Answers

For a good long time, some very clever "conservatives" have been wondering (very loudly and very smugly) why it is that Da Gubmint insists Americans are so stoopid, we need silly stuff like:

--and--

Who doesn't know this shit, right?  Who could possibly be so stupid - maybe we should just get rid of those labels and let the whole problem with stoopid people sort itself out.

And we laughed and laughed - but then it got really really not funny, because...

--and--

--and--

Any more questions on that one?

OK good - so, on to the next point - stop thinking this shit happens by accident. 

Cause and Effect, bitches.

I'm not saying there's a giant conspiracy afoot and there's some super-genius pulling all the strings and blah blah blah.  I'm just trying to stay aware that there are some very smart people who have no scruples, and who will take every opportunity to pimp anything they think might work in their favor and further their ambitions.

It's pretty easy to see when it's a Donald Trump doing it.  Trump is the latest version in a pretty long line of The Empty Vessel Politician, and he's being filled to overflowing with exactly what we don't want in a world leader.

It's harder to see it clearly when it's a Hillary Clinton because at least she does most of her own thinking (tho' I also have to say it's a lot easier to push Clinton in the right direction). That said, she may look like Gandhi compared with Trump, but she is not.

Hillary is at least partly an old school power politics kinda politico.  She knows the game and she works the angles and she gets what she wants more often than not. Vote Blue and send people to DC to keep her honest - but stay awake and keep the pressure on.

Cuz BTW - there's a buncha folks who like it when we refuse to watch the sausage being made. Sometimes it seems like they go outa their way to make the process as ugly as possible so we'll get sick of it and blew it off.  So I gotta figure if they wanted us to participate, they wouldn't go on doing everything they can do to push us away. And if they're trying to freeze me out, then I take that as my cue to kick down the door and elbow my way into the middle of the room to see just what the fuck they're up to.