Why did Americans elect Donald Trump President of the United States?

The question: How in the world did Donald Trump get to be president of the United States has been asked countless times since he was elected last November.

During one of his campaign speeches last year Trump declared: “I love the uneducated.” His comment came following news media analyses showing the overwhelming percentage of his supporters were among the least educated of Americans.

Less educated people tend to have lower incomes and tend to believe in simple solutions like Trump’s promise to “drain the swamp.” They also often embrace the American frontier toughest-guy-wins-all legend.

As a group they supported Trump in the belief that he could walk into the White House, snap his fingers and quickly return America to the good old days without any obstacles from Congress or the Senate.

The guy who would walk in, take control and fire everybody he wanted was appealing. Trump thought he could do that too.

The American political system was built on mistrust with a system of checks and balances to prevent one person or one party from making dramatic changes without agreement by virtually all Americans. Over time this system, which gets little major change accomplished, has fallen into disrepute. Low voter turnout trends and low rates of political engagement by Americans support that statement. Loss of interest in political affairs and widely differing state education systems that do not emphasize citizen involvement in democracy created a lot of unaware Americans, not knowing their rights and obligations.

A recent analysis of American public opinion polls supports that notion.

Thirty-seven per cent of Americans cannot name the five freedoms guaranteed by the constitution. Just under half named freedom of speech but couldn’t name any others.

The others are freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom to assemble and freedom to petition government for change.

Only 26 per cent could name the three branches of federal government, down from 38 per cent in 2011. Twenty-three per cent believe the First Amendment protecting the five fundamental freedoms goes too far.

Only 59 per cent believe religious freedom should apply to all religions. Among millennials, only 49 per cent believe all faiths should have freedom of religion protected.

A survey of college students found 39 per cent believed the constitution protects hate speech. Americans’ lack of science knowledge is illustrated by a poll where 37 per cent believe genetically modified foods have no genes. All living organisms have genes. Genes make up the blueprint for all traits .

This lack of basic knowledge by so many Americans does not bode well for the continued state of democracy in that great nation.

A nation of ill-informed, mis-informed, unenlightened voters is a nation ripe for a bombastic dictator’s bamboozling style.

Only a political system designed 230 years ago to prevent change stands between an American dictatorship and a democratic government.

Ron Walter can be reached at ronjoy@sasktel.net