I learned this morning that the percentage of young people in the United States between the ages of 18 and 29 who actually vote is just 16 percent — yes, that’s not a typo — just 16 percent of them go to the polls. I have no idea which way the country would swing if they all voted but I think that I do know that we are not a functioning democracy without their vote.
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Brett Kavanaugh
The process by which this man was appointed leaves us feeling absolutely aghast. We like to think that if he were truly innocent that he would have mandated full disclosure of all his records and called for a full FBI enquiry. If he truly has nothing to hide, then why not. The fact that he wants his past concealed speaks volumes – against him. A sad day for America.
Church
August 2017 news
Realignment?
Just read that a number of white union members voted for Trump. That’s not terribly surprising but it does make me wonder whether we are witnessing a realignment of the parties. Will workers, disenchanted with the effect of globalism on their lives, shift to the Republican Party. Will the elites who have benefited mightily from globalism all move to the Democratic Party? Will we have the French Revolution all over again with Republicans dragging the aristocrats to the gray lady?
Evangelicals vote for Trump
This article from Newsweek is what has me so bothered about and depressed by the recent election. What could persuade so many evangelicals vote for a non-Christian over a devout Methodist? I find this very troubling. Continue reading
Reading the bones
Analyses are coming out slowly. It would appear that Trump won the white vote by a large margin while Clinton won the non-white vote by an equally large margin. The vast majority of evangelicals turned out for Trump, which I find particularly abhorrent. A majority of those with college degrees voted for Clinton; a majority of those without college degrees voted for Trump. The Rust Belt, normally Democratic, went Republican. Apparently, the turnout of Democratic voters was down while that of Republican voters was up. One now learns that Clinton has won the popular vote by some 2 million voters, an astonishing number.
President Donald J. Trump
We have just watched his very gracious acceptance speech. Who would ever have thought that Donald Trump would be President Donald Trump? Who would ever have thought that he would sweep the country? As the Washington Post has just said “he did it by completely blowing up the electoral map and all of our projections and expectations of it.” More than one pollster and their fancy programs are wondering just what happened and how it was that they got it so wrong. No doubt long analyses will follow and we’ll learn just how all the models were so far off. What a day!
Stunned
The only word for what I’m feeling right now is STUNNED and in capital letters. Who would ever have thought that Americans would vote for someone who had never served in government, never served in the military, and never paid taxes. On the other hand, I have been saying for months now that the elite ignore the very real pain in the country to their peril. Well, the country has now spoken and the elite is indeed in peril. It is clear that we are witnessing, to use Paul Begala’s words, an earthquake. Time for those who “have” to pay attention to those who don’t. The next four years are going to be fascinating ones to watch especially when one figures that this was not a vote for Republicans but a vote against the Establishment.
Tech and the nation state
I was much fascinated by this article “Why the World Is Drawing Battle Lines Against American Tech Giants” (http://nyti.ms/1TJl7jq), which basically suggests that the nation state that has controlled people’s lives for the last couple of centuries might be falling to the technological revolution. (Incidentally, this means that I am probably back!)
michaelvanbreda 