LII. We're Not Special Anymore

“I thought we were wiser.” - a friend from afar

“Are we that messed up?” - a relative

“The only comfort I have to offer is my certainty that, although it will be harder for them, Ukrainians will keep fighting (and that Ukraine isn’t going to disappear). Several Ukrainian activists that I follow…have asked their Western followers not to “doom,” and I respect this. I will keep working with…colleagues and students here, to get things done. As for the US….I don’t see much to be positive about.” - Ukrainian friend

This was not the post I had planned.

I have shared with many of you my thoughts and discouragement from Tuesday’s election. We are all looking for a reason, a logic, to explain the outcomes.

I keep thinking of the words of the Japanese Emperor Hirohito. Realizing the end was nigh in WWII, he addressed his nation. For the first time, the Japanese people heard the voice of their emperor, and he delivered the words recorded in history.

It is time to “endure the unendurable.”

Though we have the ability to contain this mess to two years, we are stuck with this outcome for the rest of our lives. For all the history of the United States. Another scarlet letter. Our letter from a Birmingham jail. Our shame for historians to explain.

Political pundits have been busy offering a litany of excuses and rationales for why Democrats lost this election.

As if a better ground game would make up for the racism and prejudice in this outcome. As if more commercials or an alternative method of expressing the truth could overcome the purposeful misinformation, outright ignorance, and misplaced anger across the nation.

They are all wrong.

This level of depravity at this level of power can’t depend this hard on getting people to know what is right. Some have tried to provide a cover to justify their vote, and have couched this moment in terms of biblical proportion (he was saved by God, he tells it like it is, he is a business success).

That is also considerably wrong.

Today I offer two different essays; one is more of a sermon and the other is for the logical part of who we are and what we try to be.

First, the sermon.

He that hath ears, let him hear.

There is nowhere to lay the results of this election but with the trinity of American folly:

I.

Me.

My.

Man cannot serve both God and mammon, yet you chose greed for the cost of a Big Mac and cheaper gas for your pickup.

You have vacated your faith by putting trust in a king, anointed by billionaires and money changers, to lead a false cause.

In Christ, there is no division, yet your racism and prejudice would not recognize his brown skin today.

Though you know the tongue is the devil’s workshop and sets fire to what is good, you listened until the lies found rest and comfort in your heart.

A level of moral erosion exists in a nation that makes its God a man with a golden toilet and exclaims the people at the gate are the problem.

Light shines in darkness, but you reveled in the darkness and asked for more of it.

When the wicked rule, people suffer, but let them suffer, you say, because they are poor, colored, alternative, and don’t belong.

You know the camel will not fit through the eye of the needle, yet you offered blessings to the rich man over the blessings of the meek and the poor.

Lying lips are an abomination, yet you listened until you knew not the truth.

You know that the love of money is the root of all evil, but you bought his bibles, watches, and hats, and let him grow fat off the people because it entertained you. You thought you might ride the golden escalator to heaven and sold your soul for it.

Respect authority while standing for truth, but you let him say that it was stolen, that she is lying, that they are all enemies, and because of many of your own foolish life decisions, you let him stain us and make us fools.

You know the works of the flesh are troublesome, but you expressed no trouble with women dying for the loss of their flesh. You rewarded men growing fat off the flesh of others.

Only a fool says there is no God, but today we are all the fools, because this God must be dead, or maybe he has forsaken us because we have our golden calf. You built it and worshipped it.

He called evil good and good evil and it entertained you because of your hate for others, because your value is so minimal. Your feelings were more important than facts.

Righteousness exalts a nation that stands for good, yet you followed the crowd into idolatry.

And you say he was the anointed one, but I remind you that not everyone who says "Lord, Lord" enters the heaven they yearn for. I wait for the deeds to come.

The love of power corrupts, but the love of the people is the true calling of a leader. Yet you chose the tyrant's path over the servant leader's way.

Beware the Pharisees, who would make a show of their godliness while devouring freedom and goodwill. So too have you been deceived by the lustre of faith while denying its true works.

As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another. But you have believed the parasites and yes-men, ignoring wise counsel for your empty admiration.

The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.' And maybe you truly believe that to your core, cause you have made an idol of a man, worshipping at the altar of worldly power while turning your back on the divine in you and in front of you.

Maybe it is our time to wander in the wilderness. We’ve wasted ourselves on the trivial, do not value progress, degrade human authenticity and needs, do not value the wisdom of the ages, and grow to fear education and science.

Remains of the forgotten lie scattered across the land. The suffrage movement fought a long battle. The fight for civil rights was born from pain and promise. We’ve been asleep, brothers and sisters, while the thief came in the night and purchased this nation on the cheap.

We can never fully understand the parable of life, though we must always see more than what our eyes see and hear more than what our ears hear.

Put on your armor for the good trouble to be made. Use your pen as your sword arm, your words against the tower of Babel, your knowledge to confront tyrants.

For those deceived, it will take time. The scales shall fall from their eyes slowly. Only then shall they see the truth, for the light of righteousness cannot be forever hidden.

Amen.

Now, for the logic.

Kamala Harris was probably the smartest, most well-educated, and hard-working candidate of the last several elections. You don’t get to this level as a woman, especially as a black woman, without phenomenal skill and dedication. Yet political pundits are already weighing in for what she should’ve done, who the campaign should have talked to, and the messages they missed making.

It is completely rubbish.

America's democracy has been deliberately rewired, a process that began with the Southern Strategy and economic shifts of the 1970s but accelerated dramatically with the fear and anxiety of 9/11. The vision of Osama Bin Laden capitalized on existing fissures; strike at the heart of an already anxious country, and watch it collapse under the weight of its reaction, hate, and fear. The 2008 financial crisis and the rise of social media would only deepen these wounds.

Let’s consider what has occurred since then.

Fox News emerged just a few years before 9/11, and since then, they have aggressively pushed for conflict at every level and promoted a style of news that appeals to a mainly male audience. Today, they average 1.5 million prime-time viewers and dominate cable news, despite paying nearly a billion dollars in the Dominion lawsuit settlement for knowingly broadcasting false election claims. Fox remains the most powerful voice of profit in cable, continually dispersing alternative realities to its viewers.

A 2023 study found that 72% of Fox News viewers still believed the 2020 election was stolen – a belief that persists despite over 60 court cases finding no evidence of significant fraud. Imagine a people primed by lies spoken 50 times a day for four years. Now imagine a candidate from the other side trying to fight through that and explain the truth.

Research shows that people often need to hear something false around 7 times before they start believing it, a phenomenon known as the illusory truth effect. Coupled with repeated viewing of emotionally charged content, the effect becomes an "echo chamber" that can limit critical thinking and reinforce entrenched beliefs.

But Fox was only one piece. Social media algorithms such as Meta's own researchers found their systems amplify extreme content by up to 30% more than moderate views. TikTok, where 33% of users now get their news, can push users from mainstream content to conspiracy theories in less than 30 minutes. This has greatly assisted the nuts to find each other and made it that much harder for truth and reality to maintain footing.

Republican state legislatures have also been busy. Since 2021, 18 states have passed 34 new voting restriction laws. One southern state even made it a crime to give water to voters waiting in line.

These incidents are not isolated.

In the last 25 years, the Republican Party has led efforts to restrict voting access, tighten voter ID laws, limit early voting and absentee ballot access, and reduce drop box availability. The results? In 2022, Wisconsin Democrats won 51% of the state legislative vote but got only 33% of the seats. In North Carolina, a nearly even split in votes translated to Republicans winning 71 out of 120 state house seats. This isn't democracy; it’s purposeful manipulation.

And while Americans navigate these efforts, our capacity for critical thinking is being systematically undermined. Only 18% of American universities now require a history course to graduate. Media literacy courses reach less than 20% of K-12 students. I would be stunned to see a majority of American citizens able to pass the naturalization exam that immigrants must pass.

This isn't just about elections – it's about every time someone shares an unverified TikTok video, every time Fox News ratings spike during prime time, every time a gerrymandered district maroons thousands of votes, every time faith is used to subdue other humans, we move further from the democracy we claim to cherish.

The solution isn't complicated, but it requires something Americans seem to have lost:

Character and shame.

The MAGA movement didn't emerge in a vacuum. It grew from legitimate grievances, some dating back to the deindustrialization of the 1980s and others born from the 2008 financial crisis. The opioid crisis devastated rural communities while members of the healthcare industry grew wealthy off of it. Growing income inequality has not been addressed, and cultural shifts used as scare tactics left many feeling a stranger in their own land.

Trump didn't create these anxieties; he simply knew how to aggravate them. He spoke directly to their sense of loss – of status, economic security, and cultural white dominance. He offered simple explanations for complex problems (the enemy is here) and promised to restore a past where their place in society felt more secure.

Many followers found MAGA not just a political cause but an identity and extended family. This emotional investment makes traditional fact-based counterarguments truly difficult to take hold.

So yes, we need to address the legitimate economic grievances that drove many to the movement. But we don’t do it with lies, hate, and intolerance.

It must be by tackling problems head-on, not finding the scapegoat of the day.

In places where we need to transition from coal and natural gas, we expect corporations to invest and build there. Where decentralized power is more cost-effective and more secure, we make the switch easy to do. Where people want their modern technology but also good paying jobs, we ensure both grow together through strong unions and better public policy. Where families and companies make money off of American death, we hold them accountable and we move toward universal healthcare.

We make voting easier and running for office cheaper. We repeal Citizens United. We move quicker to rank choice voting. We extinguish Fox News and its offspring by ending media monopolies and enacting “truth in lending” style laws.

We create opportunities for meaningful contact between different political and cultural groups. We revoke the tax havens for political fronts acting as religion. We work toward less separation of black and white churches on Sunday, fewer charter laws, more community schools, and more public spaces with fewer cars and less guns. We get rid of the Electoral College so all states and every voter count and are in play until the end.

We need a no-more dumbing-down law that assists citizens to identify misinformation and understand how social media algorithms can create echo chambers. We treat social media as a public utility and regulate it as such. We invest in newsgroups that are independent, unbiased, and willing to dig for the truth. We stop being so transactional with each other, and we limit the business model effort to compartmentalize, standardize, and check the boxes that make teaching hard and education boring.

No, the path forward isn't about "defeating" MAGA supporters. It is more about preserving American democracy. This will take stronger public policy and more personal responsibility working together.

So take a breather as needed.

You were not wrong. We lost, but we were not wrong.

Make your goal to push back all along the way and to make this a two-year nightmare by the time of the mid-term elections. You’ll know when and where your time comes because nothing will be held sacred. All will be scarred, even the followers.

But remember we are many.

The people we’ve come to admire are not going anywhere. Kamala Harris was a spectacular candidate. Tim Walz was a teacher and man of the people. Mark Cuban jumped in as a billionaire and as a father. Eugene Vindman, the soldier and public servant who told the truth about Trump, won his seat. Hakeem Jeffries and Adam Schiff are damn smart and he knows it. Numerous public servants throughout the ranks of government are true public servants. History remains on our side. Early signs are that a majority of American youth are supporting diversity, climate change, alternative energy, and a more responsive government.

We are the big picture, the big tent. We represent possibilities.

We don’t ride with Bin Laden or Hitler.

Start by never saying his name again.

• Want to get your mind off of things, or prepare for a new year? Last week I mentioned OpenAI crowding in on Google Search. This week, Google has a new learning site to check out.

• This privacy check by Google is a very good tool.

• Be ready. More of this will be coming.

Interesting and frustrating story. You have an autistic kid who is brilliant online and can’t make friends in person. There seem to be no parents with accountability and government services that don’t know what to do. What’s the answer? Give him a computer and forget about him. I fear this is the default answer for a lot of homes across the world. Worry about the long-term consequences later.

As we go into the holiday season, let me suggest a gift that supports good technology use and reading. Look at buying a Kindle Paperwhite or BN Nook. I’ve bought at least four used over the years and all have worked well. You can find them gently used through Amazon sales, eBay or other outlets. Nowadays, many homes have them sitting around forgotten. Ask your neighbors and friends. I’m a believer in making reading as easy as possible, whether with actual books or an e-reader. This is a no-brainer great gift.

Thank you for reading. Sharing the Porcupine with others is the main method of gaining new subscribers. Please keep doing it.

Now go do great things. Make time for yourself in nature and with knowledge. Keep reading regularly. Gather your strength from words and woods. Fighting for real freedom continues.