Human Nature

[Alan V]

I don't see the solution to many of our problems as political at all, but rather as educational.  That's a big part of the reason I am blaming human nature now.  Our collective laziness and intellectual dishonesty have caught up with us, just as you said above.

Education is political though so in the end US problems are political, in my view at least. I also wouldn't blame human nature as it would imply that those caught into fascist propaganda are worse and inherently flawed, where in my view they might be walking sacks of shit but no different in essence to any other human being. If human nature were to blame then everyone would vote on trump elsewise it would mean that some people are naturally better, not simply better informed, educated or plainly well  off enough to disregard fascist rhetoric.

This is also why I am not at all sure that politicians can solve many of our problems for us, though they must of course talk as if they can.  Many of them seem to be followers rather than leaders, as Trump has demonstrated.  Our real options may be more limited and difficult than we imagine, so of course many people vote for the impossible.

I'm quite sure that politicians can solve majority of US problem or at least most pressing ones (healthcare, imprisonment rate, unfair taxes). It's not lack of means that is problem but lack of vision, just like in Poland where almost nobody can see past neoliberalism and inequality it promotes and then wonders why extremists are gaining popularity. If people perceive state as continuously  failing them then they might want to tear it down, simple as that.

You could be right of course, although I disagree.  People who are well-enough educated are on their guard against common misperceptions, misinformation, and fallacies in thinking -- to which our common human nature makes us prone.  Many atheists posting in this forum are good examples of this standard.  It's like the difference between those who are vaccinated and those who aren't.

"Education is political"?  Only to those who want to make people think it is, i.e. the people who want to peddle disinformation.  Theists jump to mind.  Climate change, evolution, vaccinations, and other such information are considered matters of fact to the experts.

The reason why politicians often can't tackle our problems is that they lack the leverage to do so, largely because so many other politicians oppose them.  So politicians often need education too.  I don't think you could force people in a democracy if they were unwilling to change because they were poorly educated.  They would just vote for people who didn't make the same demands on them.  That, in fact, seems to be what has happened.