I don't think it shifts the red blue much which is probably what you're getting at.

I think it absolutely affects the quality of politicians we get though. The best that a given generation can offer is probably lower if that generation huffed a lot of lead gas. So as they age out and younger people hit peak career and fill those roles things will probably improve a bit.

I was mostly thinking that the politicians all look so incompetent — with some exceptions of course — that if it wasn't real, it'd be a very unfunny joke exactly because of how much caricature-like and exaggerated personalities the politicians have.

No. You can’t blame lead. There is zero justification for making the average person less responsible for their own worldview and choices in leadership.

Well, that’s the first time I’ve heard anyone explicitly say they don’t want to understand causal factors because it would reduce the ability to tell people they should bootstrap themselves.

No. Much of the American electoral landscape is still shaped by the systemic remnants of slavery, reconstruction and segregation, and the post-Trump landscape by the cultural trauma of having elected a black president. Although I'm sure all of the lead poisoning didn't help.

i don't know why there are two copies of this comment now, I didn't post it twice.

No. Much of the American electoral landscape is still shaped by the systemic remnants of slavery, reconstruction and segregation, and the post-Trump landscape by the cultural trauma of having elected a black president.

> Can we blame lead for the US’ electoral landscape too?

More of a pet theory, but voters born between 1950 and 1980, boomers and Gen X, have had a well-documented set of policy preferences.

Boomers were essentially statistically indistinguishable from Millennials in the 2024 presidential election: https://www.businessinsider.com/how-generations-voted-trump-...

What if I told you voters born between nnnn-yyyy had a set of policy preferences?

There’s supposedly a cycle of attitude between generations. If your parents are X, you want to be Y. If your parents are Y, you want to be Z. If your parents are Z, you want to be X

You could, if you wanted to misdiagnose the problem.

You'd have more success blaming COVID inflation and the general public's poor education in economics and lack of understanding why eggs were $3.50/dozen. (Today they are $6.00/dozen)