Dear George Packer and the Editors of the Atlantic:

“Face the Bitter Truth” is excellent on all levels. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/11/theres-no-escaping-who-we-have-become/616992/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=atlantic-daily-newsletter&utm_content=20201104&silverid-ref=NjY1OTM0NTg4MzM2S0 I have been railing for months in any forum that I can about confirmation bias, which I now see as a malignancy infecting all aspects of life, politics being among the most obvious. The article states:

Even as “freedom-loving people” came out in unprecedented millions to vote, their readiness to throw away their republican institutions along with their dignity and grasp of facts suggests that many Americans have lost the basic qualities that the Founders believed essential to self-government.

The Founders never believed that the populous had the ability to self govern, which is why they created the electoral college. The premise of the electoral college was that the populous was too uneducated to be trusted with electing a president. Exit polling indicates that education has little to do with voting choice, which makes sense as having an education does not imply intelligence.

Many believe that the root problem with our political system is money and if Citizens United is overturned all will be well. Money was affecting politics long before Citizen’s United. That decision just provided an amplifier for the dissemination of propaganda, disinformation, outright lies and deceptive presentation of facts. Confirmation bias cannot be cured.