I admit to spending way too much time thinking about politics but preserving democracy seems kind of important…so what the hell.

They have been waiting, patiently, for the messiah, and they believe he has come. He has come bearing fire and vengeance. He has come promising to make it all go away. He has come promising to make white right and great again.

So as we ponder this worldview, it begins to become clear as the sediment settles that a great portion of this country’s population have retired all pretense of critical thinking and surrendered their souls and wallets to the messiah. Jim and Tammy Faye never had it this good…and they had it good.

It seems logical in a way that predominantly white fundamentalist Christians would fall prey to such preaching. They are, after all, conditioned to believe and listen intently. They take comfort in being around others with like minds as they gather in their places of worship. And increasingly, the voices they listen to are steering them ever more urgently toward the messiah.

The point here, if not already obvious, is that white Anglo Saxon is the predominant force for good in this country. They were the explorers and conquerors who braved the ocean blue to escape the oppressive English government. And so instead of being oppressed over there, they went about ensuring a repressive government here. It was a gradual evolution, but steady and clear minded nonetheless. It was never meant to be overt but rather an agreed upon reality spoken in the privacy of homes and sometimes from the pulpit.

And now that the messiah has arrived, they are emboldened and filled with righteous purpose. Christian soldiers is no longer a church hymn. What is the worse that can happen? Look no further than Afghanistan as an example of religious zealotry gone mainstream. I am told there are two places agnostics find religion: prison and the death bed. Tough love.

Like flat earthers, they refuse to acknowledge evolution, cause you know, there are still apes. Free from this cognitive restriction, they feel that evolution can somehow be negated or reversed. What they sincerely desire is the eradication of all lower species, or as might be assumed, anyone not white. They fear the white majority is disappearing.

And they are right. And they are wrong. But that will not deter them from burning down the house.

Sharks in the water! Blood in the water causes the feeding frenzy. The news cycle is so predictable that you have to wonder if MSNBC and CNN are working to get Trump re-elected president. The latest frenzy, of course , is the FBI search at Mar-A-Lago for documents removed, illegally, from the White House when Trump departed. Speculation is running rampant among news celebrities as to the timing of the court ordered search.

The latest Trump concocted story claims the FBI planted incriminating evidence. Sure. And Trump is a scratch golfer.

Here’s a conspiracy theory of a different sort.

Trump is infamous for his use of pseudonyms to leak or promote a story to the press that leads in a direction either favorable to him or to gaslight the media. Whether the amateurish performances are believable is the purview of skeptics, but supposedly he has been exposed in the past and, of course, immediately denied the tricks. Well that sounds familiar.

So the idea that someone close to Trump or someone who works at the palace, squealed on him may be sleight of hand.

Even the fly on the wall had to call bullshit.

Why would he squeal on himself, you might ask. Perhaps to get the heat off of him. Perhaps to claim the narrative. Perhaps to ensure free and unfettered press coverage while claiming his status as number one martyr. When we consider that nothing is beneath him, that no scheme is too far fetched, it makes it easier to suspend rational thought. You know, the way he pulls the wool over the eyes of his believers.

Perhaps Garland will give us some clues. It’s a great story, one the media can’t resist.

A nationwide teacher shortage. Who could have predicted it. Suddenly education “experts” are coming out from behind the chalkboard to enlighten us. Saw it coming. Bound to happen.

Sure. But not what it seems.

Vegas is a microcosm of the nation. Here, there is a class system that is clearly defined and clearly undeniable. Money talks. And sometimes here, money screams. And honestly, money always wins. Check your local casino if you doubt it. This class system translates well to our public schools. Funding for the schools is mostly generated through bonds and each election cycle, there is a bond proposal to fund education which is unceremoniously voted down. Folks here don’t like taxes. Go figure. So historically the schools here are underfunded and underperforming. In an economic environment that depends on math skills, we are woefully lacking, performing somewhere near the bottom of the lake when stacked up against other states. Dummy up and deal isn’t just a mantra. And now, the casinos are more legit than the local government. Skimming is an art form.

There have always been private schools here. They were mostly religious affiliates and a couple with seemingly military associations. You pay, you get better learning. Well nothing wrong with that. “My kid gets nothing but the best.” As the atmosphere in public schools has shifted from learning to read and write and add to learning to find the nearest escape route, parents are increasingly enamored with the exclusivity of private schools. My guess is that the salary offered teachers in private schools is a bit more generous than public schools and parents have the expectation that the vetting process will be thorough and extreme. Public schools cannot compete.

So what.

Nothing in this country trickles down…not the economy, not education, not opportunity. You either gots it or you don’t. It is a miracle worthy of national media attention when a kid raised in abject poverty gets the chance at a college education. Cheating has become the national pastime, not necessarily to win, but to keep the other guy out of the game. Winning is an expectation. Institutionalized cheating keeps everybody out.

The world has always marveled at how democracy endures in the United States. And now that we seem to be spiraling toward its dissolution, the world looks on and snickers. And confident in their smug belief that democracy is a joke, they look for ways to exploit us. The threads that have held us together, the collective consciousness whereby we agree to be governed by laws and democracy, look more like the hairs on an aging head that fall out until there’s nothing left. That’s what the red caps are for! The guy is a marketing genius.

The founders understood the importance of free, universal education. The goal was to keep the Union strong by teaching the next generations why we embrace democracy and how we must strive to protect it. It’s the way to socialize a population not bound by genetics or by religion. That was the basis for the grand experiment. To now decry that as indoctrination dishonors that which makes us great as a nation.