Atoler - as bad as it is today it was just this bad after Carter. Keep that in mind. You sound a lot like me when I was trying to figure out how we got to where we are today. What I figured out is they didn't tell us the whole story in our history or political science classes. We learned about behavior and political theory. And you can see how useful that was this past Tuesday. All the intellectuals...They all got it wrong. They fed me and I'm sure you since you have come after me a bunch of BS in our core studies and didn't dive into controversial issues or topics. Sure we learned about some of them, but we breezed right over the hard truth. We didn't get the real story on a lot of it.

Read up on the Lyndon Johnson's Great Society, but more importantly look up "Warren Court" and study that. That might open your eyes as to why your vote Tuesday was so important.

Don't stop there.... I'd also study how Israel came to be, how Hilter came to power in a country where people were educated and obviously intelligent. I don't think anyone has ever accused the German's of being stupid. Look at what happened in the vacuums left behind when the European countries gave up their empires. Learn about the spread of communism and dictators and the back story that lead to the Vietnam war. Learn about Reaganomics. Learn about the movement to Globalization. This are the topics that will continue to impact our lives, not all the time we spent learning about Alexander the Great in class.

I've read the bible more times than I can count but I'm not much on religion. I've read the Quran. And why... because in order to have a discussion on it how could I regurgitate what I've been told about a religion. I had no first hand knowledge of what that book actually said. I'm not much on repeating what I have heard even if the preacher told me. I'm a man that forms my own opinion.

Matthew 7:7 - Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

Draw your own conclusion about how your world has been shaped. As for me... I've never voted for a Democrat in my life.