Well, I cried at my desk at work. And of course I could never have predicted how bad it would really get.

I just can't imagine laughing, even if I were a child. Sometimes I feel Americans just get off on showing how terribly irresponsible they are.

Like you noted, Chomsky said that for decades, most US elections have been so close they're far within the statistical margin of error.

He points out that this phenomenon is not consistent with a real democracy with real alternatives and issues, but is statistically much more like what would happen if people were randomly voting by flipping a coin.

Perhaps if people had been taught as kids that politics was deadly important, America could have been saved.

But likely it was doomed when both R and D decided that certain issues could never be discussed - "Should we continue with these endless, failing, horribly expensive wars?" "Should rich, powerful people be punished if they break the law?" "Should we move away from fossil fuels in order not to kill our biosphere?"