Did I vilify HRC or was she already vilified by endless most oft unjust criticism of her by the RNC knuckle dragging crowd? She had no chance of winning the flyover region and that was obvious to anyone paying attention. You can't win the Presidency without carrying at least some of the flyover states (OH, PA, MI, WI come to mind). I said early on that Bernie had a chance to win Indiana, but HRC never would. I recall even that being questioned.

You want me to concede that my pointing such things out and pointing them out early was somehow in part responsible for the situation we're in now? I guess there's no harm in admitting to a falsehood. Since you showed the poor taste to inject them here, my daughters (with whom I arguably have the most influence wrt political matters) both voted for HRC. Had I done so, HRC would have lost Indiana by 524,159 votes instead of 524,160. A fact that does not comport with your assertion that my "stance in the last election cycle aligned a little bit with the circumstances that have contributed to our present plight." It didn't align at all. On the contrary, the fact that you voted for her in the primary aligned far more with the events that led to our circumstances today.

I am encouraged by things like the "March for Our Lives" and the many protest marches that have occurred this past year. This week's WI Supreme Court election, AL and PA's earlier special elections also offer some signs of hope that would, in my view, be absent had HRC won. So maybe the "heightened differences" are having an effect after all?

My friend and airplane mechanic likes to say, "No matter how you define intelligence, half the people are below average." And therein is the fatal flaw of democracies. In British and US democracies, the people with below average intelligence have an equal say in how we are governed as the people with higher than average intelligence. That is how we end up with Brexit and Trump.

Given the plight of our democracy, I think it would be wise to take advantage of the public records to identify the irredeemably stupid and prohibit them from voting. A good start at purging the unwise from our voter registration rolls would be to check just two available records: reported household income with IRS and party affiliation in voter registration. Anyone with household income less than $400.000/year and has registered as a Republican has proven themselves incapable of forming well considered opinions and should consequently face a lifetime ban on voting.