Those who voted in the 2024 presidential election deserve a shout out for at least making the effort to vote. And it will be good news indeed if this carries into future elections.
The bad news is that even though more people voted than at any time in history, many of them, in numbers too big to ignore, suffer from what is becoming a modern day epidemic of low, or even false, information.
Should this trend continue, we can only expect more chaos, more confusion and more hostility.
Unquestionably, America’s polarization has existed for several decades. But alarmingly, it seems to be increasing. So much so that the condition America currently finds itself in has become cemented into the fabric of American culture.
In short, rather than dealing with the problem constructively, those who govern have created a monster by straddling the boundaries of legality.
And since chaos inevitably results from such an environment, it’s no mystery why conspiracy-laden social media and slanted reporting flourish. And it’s also no mystery why growing numbers of folks are succumbing to a form of mental flabbiness that renders them almost incapable of sound judgment.
Despite this obvious reality, there’s a persistent claim by voters that their choices are indeed well informed and not based upon shaky facts. Unfortunately, as long as this mindset afflicts voters in numbers sufficient to win elections, the door remains wide open for all manner of con artistry and demagoguery.
Truly, the great poet Alexander Pope’s timeless verse, “a little learning is a dangerous thing,” is even more descriptive of today’s world than it was of Pope’s world many centuries ago. However, Pope’s warning was prophetic as well as instructive. Either make the effort to learn more when making decisions or prepare to suffer the consequences.
Thomas R. Smith, Hurricane
