Kwak said:
So if you want to rise to positions of power over your fellow humans in our current society, lying will win you that power. Ruthlessness is rewarded because most humans are running on a fear-based evolutionary script.
Truth and the subtle nuances of reality are for losers.
My disgust for the world we've created has imploded under its own weight.
I wouldn't say that. I would say that truth and subtle nuance of reality are for people who are kind of well off and not in immediate danger. When you are in danger, be it acute mortal harm (like a tiger bearing down on you) or more nebulous forms like the inability to get a job to feed yourself and your family, you don't have time to think about the nuance of the danger. You want to get away from that tiger or find a way to get a job that will provide good pay and job security.
The big failure of the Democrats in the USA, and to some extent most contemporary liberal or social democrat governments in the Western world, is that the last 30 years, since the introduction of 'Reaganomics' and the advent of Liberterianism, has seen increasingly large parts of the population stagnating in or even losing standards of living. Add to that an increased alienation of the lower socioeconomic classes ('white trash' and people of color in the US, immigrants and uneducated menial laborers in Europe) from society due to increasing pressure on welfare programs and you've got a recipe for disillusionment with the current system and governments. As the cherry on top, the escalating wealth distribution of wealth going to the richest 0.1-1% at the expense of everyone else compounds the severity of these problems.
Susan Faludi, in her book Stiffed! from 1998, pointed out that the American man suffers from the broken promise that if he just put in the hours, did the job and didn't complain he'd be rewarded with job security, decent pay and thus the ability to provide for a family. That hasn't been the case since the early-90's and now a large group of people, predominantly white men, are getting fed up with trying for all they are worth to do right by themselves and society and still ending up getting screwed by corporations (who outsources their jobs) and the government (who takes the tax but doesn't give you anything back).
Trump won because he realized those coal miners in West Virgina, along with the industrial workers of Michigan and all the other people in the 40 or so states in the US in-land, are worried about losing their jobs and thus their ability to sustain themselves and live the life they want (generally that of a classic family). Nobody else did that. Republicans were too busy talking about abortion restrictions or gun laws or terrorism. Democrats kept yapping about gay marriage, better immigrant control and more federal programs that cost tons of tax payer money. So when Trump promised people to get their jobs back, to make America great again by building a US economy based on US workers doing honest work and living a decent life, that resounded.
The Democrats, had they even realized these were problems for millions upon millions of Americans, could easily have countered by suggesting stuff like re-education programs for workers who have lost their jobs or efforts to re-vitalize the rural USA. When Eacaraxe says that Trump won because the Democrats failed to address important issues, that's a really important point. Trump was allowed free reign over the issue that for many swing voters trump (lame pun) all other concerns: their ability to live a quiet, uneventful life where they go to work everyday and come home to a loving family. As long as they have a job, a place to buy groceries and some leisure activity for the weekends all is well. Threaten that and they'll do anything to keep it or get it back.
If anything, this is an issue about how Politicians are no longer in touch with the people they are supposed to represent.
