"To hell with the truth! As the history of the world proves, the truth has no bearing on anything. It's irrelevant and immaterial, as the lawyers say. The lie of a pipe dream is what gives life to the whole misbegotten mad lot of us, drunk or sober."                        Eugene O'Neill, The Iceman Cometh

Voters in the U.S.A. live in fantasy and probably always will.  No matter how obvious it is that the U.S. is an oligarchy, not a democracy, the ardent pipe dreams of a new face in the White House go to their heads every four years.  It can only be explained by a combination of intellectual ignorance, the acceptance of propaganda, and the embrace of illusions.

An analogy is apropos.  In the small town and vicinity where I live, there are about 10 pot shops where pipe dreams are dispensed.  As The Platters sang long ago, "when your heart's on fire, you must realize smoke gets in your eyes."  But few realize it.

Smoke?  What smoke?