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When people have faith in government or recognize as a norm across lines of class, ethnicity, creed, and region that the old way of doing things is no longer possible (literally Gone with the Wind), the 1T is underway or at least nigh.
We are not there. The regional, ethnic, and class divides remain stark. One would think that COVID-19 would discredit the science-denying, reason-rejecting segments of America. Some communities have done far better than others in part because some have no clue.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
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10-02-2021, 03:12 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-02-2021, 03:17 PM by Eric the Green.)
(08-27-2021, 12:56 PM)Eric the Green Wrote: ![[Image: 300px-ElectoralCollege2020.svg.png]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/49/ElectoralCollege2020.svg/300px-ElectoralCollege2020.svg.png)
Small Democratic states with 7 or fewer electoral votes:
Maine 3/1
Vermont 3
New Hampshire 4
Rhode Island 4
Connecticut 7
Delaware 3
DC 3 (no senators yet)
Oregon 7 (will have 8 after 2020)
Hawaii 4
ADD Puerto Rico: 5!
total 44
Small Republican states with 7 or fewer electoral votes:
West Virginia (4 in new apportionment)
Mississippi 6
Arkansas 6
Iowa 6
Oklahoma 7
Kansas 6
Nebraska 4/1
South Dakota 3
North Dakota 3
Wyoming 3
Montana 4 (gained a vote after 2020)
Idaho 4
Utah 6
Alaska 3
total 65
If the definition of "small state" is restricted to states with 5 or fewer electoral votes, the Democrats and Republicans are almost even.
Republican:
West Virginia 4
Nebraska 4/1
South Dakota 3
North Dakota 3
Wyoming 3
Montana 4 (gained a vote after 2020)
Idaho 4
Alaska 3
total 28
Democratic:
Maine 3/1
Vermont 3
New Hampshire 4
Rhode Island 4
Delaware 3
DC 3 (no senators yet)
Hawaii 4
total 24
Republicans would then even up the number of medium-sized states, but generally they are smaller-medium-sized states.
Democratic:
NJ 14
VA 13
MD 10
MA 11
WI 10 (swing state)
MN 10
CO 10
AZ 11 (swing state)
WA 12
CT 7
OR 8
total 116 (95 if Democrats lose WI and AZ)
Republican:
IN 11
TN 11
SC 9
AL 9
LA 8
MO 10
Mississippi 6
Arkansas 6
Iowa 6
Oklahoma 7
Kansas 6
total 89 (but GOPfers could lead here by taking WI and AZ = 110)
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Basic trust in institutions is a hallmark of a 1T. People have high expectations that those institutions honor, in part because they have learned the hard way that nobody can do everything himself. People know well what is expected of them and they accept such. Competence and diligence at any level of the economic pecking-order are expected, promoted, and rewarded. Business dealings are honest and above board. Economic inequality relates largely to differentials in skill, and people have opportunities to improve themselves.
Ideology is ill-defined, which is just as well. Pragmatism prevails in politics and economics. Schools teach, and religious institutions have more concern with making people more moral than with judging "sinners" (that is, outsiders). Crime is for schmucks and losers. Integrity and decency are norms.
Few seek revolutionary change or yearn for any return to the "good old days" that they recognize as rotten. The 3T is within the memory of most adults who know where it led, and the 4T had enough adventure, often of the wrong kind, for a lifetime. People seeking to change the world without recognizing the complexity of human character brought about apocalypse, something of which people are tired. The weapons of the preceding 4T that gave comfort to leaders of a society under siege are at best museum pieces.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
