At one time, Ron Paul had quite a following – and perhaps he still does in certain libertarian circles. His son Rand, has been able to maintain the senior Paul’s love and devotion to our Constitution while sanding off some of the sharp edges of kookiness his father demonstrated. At one time or the other Ron was accused of being an isolationist, a 9/11 Truther, a political hack for reportedly wanting to vote against the war in Afghanistan but he didn’t, praising Occupy Wall Street (remember them?), claiming that Israel created Hamas and praising Iran on the House floor (yes, that did happen), a predictor of race wars and claiming that 98% of blacks were either criminals or engaged in criminal activity.

That’s a lot to take in and process.

Not totally unlike our current president, Paul was also accused of leading in polls and garnering votes in the GOP primaries in which he contested due to supporters who were not Republicans. I suppose then, because it was generally known that there was no sentient life on Planet RonPaul, it was considered heresy until the Trump candidacy the 2016 GOP primaries changed it to “putting up a big tent.”

That’s why in December of 2011, I was moved to write an opinion piece titled “What Must be Overlooked to Land Your Firefly Class Interplanetary Freighter on Planet RonPaul” describing all the contradictions we had to overlook to vote for Ron Paul for president in a quest for a true constitutionalist. I guess we successfully overcame worrying about such things because the Constitution was never a big part of Trump’s primary or general election platform and it didn’t seem to be an issue for many who voted for Trump due to his purported economic prowess.

Which brings me to the money shot of this post.

What it really boils down to in the decision-making process to make a landing on Planet Democrat is one question:

What do I have to ignore to believe what the Democrats are saying is true?

Cognitive dissonance, the condition of holding conflicting ideas in our minds and trying to reconcile them, is a real thing – it can trigger psychotic behavior in even mentally healthy people. The human brain is basically a complex difference engine, logically comparing scenarios and selecting the one that makes the most sense to that particular person. Where issues arise is when none of the anticipated action yield outcomes that the individual needs, wants or desires – sort of what is meant when someone says, “Damned if you do, damned if you don’t” – and most decisions are time-limited, there is a deadline – add that in and the pressure on the individual mind increases dramatically.

Most people can cope with such endpoints without being crippled by them because their default setting is reality. They roll with it and develop a new set of scenarios based on the reality that exists but there are some who get stuck and try to force their reality on to others. That is where the Democrats find themselves. It seems to stretch credulity to think all but the most rabid partisans are going to be able hang on to the ideas that everyone who is not them supports the racism and bigotry of “white nationalism”, that in the past month, America has changed from an Obamanian Utopia to Mussolini’s fascist Italy or that the only reason Trump won was due to some undefined Russian “influence”. The only reason we are still talking about this now is that the media keeps it alive, broadcasting it 24/7 like 250 channels of nothing but Sham-Wow, Oxy-Clean and Flex-Seal infomercials.

It would seem the Democrats have created a much worse situation for themselves than that faced by either Ron Paul or Donald Trump because while supporters of each had to overlook certain things to check the box or flip the lever for either candidate, it almost seems the Democrat “ask” that Americans overlook reality and accept the Democrat insanity as the new normal is a bridge too far.