The Donald Trump Problem

Please consider one of my favorite passages from literature: 

"Wizard's First Rule: People are stupid. 

People are stupid; given proper motivation, almost anyone will believe almost anything.  Because people are stupid, they will believe a lie because they want to believe it is true, or because they are afraid it might be true. People's heads are full of knowledge, facts, and beliefs, and most of it is false, yet they think it all true.  People are stupid; they can only rarely tell the difference between a lie and the truth, and yet they are confident they can, and so are all the easier to fool… People need an enemy to feel a sense of purpose. It's easy to lead people when they have a sense of purpose. Sense of purpose is more important by far than the truth. In fact, truth has no bearing in this…People are stupid; they want to believe, so they do.”

Terry Goodkind – Wizard’s First Rule

Over the past 8 years, the Republican Party has been ignoring reality and painting every person and organization that contradicted them as delusional and part of the problem.  This systematic attack on reality left the party primed for the rise of Trump.  Most conservative voters have believed the lies they have been told and refuse to use their own senses to identify reality; they cannot admit to themselves that their beliefs are wrong.  After 8 years of inability to pass the simplest of reforms, even with a majority in both houses, the electorate is looking for someone with a different message. 

Donald Trump has become that other voice.  He has built upon the Republican Party position of negativity and the lingering fears of expansion of social justice to all minorities.  Instead of pushing conservative rhetoric and values, he is campaigning on the rollback of social equality and strong-arm change; playing into their fears.  This is how tyrants are made. 

The worst part of this election has been the consolidation of the Republican Party behind him.  He does not represent their values or economic policies, and a Trump presidency is an obvious threat to our republic.  My goal over the next few months will be to remind my conservative friends that the best vote is for Hillary, if for no reason other than to preserve the status quo for another 4 years.  I may write a few more blogs on some ideas how to approach this later.