I know there's a lot of talk about one person's scandalous financial lies & how much they served as the foundation for a career of lies...
But don't forget to sit with the twinned grief in this horrible story: the illusion of wealth that runs this world while most people agonize over an inability to make enough to live with even a little security.
The headline is clickbait.
The reality is a painful reminder of systemic injustice.
Be gentle with yourself for doing what you can in rigged games.
@MLClark There's been some talk in recent years of the U.S. establishing a Universal Basic Income (UBI) but frankly I can't see that happening here for a very long time.
What saddens me is how many people without even a little security are conned into giving their money to the man with the scandalous financial lies.
To come back to your other point, though: I also can't help but feel saddened by people voting against their own interests.
There was a case a few years back, when a woman on camera was informed that Obamacare (of which she vehemently disapproved) was the same as the Affordable Care Act. Her crushed look when she realized she'd actually voted against her family's interests was beyond all glib commentary.
My heart breaks for the harm caused to all by bad-faith political actors.
Have I mentioned, Stephen, that US politics is Canada's 4th national pastime? 🙃 It goes hockey, baseball, lacrosse, & rubbernecking US political train-wrecks.
Obama went on vacation for a week after working on ACA, & the Republican media apparatus went on about "granny death panels". Meanwhile, Canadians kept asking each other: "Did gov't kill *your* grandma? No? Huh. Mine neither."
Obama's expression when he came back from vacation to PR disaster was our weary incredulity, too.
Mind you, Canada now has a MAID problem (assisted dying) that also merits a reckoning, because many are being granted approval for poverty & disability--instead of the state making "living" less expensive.
This is also why we need to onboard more UBI-style thinking. When people increasingly get the government's permission to kill themselves for want of social services to live with dignity... that is a huge, reprehensible problem for an "affluent" society.
Lots still to be fixed.
@MLClark If I were single, "moving to Canada" would certainly be on my short list of things-to-do. 🇨🇦
But I know you have laws to keep out the riff-raff.
@MLClark I never use the term "Obamacare." There's no such thing.
And yet there's a storefront in Orlando for medical insurance that has a giant OBAMACARE sign across the front. Sigh.
Education just isn't valued any more in this nation. Civics classes aren't taught any more. It's no wonder people vote against their own interests. Which is probably why TPTB don't want civics taught any more.