It happened because … Americans spend more time in front of their televisions than talking to their neighbors, are more interested in entertainment than information and spend more time in virtual worlds than in the natural one.

It happened because … in our greed for material wealth, we care more about filling our collective shopping carts than about the people or places the stuff we buy comes from.

It happened because … sexism is alive and well and not limited to men.

It happened because … the “American Dream” — if you work hard and do your part you can have a good life — turns out not to be true for most of us. Ten percent of Americans own 75 percent of the wealth in this country, while the remaining 90 percent of us are left to squabble over the 25 percent that is left.

It happened because … in this age of high-calorie, low-nutrition news, it takes training and time to figure out the difference between an opinion and a fact — let alone make an informed judgment.

It happened because … corporations have been given the statues of citizens, with all of the rights and none of the responsibilities. They have bought the House and the Senate through unchecked campaign financing and lobbying, and now the next logical step has taken place. We have put corporate America in the office of the presidency.

It happened because … we want simple answers, so we can find simple solutions, and Trump said he would give us them. It will take time, dedication and the willingness to press the restart button on how we think, how we live and how we govern ourselves. The alternative is that our democracy — the belief that “We The People” can rule ourselves — will at last, after 240 years, prove to be a failed experiment.

— Gayle Kellner