How do you govern a country were facts are based not on data but on the meme du jour.
Tax cuts create jobs!
When asked to substantiate this rash claim the lack of supporting data is astounding usually the meme du jour would be "think how bad it would be without them". Near 10% official unemployment and still cutting like crazy, yep it's a winner.
Government is bad!
One of the main providers of long term employment with a living wage providing services everyone uses. The meme du jour based on dataless surveys and against the reality is 'private enterprise can do it cheaper and more efficiently!' Yep, our health care is second to none when you look at the cost, but a long way down the list when you look at its quality.
USA is number 1
Well in military spending and the capability of blowing the planet to pieces they may well have a point. Apart from the massive borrowing required to support our big stick I'm not so sure it really helps that much. In things that really help its citizens the data makes this cry ring hollow, the meme du jour is "it's unAmerican to think otherwise".
America is not an Empire
Tell that to the people we bully on a daily basis, the ease with which we blithely occupy or bomb other nations with near impunity. The meme du jour can be "we are protecting ourselves" or even more prosaically "we are spreading democracy". Please provide the data that supports either case, we are tending to make ourselves a target rather than being safe.
American exceptionalism
Well the British Empire even when its glory had long passed tried to hold onto the ideal that being British was something of a god given right. American believe the same, the meme du jour is "of course we are exceptional", the reality is that we are as petty and spiteful as anyone else.
I could go on but I hope you get the point.
We have a number of beliefs not supported by any real data just by repetition alone, its time we pulled our heads from the sand and had a good look around.
The media is a shambles and controlled by special interests.
Congress and the White house have little grasp on reality and listen to only those with the necessary cash.
The US is becoming exceptional in its own ignorance and hence near impossible to govern.
All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome.
~George Orwell