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In response to
"At a BBQ Wednesday, my host's son asked about the US election and I said I hate being definitive because it lacks imagination and curiosity, but...."
by
Name Withheld By Request
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I've stated this in a similar form before
Posted by
Reagen
Aug 8 '19, 08:21
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but 2016 really rattled Americans' self-image, on both sides. There was a trust that things couldn't go *this* wrong, and combined with how things so rapidly shifted close to the election, how could you trust the institutions again? It was a mind quake fluke of an election and there's the chance everything goes wrong again, sure. But we're bad as a species at separating out the 1% chance from the 25% chance. You saw it at the mid terms when people railed against polls ... and they turned out to be basically bang on. But the backstop is gone and that's very discomfiting.
I said the day after 2016 that this was the end of American Exceptionalism in both meanings. I stand by that but it doesn't mean doom and gloom runs the day.
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