Democracy

77 million Americans voted for Trump, 74 million voted for Harris, and 89 million eligible voters did not bother to vote. 

In the UK, 9.7 million voted for Keir Starmer, 6.8 million voted for Rishi Sunak, and 3,5 million voted for Ed Davey. 19.3 million did not vote.

In the second round of the last French presidential election, 18.8 million voted for Macron, and 13.3 million voted for Marine LePen. 13.6 million did not vote, and 2.2 million voted blankly.

Turnout in the last election to the European Parliament was 51%. 200 million eligible voters ignored it.

Many people think that party politics is important, especially in the mainstream media, but a large, heterogeneous group give a fuck about who becomes president or prime minister.

Moreover, many who voted for Kamela Harris didn't like her and her Biden policies but feared for four more years with Trump. The same thing happened in the UK and France. Many who voted for Macron detested him but saw Marine LePen in power as a catastrophe. Many of those who voted for Keir Starmer did so only to get rid of Rishi Sunak.

Many have to hold their noses when they vote.

Some voted for Trump and the Republicans only because they were sick and tired of the Democrats, their hypocrisy, their endless wars, and their neglect of working people. Some didn't know what they voted for and why. 

Less than one-third of the Americans are genuine Trump supporters. In the UK and France, the support of their leaders is even lower.

In a democracy, we are free to choose between two or three parties or political blocs with neo-liberal and/or neo-conservative agendas. All those parties are eager to go to war with Russia. 

WWIII

In the recent US presidential election, voters could choose between two warmongering candidates. Both Democrats and Republicans back the US proxy war in Ukraine and the Israeli slaughtering of civilians in Gaza and Lebanon. In the UK, voters could choose between three warmongers. Here in Sweden, we have eight. Almost all political parties in Western countries want war. We unite to defend ourselves against Russia. We have to down-prioritize the fight against climate change.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Bl6_MAhg_4&t=2643s

Thoughts

Thoughts can make us completely mad. Religious doctrines, political views, racism, bigotry, complacency, superstition, rationalizations, excuses, denial, us-and-them-ism, shame, narcissism, too low or too high self-esteem, fascism, liberalism, neo-liberalism, conservatism, neo-conservatism, communism—everything we live for is made of thoughts.

All major religions and political ideologies have led to disasters: gruesome wars, climate change, environmental pollution, the holocaust, slavery, witch hunts, the cultural revolution in China, the killing fields in Cambodia...

So, what are thoughts made of? Electricity and the release of transmitter substances?

Are there optimistic and pessimistic neural pathways? Are there spiritual and evil neurochemicals?

Where do ordinary and healthy people get their stupid ideas from? Do they emerge from the brain stuff, or do they enter the brain from outside? Is the brain both a receiver and a transmitter of idiotic talk shows?

Where do new ideas come from? From out of nowhere?

And where do the genuinely friendly thoughts come from?

You can't stop the thoughts and ideas in your brain, but you can see them for what they are: thoughts. They are not necessarily the truth. You can question or ignore your stupid thoughts and convictions—if you want to. But it is hard, and it takes time. (It took the German nazis 20 years after the war to begin questioning their nazism. It took 1800 years for the Christian churches to realize that slavery was not a decent system.)

Does this idea of calling out one's own thinking change anything? Can it improve our dire situation? I don't think so. An individual can jump off the train if he has the means to sustain himself in that nowhere land, but there is no hope for a fundamental change on the group level. It is too late for us. Our ecological habitat will sooner than later be ruined in a nuclear war or because of climate change. We are heading for a catastrophic train wreck.