America the infant
Yesterday I came across this post:
Of course, I had things to say.
"Whether you like to admit it or not," Trump as a defendant—a RICH defendant—had the field in his favor. And then ADD A FUCKING SCOTUS WHICH RAN BLOCKING FOR HIM, and that's why he wasn't tried. Remember, he was convicted in NY. And even there he ran out the clock.
— Liberal Librarian, Emotional Support Cuban 📚 🌿🕓 (@liberallibrarian.bsky.social) January 13, 2026 at 4:47 PM
Now, if you just wanted Biden to summarily imprison or execute him, then that's an argument you should make. But whether you like it or not, Trump had rights, and he gummed up everything long enough to get bailed out by the Sinister Six. Once that happened, yeah, it was on the electorate. It failed.
— Liberal Librarian, Emotional Support Cuban 📚 🌿🕓 (@liberallibrarian.bsky.social) January 13, 2026 at 4:47 PM
The way people want to avoid agency, want to avoid exercising the power they have, is quite stunning. This country has been infantilized to such a degree that democracy may not be possible. Stop watching Survivor and start researching candidates and propositions.
— Liberal Librarian, Emotional Support Cuban 📚 🌿🕓 (@liberallibrarian.bsky.social) January 13, 2026 at 4:47 PM
You remember all those police procedurals where the hard-bitten cops bemoan the lefty defense attorneys who keep bad people—90% Black or brown—out of prison where they belong? Well, that's the American justice system. The defendant doesn't have to prove anything; that's up to the prosecution. And when the defendant has means and resources, they can gum up the works for months if not years.
That's the situation we faced with Donald Trump. If one thought he was just going to submit and be eager for his day in court, they were fools. Trump is nothing but a rank coward. He didn't want to clear his name; he wanted to quash the prosecutions completely. And with assists from Aileen Cannon and the conservative majority on the Supreme Court, that's exactly what he did. Furthermore, even though he was convicted in New York, his appeals would have kept him out of beginning any prison sentence. Again, rich defendants have resources that those common criminals represented by Legal Aid simply do not have.
So, that was the brief. Trump gamed the system, and beat the rap. Once that happened, it was, in fact, up to the electorate to rein him in. And it didn't.
Now that things are as bad as one could possibly imagine, that same electorate is frothing at the mouth because "Biden didn't put him away." What I wrote above doesn't matter to them. They wanted drumhead justice. They wanted an extra-legal remedy to relieve them of any agency. They wanted someone else to do the work that they did not do.
Ever since the Second World War, Americans have degenerated. They have become infantilized. There is a social compact: you keep us economically secure, and we won't say too much about how things are run. To quote the poet, what they have is freedom of choice; what they want is freedom from choice. Choices are hard. Choices can be wrong. Choices can be right but not deliver the things you want in exactly the way you want them. So much better to just abdicate all responsibility and perpetually seek saviors who will promise you the moon. But those saviors, since they are not divinities, will eventually disappoint you. Then up on the cross they go, and the search for the next one commences. Round and round and up and down.
We are a nation made up mostly of infants. We are far removed from the World War II generation. I can't imagine this country engaging in an existential struggle against a foreign enemy today. It would welcome them in as long as they kept the internet running. We are a people barely fit for governing ourselves, much less leading the world. We are uncurious. We are unread. We avoid any deep thinking. We are awash in propaganda from our favorite social media sites which distill complex problems to binary choices. We make decisions based off of "vibes", rather than off of research and study. We abidate the formation of beliefs to celebrities. We become enamored of influencers and follow them like lovesick puppies. We are, quite simply, not fit for purpose.
This is the part of the essay where I tend to come in with some uplifting end. Not this time. We are in trouble, because we've placed ourselves here. We expect everyone else to solve our problems. We take no action ourselves. A third of us don't even vote in presidential elections; the participation rate for non-presidential and local elections is even more dire.
We are a silly, jejune people. And our lack of seriousness and commitment to democracy and liberal values, our uncaring, our demand that others "do something" is why we are where we are. America is populated by infants. And their diapers are filled with shit.