Who's A Dotard?

I was sitting at a family dinner last week, having a conversation with the father  of the girlfriend of my wife's cousin. Feel free at this point to break out a white board and some dry erase markers to determine the connection this gentleman and I had. If you came to the conclusion that we are in no way related, then you might understand why I chose to move forward with my somewhat standard political rant. A Democratic-liberal-snowflake-incredulous kind of rant that if you stop by here often enough it would be the refrain to a well known song. Initially I was testing the waters, since I had no prior knowledge of this gentleman's political views. I also knew that I was erupting into what had been a perfectly nice holiday type gathering where people had been catching up with aunts and cousins and how are things going, anyway?
I tried to stay the course, but my patience with small talk is notoriously limited, so when there was a little opening, I dove. Right in. Why are Democrats resigning and Republicans doubling down? Is there anything to be gained from a higher moral ground? I suggested that if this was a long game and not just a twenty-four hour news cycle, we were probably better off not carrying around a lot of asterisks and excuses. I worked myself into a frenzy of sorts as I tried to embrace hope for the future with the current wages of despair. When I received mild acceptance from the girlfriend's father, I pressed on, but only for a moment.
That's when I realized, "There are dinner tables all across this country where people are pontificating on just how great it is that we are about to Make America Great Again. They truly believe that. And no matter what happens, we're all going to have to live together in a year, two, four." It was this sudden reckoning that made the bubble in which I travel and write is painfully small. The caricatures that I feel comfortable living with in my mind of supporters of this current regime don't get a lot of testing or questioning. Somehow this country has created a sea of people for whom banning Muslims is a good idea, and it's about time that we had a wall to keep all those undesirables out.
These are Americans. Just like me. Color, size, and consistency may vary, but they should be suitable for everyday use as Americans. If a North Korean Intercontinental Ballistic Missile were to make it to these shores, would I mourn the victims of a blue state any more than a red one? Could I hope for some sort of smart bomb that would only kill dotards?
Presently, the world seems full of dotards, which I understand is a completely subjective point of view. But I have faith in the system that was put into place two hundred forty years ago. The idea that we have built regime change into our process makes me remember that Nixon and W. have come and gone. We are still here. Vietnam and Iraq have become historical notes while we go searching for new ways to spread our way of life across the globe. Willfully. With purpose. And I have faith that human nature will continue to be our saving grace, since the act of voicing our opinions makes it difficult if not impossible to get away with anything without somebody spouting off. At the dinner table or the floor of the Senate.