America will never be "exceptional" as long as liars, cheats, anti-democracy, racist, fascist,

[Buckeye_Democrat]

1. There's too many people who don't use...

... evidence and logic (scientific method) to guide their decisions, and to form their alliances among like-minded people who hold objective truth as their ideal.

They're instead tribalistic, allying themselves with others who appear most similar to them culturally. That happens among some Democrats too, but not nearly as much as Republicans.

Recent examples of tribalism that I've personally observed:
1. Trying to share the story of a MURDER by a cop in Colorado (named Andrew Buen) with a right-wing coworker, and her quick reply was "You're barking up the wrong tree with me! My Dad was a cop!" Then she ignored me as I tried to explain the body cam videos.
2. Asking my Republican brother (who retired from military service) if our sister's first boyfriend was really the constant liar as our oldest brother described to me years ago, and the brother instead replied, "Hey! That guy served as a Marine in Vietnam!" (As if that had any bearing on the guy being a habitual liar or not.)

People can't make sensible moral decisions if they're based on misinformation, which is far more likely to happen if evidence and logic don't guide their thinking. If there was REALLY pedophilia happening at the Comet Ping Pong restaurant in Washington DC, then the NUTJOB who showed up with a gun trying to save the children would be a hero. Alas, it wasn't true (OBVIOUSLY!), and the guy was instead a conspiracy-believing idiot who got arrested.