The Cubs win the World Series.  Those lucky enough to be at the seventh game knew immediately.  Those who weren’t, but stay plugged in to the national news, knew by that evening.  Those who only occasionally pay attention wouldn’t know until some time has passed.

But at that point, we reach another category of citizen. 

People whom a small town weekly newspaper owner once described to me as the “blessed ignorant.”  Guys and gals who were never sure who our enemies were in the Cold War.  Some few of whom, after he began publishing a column by his dog, came up to him and said it’s the only thing they read in his publication.  Indeed, the only reason they started to buy a newspaper at all.

For those happy souls, it’ll take a while, maybe a long while, to explain who the Cubs are, what their history is, and the significance for them of the autumn of 2016.

It’s just the way news soaks into a large population.

And the exactly the reason a general understanding of Hillary Clinton’s fundamental corruption, mendacity, and incompetence has taken so long to reach ground level. 

And no one can tell until Tuesday night whether it was soon enough to swing an election. 

Richard F. Miniter is the author of The Things I Want Most, Random House, BDD.  See it here.  He lives and writes in the colonial-era hamlet of Stone Ridge, New York; blogs here; and can also be reached at miniterhome@gmail.com.