Fantasy in Action

We live in an era when many people have become unable to distinguish between reality and fantasy.  Sadly, it seems like our new administration lives more in the fantasy world than in the real one.

First, the general concept that they won by a "landslide" is simply ludicrous.  They lost the popular vote and while they did carry lots of states in the middle of the country with small populations, they lost both coasts and the win in the critical few swing states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin was less than 100,000.

Not quite a mandate.

Second, at least some, if not all of the new administration subscribe to theories promoted on fake news sites.  Now maybe this is simply a cynical thing or maybe not, but to promote the idea that an opponent is running a child sex ring our of a pizzeria in Washington D.C. is not just outrageous, its pure fantasy.

Similarly, the multiple lies that were promulgated during the last couple of years have been retweeted and maybe believed by more of them then I could have imagined.

The views concerning trade deals and loss of jobs ignore the very real cause of increased automation and productivity that makes bringing those jobs back impossible.  The only logical goal would be to invest in and encourage new industries to create new opportunities.

Thinking that a president could impose punitive tariffs on specific companies that displeased him shows an utter fantastical idea of how that process works and the due process provisions of the constitution.

Thinking that we live in an age when other countries will simply do what we say, which has never been the case, shows a total fantasy view of foreign relations.

The list goes on and the problem is that the isues that the country faces are some real ones and require a foundation in reality to deal with.

Now, I was pretty sure until recently that the election rhetoric was just that, a callous attempt to con the American voters by a cynical egotist.

That was the good view, since it would mean once elected the policies would revert to real world ones.

However, I'm not so sure anymore and think we might actually have leaders who really don't get it.