Why Is This Election Even Remotely Close?

So Trump showed up for the first debate and, unsurprisingly, Hillary was there.  Equally unsurprisingly, Trump tried to bully her (bullying being his one real talent), and she refused to be bullied.  Equally unsurprisingly, he told lies, and she (for the most part) told the truth).  Perhaps least surprisingly of all, even Republicans concede that she won the debate, hands down.

All of which begs an annoying question:

WHY THE BLOODY HELL IS THIS ELECTION SO @&%$!* CLOSE?

It's not even a question of whether this is a center-right country.  Right now, I think it's a center-left country in many ways (gay rights, for example).  Many conservatives don't think of Trump as truly being one of theirs in the first place.  And with good reason:  the gap between his rhetoric and his reality is the size of the Milky Way.  You don't have to go any farther than his so-called signature issue, immigration, to realize the truth of this.  (I mean, come on:  exactly how many times does this have to be brought up, before even the die-hards surrender the point?)

And foreign policy?  He would have us in World War III before anyone reading this had realized that he or she had been reduced to radioactive dust.  The man is a walking bag of destructive impulses. And, above all, don't take him seriously on the Middle East.  Not everyone in Israel does.  Or elsewhere in the Middle East; if they do, they are seeking to weaponize him for their own purposes.

I can only come to one conclusion:  there are still far too many people in this country who want to hand over their rights and obligations as citizens so they can go back to what they consider to be the bigger choices in life:  fat-free or regular Cheetos.  Sorry, but, until I see real evidence to the contrary, I'm going with that.  And I'm going to fear for the democracy so many have sacrificed to preserve, until the threat of Trump or someone like him goes away.

But maybe it won't.  And maybe, instead of healing, we'll die as a nation.  In that case, I guess I'd better take some time to check out this; many of us may need something like it.