McDonald: The elections are (nearly) over
In some parts of the US, votes are still being counted. For the most part, though, the 2022 mid-term elections are over, and the winners have been decided. As I write in my last Substack, I see this election as a referendum on Americans’ capacity and decision to choose reality over a lie. Unfortunately, it appears that most Americans still lack the capacity to distinguish between reality and lies, refuse to choose reality when they vote, or both.
We have all had two full years to appreciate the greatest lurch toward mass insanity in human history. Much of the insanity was initiated, supported, and reinforced by elected officials. They used a manufactured crisis to then push through entirely destructive, morally indefensible policies that have taken the United States from a position of domestic strength and international leadership to the verge of collapse. This group-led national suicide provoked a surge in courageous, grounded, rational candidates who chose to run against a cohort of the most incompetent, despicable politicians this country has ever seen. In a nation of engaged, thoughtful, and active citizens, every one of them would have won their race in a landslide.
They did not. Certainly, a few crushed their opponent. Florida governor Ron DeSantis fared well in his bid for re-election. He ran against a “political corpse,” according to MSNBC. Kari Lake, though, is still in a dead heat in her race for Governor of Arizona against a nothing Democrat who refused to even debate her in the months and weeks prior to the election. In my home city of Los Angeles, a self-described Marxist defund the police BLM supporter may very well receive more votes for LA mayor than a businessman who campaigned on pro-public safety and fiscal solvency platforms. These races should not even be close calls. Most jarring, the state of Pennsylvania has now elected a man to represent the state in the US Senate who no longer has the capacity for language comprehension or productive speech. Whatever one thinks of Dr. Oz, can he really be worse than that? Are Pennsylvanians really that uninformed, lazy, stupid, disinterested? Clearly, they still do not live in reality. They have chosen lies through their votes.
Time will tell, but, so far, there is little evidence that election fraud is responsible for the lackluster results this November. It is undeniable that that the Democrat Party and its supporters in media and corporations interfered with the 2020 elections and influenced the outcome not only of the presidential race but also the federal congressional and senate races, and some state elections as well. The American electorate certainly deserves some degree of blame for its misinformed and foolish voting patterns; however, in many races, the election outcome was decided in advance. This time around, we cannot simply blame fraud for someone like John Fetterman being elected to federal office. We did this. We got the government that we deserve.
Americans are not united in standing for truth and opposing lies. Outside of a few key cities and states, they are at best unconcerned by and at worst in outright support of lies masquerading as viable policy. Perhaps their acute Trump Derangement Syndrome has evolved into chronic TDS. I know people who are still convinced that they are paying six dollars a gallon for gasoline in California because of Donald Trump. And they are living all over the world. A Norwegian man living in the Azores off the coast of Portugal recently told me that receiving or sending packages internationally is a nightmare, and when he asked a local post office worker why, he was told, “This is all due to Trump.” This form of thinking is a mental illness--what is the cure?
Perhaps there is none. We may have already moved so far away from reality for so long that we cannot find our way back. I admit that I had hope this time around that more Americans would have woken up. Sadly, I must acknowledge the reality that most remain asleep, unable to accurately perceive reality and unwilling to act as informed, responsible, and mature adults.
Mark McDonald, M.D.
Psychiatrist and author of United States of Fear: How America Fell Victim to a Mass Delusional Psychosis and Freedom From Fear: A 12 Step Guide to Personal and National Recovery
