people who are not comfortable with independent thinking, unpredictable outcomes, nebulous reasoning, and uncertainty of any kind, much prefer rule-based, punishment oriented, simplistic, authoritarian governments

Think Germany, 1939.

The U.S., thru education budget cuts, Reaganomics, and general reactionary Republican legislative horseshit, has raised up a generation or two of morons.

Now, with Trump, et al, we're reaping the whirlwind.