When respected historians tell us our political drama is without precedent we understand we face uncertainty.The last 4 years tells us we face challenges, difficult challenges.
One of the most used adjectives of our era is existential, often paired with threat. The days ahead will test resolve, will, and our belief in the constitutionally coded aspirations of our democratic republic.
fault line warnings
It foreshadows what may come when a headline reads the "President maintained control" in a debate. Simply making a nod to being to being civil obfuscates there was nothing new, just more of the same old boasts, self worship, lies, of course lies, and bogus allegations coming out of a foreign intelligence playbook to divide us and to sew doubts. But much was made of the style. Again appearance trumps substance. It repeats a pattern of the last four years; diversion, something else to talk about, a new bright shiny object.
Joe Biden is a known commodity. An old fashioned centrist to liberal Democrat who knows how government and foreign policy works. Donald Trump is a clinical narcissist with a history of fraud, racism, personal scandal, sexual abuse and failure after failure with the exception of a reality television show. This has been obvious to the world.
Still, the nation is divided over these men and what they represent about human dignity, liberty, science and health. A choice will be made, a leader chosen and we will find a way to live with the consequence.
This writer has a preferred hope for the future.
The ideas from both ends of Pennsylvania Ave will soothe the troubled soul of the Republic, once Trump is removed, deposed by the majority will and this is no small point.
Since the founding, the US has done a slow walk toward greater emancipation for all souls. As bright as the originators were, they were captive of their age that approved slavery, saw women as not fully vested citizens, Blacks as property and even then with a worth only 3/5 of a white man.
Still, they provided for majority rule, gave us the structure of a government of law, provided for flexibility in the constitution, laid the path for law making, and established three branches of government to be a check and balance on each other. The American story has been the expansion of liberty, human dignity and the sacredness of the vote, giving the power to the citizen. We voters hire and fire our political representatives.
a changing of the guard
gaming the system
Only 5 times in US history have those who won the majority of the vote been denied the Presidency and two of those have been in the last 20 years. Al Gore was more popular than George W. Bush and Hillary Clinton more popular than Donald Trump.
Not only was the will of the majority cheated but a deep cancer was set upon the American nation. The majority of the sitting US Supreme Court Justices were appointed by Presidents who were rejected by the majority of American citizens. Let that sink in.
The Republican party's lies and duplicity, going back to the denial of an appointment to President Obama and the rush job to put an anti abortion Coney-Barrett on the court is the icon symbol for how the court is being steered further away from the wishes and will of most Americans. That reality threatens fairness, justice and could erode confidence in the Supreme Court itself. Enemies of the US must be delighted by this.
The Electoral College, the allotment of the US Senate, and the Republican packing of the Judiciary undermines the fundamental need for majority rule. The vote of each citizen, the expression of their wishes, is foundational to the legitimacy of the government. It makes no difference where they live.
As it is now and unless efforts are made to change it, we are on a path where the majority of Americans can be under represented, while a minority, gaming the system, can be over represented.
In the days ahead we need to be vigilant about vote integrity, access and calculation. And we need to be diligent about gaming the antiquated and now dangerous electoral college system again.
the trump believers
Trump's ineptitude and unfitness has delivered nothing but failure and decline with a couple of exceptions, based on your perspective.
The Federalist Society and Mitch McConnell used him to fill the federal judiciary with conservatives, at best, to right wing zealots and many lacking what had been previously required experience. They've done so in an effort to undo the Affordable Care act, upend Roe V. Wade and to drive the judiciary into a direction that is on a different page than the majority of Americans and even more distant from the attitudes of millions more in upcoming generations. That is dangerous.
The Trump republican party did a favor for their wealthiest supporters, by giving them another tax cut, and by bailing out banks and corporations while being miserly on the Covid relief aid given to working citizens and small businesses. The House passed a wide ranging help to cities, states and working people months ago, but the Trump administration and his senate republicans are so dysfunctional they can't agree amongst themselves and they've delayed vital aid.
To his credit the administration was able to extend a peace framework for Israel and a couple of small Arab nations.
But his foreign policy failures overshadow that.
He's been played by North Korea, he's hurt US farmers with his failed China trade policies, he's been a laughing stock amongst old allies, he's tried to weaken alliances, he's allowed Iran to advance work on a bomb, he's been a regressive on the Climate Accords, so that corporations, cities and states have gone around him. He's tried to destroy the EPA, the Department of State, and he is vilified by the intelligence community and the Pentagon, both of whom he has tried to undermine. Most of all he has been a stooge for Russia's Putin. Some of his behavior could be traitorous. On at least 10 occasions he tried to obstruct justice. He's continued to run business enterprises enriching his own bank account. He's told more than 20 thousand lies, has failed to keep campaign pledges to build a wall, re open coal mines, bring back manufacturing, repair the infrastructure or drain the swamp. He set a record for the number of people in his administration who have been convicted of crimes. He faces a slew of potential criminal charges himself, and so does his family members who have violated nepotism principles. He is responsible for thousands of deaths from Covid because of failed leadership. He's continued to flaunt safety guidelines and has been responsible for super spreader events. And there is more, but still he has supporters. How is that possible? Who with a working brain can find any reason to support him?
Biden's accomplishments fills volumes, but perhaps the most important thing in his resume is his humanity, humility, empathy, and the enduring respect that he gets from Republicans, Democrats, military leaders, foreign policy and health care experts. On every scale, Biden is a better person, and a better choice. But millions will vote for Trump!
what to do about the divide
Of course the best outcome is a landslide win for Biden-Harris, a change of Senate Majority, and Trump's peaceful departure from office. If we are so lucky that still leaves the people who voted for Trump. Biden will reach out to them and will try to show that we are one nation.
But when 25% of the US believe the ludicrous Q Anon goofiness, we've got problems. When armed militia knuckleheads storm statehouses or plan kidnappings and prepare for a war, we've got problems. When you simply look at the vehemence or listen to Trump supporters, you know you don't want to live next door to them and we've got problems.
When they believe anything Trump says, we've got problems.
They are not going away, and as simplistic, poorly informed, fabulist, or just stupid as their reasons are, they are entitled to them.
The challenge is to find a way back to a standard of government that is honest, open and unifying. A more civil public discourse. Less frantic madness from the White House.
Seeing Trump crushed, and then legally pursued, clearing the senate of the Trumpistas and enablers, may be enough of a reality check that some of the Trump nation will put down the kool aid and rejoin reality.
This is not China so we won't build reeducation camps, this is not North Korea so we will not kill or imprison them, this is not Russia so we will not poison them. But we do need to find a way to live with them.
We also need to change a lot of things. Trump is a poster boy for a nation that has failed to teach civics and history and personal responsibility as citizens. He is poster boy for a nation that celebrates celebrity and would rather engage in consumerism than thought. He is a poster boy for a nation where people will defy science and their own best interest by refusing to wear a mask or to socially distance in the middle of the most deadly pandemic of a lifetime.
changes to make
There is need for more care and concern for others. We need to find a way to teach critical reasoning, certainly to all upcoming children, but even to adults. We need to find a way to teach media literacy.
People should be able to recognize propaganda when they see it. Folks should be smart enough to call a bull shit artist for who they are whatever their name, channel, or political office. We need to find a way where religion is not a rallying cry for division or political vengeance, judgementalism and pain, but a force for serving, uplift, compassion and caring. We need to find a way to publicly fund elections, eliminating the big money, and ending the election industry, and the idea that government is a business.
None of this will be easy. But the US has been broken by a devotion to the temporal, and ignoring the role of the citizen. When we are distracted, the bad players gain ground. Each one of us is responsible to uphold and advance the republic with our devotion to principles of human dignity, liberty, the commonweal, stewardship of natural resources that flow to those who will follow us centuries hence. We should all care about standards of living, health care, education and access for all. Electing Joe Biden will not make all of this happen, but it will improve the atmosphere and character of Washington. It will also flush out the malevolence Trump.
party time
The founders were not enamored with the idea of political parties. Our party structure today is not what it was once. Once upon a time in America, compromise and public good went hand in hand with philosophic differences and party affiliation.
That was before Newt Gingrich made political collegiality a dirty word. This post is long enough, but suffice it to say there are many who say Gingrich's scorched earth style was a foundational enabler to the politics that destroyed the old GOP and made Donald Trump possible.
Joe Biden was around before Gingrich and he remembers how it used to work, and it did work. Maybe Old Joe can teach us old tricks. Maybe he can take us back to the future. Maybe Joe can show us the way to Make America Great Again-the United States of America.
My thanks to James Kranzthor, a reader, for this remarkable photo of vultures over looking the Cambria shoreline. Thanks to his wife Lauren for sending the photo to us.
As we head into the election finale, I can think of no better image to close the post.
Let's dedicate this stunning shot to the last days of Trump and his gang.
The other nature photos in this post are from our beloved eastern slope of the High Sierras.
Stay safe.
See you down the trail.
The vultures pic is incredible. Kudos to the shooter on that.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great get eh?
DeleteMost of what you offer in this post is spot-on. Clearly, as you say, "Trump is a poster boy for a nation that has failed to teach civics and history and personal responsibility as citizens. He is poster boy for a nation that celebrates celebrity and would rather engage in consumerism than thought."
ReplyDeleteBut, I believe you over-estimate the willingness, or the ability, of large numbers of people to learn and, certainly, to change. Whether it's some odd holdover unregenerate two centuries+ Toryism or simply the My-mind-is-made-up-don't-confuse-me-with-facts mindset (in-concrete), some people will just not change. They will look at a forest and not even see trees.
We had dinner last night with a person who said PROUDLY that she skipped as many of her high school civics classes as she could. That line of thinking is every person's right in America, but it's also one reason that some of the Founding Fathers wanted to limit the vote to property owners (for better or worse).
Wish there was a way to apply a kind of qualification test to vote, though I know such things have dark history and have been used as tools of discrimination. Doubt if it could be developed fairly and/or applied fairly, which is too bad because there are a lot of fools out there. You have to pass a test to drive, so maybe......until then, hope people vote intelligently.
DeleteAmen Tom, amen. The pandemic has turned personal for our family, my youngest sister tested positive this past Monday. She has been at home with a high fever, incredible aches and pains and no sense of smell. She hasn't had any breathing problems, so that's a plus. She should have been in the hospital, but the red state she lives in has no beds available.
ReplyDeleteBob-we sent you and your family our best wishes for her recovery. The local paper began a series this morning detailing the personal experiences of those who suffered with Covid.
DeleteThe vast majority recover and without legacy impact. Not to take precautions now is foolish and stupid. Godspeed to your sister.
After reading that, I feel almost numb from how powerful it is. All fingers crossed for what happens in the very near future. If the voice of the Trump loons is subdued will they just go back to the Alex Jones show and wait for their next figurehead? Or create even more hell because they've lost their man and have an excuse for more rage?
ReplyDeleteOur dumbing down has been a slow but sure process since the early 80's -- then here comes the internet with unregulated, anything goes headlines for the entire world. Make that profitable and you're really screwed.
Perception is reality ....for morons. The truth takes a little work.
Mike, you are correct in your final line. I fear we have not only dumbed down, we've become lazy as well. As for your opening question, I hope a massive landslide and Senate change will hit them like a ton bricks so they realize they are not only mistaken, evil, bigoted, and stupid, but they are being rendered insignificant and irrelevant.
DeleteA measured and thoughtful piece, Tom. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteWe in Ireland are getting anxious and will not believe that the world's nightmare is over until 4 November (or later).
Jack, thanks. I hope that soon after election day we can all toast a change and sing Happy Days are here again.
DeleteWe cannot overlook the pathological narcissism of Trump. He feeds off of his minions and is not likely to let them go if he is defeated. He will continue to stir the pot post January 20 to satisfy his insanity at whatever cost to country. I believe he will not go away peacefully, if at all.
DeleteIs it self-serving to call for abolition of the Electoral College and crying for majority rule while speaking from the most populated state? Would the Union have been formed if the lesser populated states had been denied the Electoral College.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the Supreme Court, it is one thing to be a Wordsmith, it is entirely different thing to believe in the the enforcement of the Constitution. There is a procedure for amending the Constitution.
Perhaps self serving, but not because I live in a populous state, rather because I believe in majority rule. I am an advocate of the popular vote. No probably without a compromise the Constitution would not have been approved. However, the founders did provide a procedure for amending and in fact changing social norms via legislation. I don't know what you mean about enforcement of the Constitution. The constitution is the altar on which our experiment in self government is founded. The mostly learned, White property owners who wrote and approved the constitution were creative and pragmatic, but they were not perfect or without shortcomings. Their human frailties left even the genius of the document flawed, but they had the foresight to understand it was not to be cast in stone and rigid, but could be changed to adapt to the times and changing realities. The inherent principles, the aspiration of a people seeking self government have morphed and allowed the US to evolve to a more perfect union.
DeleteThese words are almost sacred-- We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
I recently heard it said that this election is a choice between white supremacy and democracy. I believe it is and those who support Trump own his racism. It's very troubling to me that such a significant percentage of the white electorate is hostile to my presence and security here though their privilege was paid for by my ancestors. It would be difficult to sleep at night if I were to ponder this too long.
DeleteCharlie, I cannot figure out why so many are reluctant to understand the truth. White privilege is conferred at birth but, regrettably, not enough white families make an effort to understand how inherent forces effect attitude and perspective. As a society we do a rotten job of teaching cultural perspective, sensitivity, empathy and the requirements of good citizenship. Take care, stay well and lets hope for a good election outcome my friend.
Delete