10 to 20 years left to me. What do I actually care if the country, or the entire world, goes to flipping hell? Plus, as a gambler I may be restrained, but I still enjoy action. Watching the United States try to cope with avoidable crisis after avoidable crisis is entertainment for me. I'm comfortable with high stress, with cognitive dissonance at every turn, with authoritarianism running wild. Most Americans won't even acknowledge how their precious belief systems are being set against each other in a comic cavalcade. The market is supposed to value services in high demand, yet "essential workers" are now recognized as poor and at risk despite their essential-ness. Lives are allegedly sacred unless, of course, you must sacrifice some to goose the economy. I'm chuckling constantly as the GOP followers of the Nazarene reveal their twisted hypocrisy every day as they team up with the racist, porn star-lovin', grab-'em-by-the-pussy president. I mean, does anybody really believe Jesus of Nazareth would vote GOP in 2020? Living in the U.S. right now, as an old German white male, is like hanging out in a 24/7 comedy club. Or a cabaret.
My overall point is that I enjoy the United States being exposed, via the Trump presidency, for the venal, inhumane, self absorbed narcissistic bog that it is. The San Andreas-size faults in the American self definition have never been more spotlighted. White evangelicals are really hard core racists. Well, we all knew that, but it's never been a daily feature on the 6 P.M. news. Our leaders are chosen without regard to expertise. In fact, there is no real vetting criteria other than access to cash and ability to bloviate. We all knew that, too, but the degree of incompetence has never before wiped out a quarter million (and counting) Americans.
"The economy" doesn't give a rat's ass about most people. Hey, I certainly suspected that. I grew up in a mining county in Pennsylvania basically owned by two families, one of whom was named "Rich" (I kid you not). Roughly 85% of all stocks are owned by roughly 15% of Americans. The other 85% of people scrabble along and die in debt. Of course, when health care and educational expenses are personal, not societal, dying in debt is to be expected.
So, in a sense, I am enjoying the United States cavorting on the world stage like a drunken cabaret dancer whose punctured implants are leaking out of her bodice. It's like watching Mike Tyson get his comeuppance at the hands of a 50-1 underdog. It's mesmerizing. For fans of underdogs, and most of the world is an underdog, it's amazing to see the United States completely muck up every aspect of a response to an existential threat.
U.S. Democracy is Fake News
The last few days, MSNC and CNN have broached the question of whether the United States is really a democracy. Well, I can lay that to rest pretty quickly. No need for deep philosophical debate or squinting at history. Let's go to the numbers.
I'm a professional sports bettor. The election odds clearly demonstrate that the United States is not a democracy. The popular vote odds have Biden as a -700 favorite. That means that you must lay $700 to win $100 if you bet Biden to win the popular vote. As far as actually winning the presidency, however, Biden is only -200. That means you must lay $200 to win $100 when it comes to the electoral college winner.
Odds that radically different, the -700 as opposed to the -200, show two different processes in play that have very little relationship to each other. They are not even remotely similar. The democratic process, the popular vote, is a completely different mechanism than what the United States uses to appoint a president.
It's not as if there are minor differences or tweaks differentiating one from the other. The odds highlight the fact that two different things are going on. One is, by definition, democratic; it doesn't count. If the process for choosing the president is not democratic, how can you claim that you are living in a democracy?
The Trump presidency has put a hot, bright spotlight on the undemocratic nature of the U.S. government. The electoral college is undemocratic and currently racist. You can crunch the numbers yourself to see how much a particular ethnicity's votes are actually worth. If white folks are a 1.0, all other ethnicities are less. The Senate is not a democratic institution, and it is also inherently racist. How can assigning two votes per state, regardless of population, be democratic? The Supreme Court, because it is vetted by the Senate, is also racist and regressive.
There's really no way around the undemocratic structure of the U.S. government. A lack of democracy is baked in. As Republican Senator Mike Lee said on October 7, "Democracy isn't the objective; liberty, peace, and prosperity are." Spoken like a senator from Utah who knows he has as much voting clout as some senator from California, and who aims to keep his clout.
The Trump administration has resulted in all of this suddenly becoming evident. So, once again, Trump has made life more entertaining for me while also making obvious to everyone what I've been preaching for years.
If Trump Loses
If Trump loses, I'll go back to criticizing the moral absolutism of progressives and expressing my horror at tweens deciding what gender they should be based on what makes them "happy." Bor-ing.
That pales compared to science under siege, avoidable catastrophic death, and not being able to trust literally anything that comes out of a president's mouth. At this stage of my life (I'm 63), I'm fairly stress resistant, kind of like a cynical Bogart character who's more amused than disturbed as he watches the Trumpian stupidity unfold around him.
I don't think, however, that the stupidity will necessarily abate with a Trump loss. At least 50 million will cast a ballot for the man, and most of them will be old white guys, like me. Therefore, my pitch for Trump goes something like this. Voting him out won't end the stupidity; the 50 million who supported him are still alive and kicking. So if you're on the fence, please vote Trump for me. I have just 10 years left according to actuarial tables, and I sorely need to be entertained.
Back in 2016, Dennison said, "I can't wait to live under a dictatorship." As an old white German dude, I like to think that I'd handle it well. So consider a vote for Trump. For entertainment's sake.
After all, life is a cabaret, my friend. Come to the cabaret.
Bob Dietz
October 30, 2020
