Averages
I have some questions.
Does the average American care about Democracy?
Is the average American a gun-totin’, conspiracy-believing, anti-government, anti-mask, anti-science, anti-vaccine, bible-thumpin’, violence-promoting Trump lover? Then what’s the other side? Can two diametrically opposed opposites both still be comprised of average Americans?
And we’re off!
Do appearances matter?
What is the average American anyway? What do they look like? What’s their makeup; their demographic? Are they white? Does a Republican or Democrat represent the average American? Is the average American Christian? Is the average American rich or poor? Can a poor American wear two hats and be average as well as poor? Is the average American anti-government? Does the average American like coffee? Could coffee be the great unifier?
Do they like their coffee strong?
Average Christian
The majority of the population of the United States self-identifies as being Christian. However it would appear that the majority of Christians don’t attend church much. So are one day a week, twice a month Christians average Christians? Do they care about democracy as much as they care about their religion? Or is there no average Christian?
It’s complicated.
Unbelievers
Now I need to add here that the average Republican doesn’t believe in our current form of government because the majority of Republicans falsely believe that the election was stolen from their idol the “Chosen One.” Does not believing something mean that it didn’t happen?
If you’re a Republican that believes the election was legitimate are people hearing that from you? Are you standing up for your country? Because I’ve got to tell you that the Republicans that I know that do believe the election was legit are keeping their heads down and their beliefs to themselves. They’re saving themselves from the cancel culture purge of the majority of their brethren.
Does it matter to the minority of election-believing Republicans that Ex-President Trump and the Republican Party tried to stage a coup and overturn the results of a the legal and lawful election that made Joe Biden President? I’m going to say no. Because if they did, they would be speaking out.
They aren’t!
Commonplace
Perhaps there is no average American. Perhaps there are just millions of people going about their lives. Some struggling. Some not struggling. People that just get up and go to work or not. People that want to just be able to take care of their families; keep a roof over their heads. People that would like to be left alone and not have to worry about where their next meal is coming from. Old. Young. Retired. Men. Women. Children. Humans wanting the same things out of life including those that want more.
Everyday people.
What do we know?
Most of those living in our society aren’t wealthy. We start off with a baseline of 40 million people living in poverty in the United States of America. Not a good start. The majority of our country is just trying to make ends meet and living paycheck to paycheck. The system isn’t designed for everyday people to get more than so far ahead. We can see the brass ring but can’t quite grab it. Who or what is holding us back if it isn’t the government?
This is how conspiracies are born.
It’s a wonderment.
The Republican Party has been steering this ship to where we’re at for decades. It started out innocently enough. All the elements, the natural tendencies, the building blocks were already there. They just started stacking them. Dirty tricks. Misinformation. Misdirection. Conspiracies. Lies. Fear. It isn’t that Democrats haven’t done it as well. They just aren’t very good at it whereas Republicans excel at it.
The Republican base was carefully laid out. They made a discipline out of “there’s a sucker born every minute.” The groundwork was already well trodden historically. The Russians were masters at understanding how to manipulate the gullibility of the masses. They quite literally weaponized ignorance.
The majority of the Republican base will quite literally believe any concoction put forth, and has.
Then it got strange.
Right Field
Traditional right wing conservative Republicans lost control of the base as it has swung even farther to the right. The base that they had cultivated was ripe for the taking. Racist organizations climbed on board. They recognized their agenda from the very beginning. Confederate lost cause believers, Neo Nazis, White Nationalists, et al recognized that they had a kindred spirit in Trump that would advance their ideals.
The new Republican Party advocates violent rhetoric to their militarized base on a regular basis. They actively seek to overthrow our government. Their coup attempt on January 6th came close to succeeding. Their next attempt is already being successfully staged in front to the world. They call themselves patriots.
In reality—they are traitors.