{"id":1591,"date":"2022-08-22T14:20:23","date_gmt":"2022-08-22T21:20:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aculpableinnocence.com\/home5\/aculpabl\/anthony_blog\/?p=1591"},"modified":"2022-08-22T14:49:12","modified_gmt":"2022-08-22T21:49:12","slug":"what-is-american-democracys-fate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aculpableinnocence.com\/home5\/aculpabl\/anthony_blog\/what-is-american-democracys-fate\/","title":{"rendered":"What is American Democracy’s Fate?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Is America\u2019s democracy fated to end because of intrinsic unworkability\u2014as its enemies assume, or of the inevitable ambition of political factions\u2014as warned by its first President, or of the indifference of its citizens? By its definition, democracy should provide us Americans the ability to demand a legislature responsive to our needs, to hold a rogue President accountable, and to demand that a wayward Supreme Court interpret the law in terms of the fundamental rights sanctioned by our Constitution. \u00b9 But some might challenge whether our democracy is still viable or even whether Americans care enough to maintain\/restore its viability. They might question whether America can or should be ruled by the free consent of the governed<\/em>, whereby the general welfare might be served. Further, it can be questioned whether public consent is even relevant if not informed of its valid options or, worse, if duped by malevolent factions to serve special interests rather than the general welfare. Does consent of the governed still imply both the choice to vote one\u2019s conscience, the wisdom to vote for the general welfare, and the responsibility to accept the will of the majority? If so, then democracy cannot fail unless its supporters fail it. They can choose not to vote. They can choose to vote against their own interests\u2014perhaps due to ignorance or misinformation. They can choose their perceived self-interests over the general welfare. And they can refuse to accept the will of the majority. In other words, democracy\u2019s fate is in the hands of its citizen-supporters, the voting public. They can maintain a vibrant democracy or surrender its fate to self-interested factions or parties all too willing to usurp power and overthrow democratic rule in favor of some form of aristocratic, autocratic, or fascist regime.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Oddly, we are now witnessing the very threats to democracy that our most influential founding fathers feared. George Washington, for example, defined the threat that political factions presented \u201cby which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people<\/em> and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.\u201d \u00b2 He was warning Americans against returning to a tyrannical regime not unlike the monarchy against which they had just fought a revolution. Paradoxically, has not the current Republican Party already caved to \u201ccunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men\u201d who have conned voters with promises to relieve their grievances in exchange for elected office? Have they not been led by a former President who had used campaign funds for personal and dubious purposes and granted pardons to sycophants who broke the law in support of his lust for power and money? And has not this rogue President and his coterie of enablers encouraged and abetted an insurrection against our Capitol to overturn a national election and assure his continuation in office? I believe we have just witnessed the very subversion of democracy (\u201cthe power of the people\u201d) that Washington feared. But is it already too late to salvage our democracy, and is its fate already determined?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

After the Constitutional Convention of 1787, Benjamin Franklin, perhaps our most influential founding father, was asked what form of government was agreed upon. He responded, \u201ca Republic if you can keep it.\u201d Like the other signatories of our Constitution, he understood the fragility of a democracy and its dependence on a free and informed electorate (reference \u201cA More Perfect Union, or Not?<\/a>\u201d). But are our elections free in states where redistricting subverts the electoral count and where voter suppression laws limit citizens\u2019 access to voting? And how informed is an electorate bombarded with lies and conspiracies posing as truth? Often, these untruths are touted by craven politicians who campaign for office by willfully deceiving their supporters. It is now commonplace to blame this demeaning of politics on the press and\/or social media for this subversion of democracy. But who is more responsible for democracy? Certainly, politicians, the press, and social media all have a role to play. But, ultimately, every citizen in a democracy is responsible for his\/her vote. We<\/em> decide who to trust in office and what information source(s) are reliable and trustworthy. President Truman\u2019s statement that the \u201cbuck stops here\u201d can also refer to every American citizen of voting age. For, ultimately, we alone are responsible for the fate of our democracy.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

At this moment in America\u2019s history, we should be concerned. How so? Well, Americans appear divided and stalemated in so-called \u201cculture wars,\u201d as reflected in replacement and critical race theories that harken back to the same animus that resulted in our Civil War. \u00a0Unfortunately, the embattled side under attack in this new \u201cwar\u201d appears to be democracy itself. The Supreme Court decides cases based on narrow legal justifications and antiquated history without reference to contemporary precedent, relevant science, or the general welfare and in defiance of most Americans (reference, \u201cThe Supreme Court: a Bulwark of Liberty<\/a>\u201d). And the congressional stalemate effected by one Party can stop the favored policies of the majority and its duly elected President. Rather than debate and critique his policies to better serve the public interest, the current minority Party would rather invalidate the will of the electorate. By way of gerrymandering in the House and the filibuster in the Senate (reference \u201cMajority Pejoraty<\/a>\u201d), both the Senate AND the people\u2019s House can now be controlled by a minority of the electorate. As a result, even if an American votes with the majority, his\/her vote may no longer determine the desired outcome. The irony here is that the systemic protections of the minority that were built into our government\u2014i.e., two senators for each State regardless of population size and the Supreme Court\u2019s check on the other branches of government\u2014have been turned unfairly against the majority. As a result, the general<\/em> welfare may slowly become an anachronism, and democracy itself could slip surreptitiously into the ashbin of history.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If you doubt this potential outcome, then you are either unaware of this pivotal point in our nation\u2019s experiment with democracy or perhaps you are aligned with the minority who seek succor in a recalcitrant past rather than a dynamic future we can make better. This new governing minority believes that climate change is a hoax, that abortion is a crime under most, if not all, circumstances, that citizens should be licensed to carry weapons openly and be allowed to own weapons of war. This minority seems to concede, perhaps unwittingly, that America\u2019s wealth distribution can\/should mirror Putin\u2019s Russia, that racial or sexual differences should differentiate some of us from normal human beings, and that a Supreme Court precedent established a half century ago as a fundamental right under the Constitution can and should be eliminated. I do not believe these outcomes are desired by most of us Americans, but they can be and are already becoming determinative of our fate\u2014along with the fate of our democracy and, in the case of global warning, of the human inhabitancy of our planet.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Nevertheless, there are some Americans who would disagree with this analysis. They may be supporters of the January 6 insurrection that attempted to stop the certification of our Federal election. Not since April 12, 1861, when Jefferson Davis gave the order to fire on Fort Sumpter, has an armed insurrection been waged against our government. And our Capitol has only once been attacked and occupied. And that assault was conducted by the British during the War of 1812. Currently, the J\/6 Commission is unraveling the role our former President and his allies played in promoting the 2021 attack and plotting to overthrow a national election. As important as this Commission is, it still begs the question how we Americans could have elected a President who would so criminalize his administration and attempt to orchestrate the overthrow of our Democracy. What precedent led to this fateful outcome?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Although that former President never gained a majority of the vote, he did serve one term as our President. His incumbency\u2014or wanton \u201ccontinuation\u201d in office, as he enjoined\u2014was defeated by more than double the differential from his initial campaign in 2016. But he would not concede, claiming he could not lose unless the election was rigged. And, as with any candidate for office, he was allowed to challenge vote counts in the courts and request recounts wherever margins were close. But he lost 61 court challenges\u00b3 where his legal team failed to produce any evidence of fraud. At his campaign\u2019s request, multiple recounts were provided in several states, namely in the so-called \u201cswing\u201d states. But no fraud was uncovered, though in many recounts, a few more votes were found for his opponent. Subsequently, his team of lawyers were roundly criticized by judges for initializing court proceedings without any evidence of misconduct or fraud. In fact, some states punished these lawyers with disbarment for their unethical behavior. Further, as the J\/6 Commission has revealed, his enablers organized phony electors to replace those selected by voting majorities. He personally pressured Secretary of States and the Department of Justice to \u201cfind\u201d more votes for him or declare unwarranted fraud investigations into vote counts, respectively. And, as a last resort, he ordered a violent insurrection to assure the States\u2019 vote count would not be certified by his Vice President as he had demanded. These actions belie any interest in or commitment to fair elections\u2014the very essence of democracy. The only fraud here was his accusation of fraud. In truth, the fraud he claimed was his own.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How did we Americans fall under the spell of this criminally duplicitous and despicably stereotypical anti-hero? We did in fact elect him to the highest office in the land. Well, William Shirer explained how Hitler came to power. Tim Snyder, Fiona Hill, and many journalists have recorded how Putin gained absolute power in Russia. There is a familiar roadmap these tyrants follow to gaining absolute power. More recently, Victor Oban, like Donald Trump, has been blazing this well-worn path to dictatorial rule and the demise of a democracy. As one of the guest speakers at a CPAC meeting he heralded Trump\u2019s credentials as the leader of the Republican Party. And, at the same meeting, Trump repeated his claim that he won his second term despite the \u201cfake\u201d press and the \u201crigged\u201d vote. If he had continued in office, he likely would have succeeded in his quest to redirect the institutions of government from serving the public to satisfying his whims and self-interests. And, if anybody besides Mary Trump had bothered to notice, Trump\u2019s interests have never varied throughout the course of his life\u2014specifically fame, power, and money. When has he ever had any interests in the welfare of the renters in his housing projects, of the gamblers in his casinos, and of the workers who built his hotel empire, or shown any responsible concern about his indebtedness to lawful contracts or to the IRS? \u00a0Those concerns, he learned, could be forestalled, discharged in bankruptcies, or even forgotten by the delay tactics of his lawyers\u2014who he hired but, characteristically, \u00a0often failed to pay. Frankly, Trump could have continued his grifting and double-dealing indefinitely without the Presidency. Why then did he campaign for the Presidency; and why does he cling so desperately to the office he lost in a fair election?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There are at least two reasons for Trump\u2019s insistence on holding onto office like a crab clinging to a rock in constant fear of being swept away by an undercurrent. First, the Presidency is the best grift he has ever had. Protected by the office, he can raise campaign money for his private use without reproach from the law. In the same vein, he can funnel business to his hotels or golf resorts\u2014as he often did\u2014whether housing Secret Service details or foreign dignitaries. Second, his return to the business world would likely become another financial disaster, as his six bankruptcies have foreshadowed, and current legal investigations promise. For Trump, the presidency is a lifeline and a shield behind which he can hide his criminal pursuits. But, for America, it can and would be a death knell that could seal our democracy\u2019s fate. How then could so many Americans fall under Trump\u2019s spell?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The answer to this question starts with the \u201cMAGA\u201d hat. It functioned as a rallying sign of and for Trumpism. His followers identified with his grievances, followed his direction, and wore the hat. As evolutionary psychologists, like Robert Wright, attest, blind credulity prevails in at least some situations\u2014rather like the Stockholm syndrome or an occult following. He explains that there is a \u201cconformist bias in human nature that people . . . accept an elaborate belief system that outside observers find highly dubious<\/em>.\u201d \u2074 On the day of his inauguration, President Trump outlined his belief system. He began and ended his speech with grand patriotic fervor. But from his first mention of \u201cAmerican carnage\u201d and throughout, he took pains to vilify American governance, in effect, to separate himself from the continuity of the American system. He had a different agenda in mind. Characterizing his Presidency as a \u201cwinning\u201d enterprise, he implicitly forecasted his war against the institutions of our government and his self-perceived ability (\u201conly I can\u201d). And his wins, he asserted, would be wins for his MAGA followers. He ended his speech with a rallying cry, promising that he<\/em> would \u201cmake America great again.\u201d But his only specific promises\u2014regarding rebuilding infrastructure and increasing middle class wealth\u2014proved never to be priorities in his subsequent Administration. Instead, these promises\u2014like his war on \u201cAmerican carnage\u201d\u2014were indeed \u201chighly dubious\u201d and no more than shameless pleas for support from his MAGA supporters. In other words, his Presidency would be, as it proved, solely about him, not about America or its citizens. And yet many Americans chose to support\u2014even admire\u2014him as a unique politician, rather than a highly ostentatious occult leader.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

During his first campaign for the Presidency, Donald Trump was not just an anomaly, that is, a non- politician running for the highest office in America. He was captivating. After years on national TV as the star of his own show, he had mastered the role of showman. His suit and tie, his makeup, even his coiffure, were carefully designed to the image he chose to present. He was an attractive iconoclast who presented himself as the \u201ccommon man\u2019s\u201d hero, the leader who would crush political hypocrisy and the unresponsive \u201cdeep state\u201d in the service of all aggrieved Americans. Of course, he was not the image he presented. Instead, he was, as his niece, a professional psychologist diagnosed, a narcissistic sociopath. The only interest he would serve in office is the same he served his whole life, that is, his self, even at the expense of all who might oppose him. As a veteran grifter, he had amassed a fortune by cheating the IRS, the Las Vegas casino establishment, donors to his Trump Foundation, and erstwhile students at his Trump University. His self-avowed motto as a financial tycoon was \u201cwinning\u201d with other people\u2019s money\u2014or \u201cOPM,\u201d as he coined his business wizardry. And, as President, \u201cOPM\u201d continued to roll into his coffers at Trump establishments and via the Republican Campaign Finance Committee and political rallies. In addition, he was and is vindictive towards those who oppose him, chauvinistic towards women, and given to out-of-control rages when he does not get what he wants. Considering his many personal deficits, what explains his occult-like popularity? And how did we Americans come to entrust our democracy into the hands of this flawed human being?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For some, voting for Trump may have been their protest of dishonest politicians who promise what they never attempt or even intend to deliver. For others, Trump personified a semi-mythic persona who had no restraints, offended who he pleased, and acted in his own interest without regard for the opprobrium of society or the constraints of law\u2014a kind of anti-hero. The J\/6 insurrectionists are just one example of his influence. Unwittingly, they became his Nazis brown shirts. Often, animosity towards his antagonists would result in death threats from his supporters whom he proudly called \u201cmy people.\u201d Within his Administration, he quickly fired prospective or active antagonists and replaced them with sycophants. These actions follow the pattern of \u201ccleansing\u201d dissidents as exemplified by nearly all dictators. But they also spell death to any democracy for they tend toward sabotage of the institutions of government. As helpless victims, we Americans became witness to the subversion of our public service institutions to his interests or whims, thereby negating the very purpose for which they were founded.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If Americans feel helpless today, who do we blame? It would be self-serving merely to blame Trump, unless we recognize who voted him into office. At the very beginning of his Presidency, his initial acts in office revealed his biases against American institutions and his shameless incompetency (reference \u201cCompetency and the American Presidency<\/a>,\u201d dated 2-9-2017). He never hid from public exposure. His animosities, his lies, his self-aggrandizement were all part of his shtick. Perhaps we were all mesmerized by his monopoly of press and airtime. But the Trump show had a throughline that spelled the end of America\u2019s experiment with democracy. Perhaps we could not have imagined an insurrection, a rogue Presidency, his corrupt\u2014even criminal\u2014appointees\/partisans in government, and the subordination of one of our two major political parties to his will. \u00a0\u2075 But, I believe, most of us Americans now know better.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There is now afoot a new subversive initiative to extend Trumpism to all levels of government, from State administrations to the Federal government. Its initial purpose seems dedicated to controlling public elections by campaigning for his supporters, especially for those who could control voting or certifying vote counts. Instead of \u201cstop the vote count,\u201d Trump now wants to control the vote count. He has prepared the public by first accusing others of his own intended behavior. Formerly, he protested rigged elections, while planning that very reality. When Democrats decry this second attempt to rig an election, he will claim his innocence by couching his democratic coup attempt as election \u201creform.\u201d Building on minority attempts to control Congress, Trump will then steal votes that would assure for his Party\u2014and therefore for him as its leader–the absolute control of the Federal government. If Hitler had not been successful after the Reichstag was destroyed, he probably would have taken control of the public voting apparatus, as Trump is now attempting. The dictator toolbox is always the same: first the brown shirts and demagoguery, then the takeover of government by whatever means\u2014to include gutting judicial oppositiion, and finally control of public information. (Note for America\u2019s news editors: the \u201cfake press\u201d continues to be part of Trump\u2019s subversive agenda, at least until he can make it his own.)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How should we Americans react to this assault on our democracy? Surely, we need to re-form<\/em>\u2014that is, reestablish\u2014our democratic system and do so responsibly. In this case, reform must harken back to our founding principles. If all of us are created equal and have the same unalienable rights, as Jefferson demanded, we must reform our government to assure those rights include the general welfare of all citizens, inclusive of race, gender, or national origin. And \u201cwe the people\u201d must re-spond<\/em> \u2013that is, answer back\u2014by demanding those rights for all if we are to realize a more perfect union of our democratic states. \u2076 \u201cResponsibility\u201d literally means to become answerable and, specific to this context, \u201cmorally, legally, and mentally\u201d accountable for our vote. Of course, in a free society, there are so many determinative influences on our judgment. There really are fake news outlets, the hearsay created in social media, and self-interested purveyors of goods and promises that devalue our free choices. Nevertheless, we can be consciously aware of our American ideals and make them the grounding premises for our actions, including our votes. Is it so difficult, for example, to vote for responsible gun ownership when we have experienced over 400 mass shootings in the first eight months of this year? How hard is it not<\/em> to vote for a politician who incessantly lies or runs afoul of the law? The rule of law is paramount in any democracy. And how useless\u2014even ridiculous\u2014is it to support far-out theories of visitations from deceased patriarchs, Jewish lightning strikes, or Italian satellites decoding election counting machines? Voting in a democracy does demand a sound mind, as well as moral judgment and respect for the law. We must be capable of as much or be utterly undeserving of our democracy.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We really have no other choice but to restore our government to its primary purpose, which is to serve our general welfare and evolve into a more perfect union. For only we have the power to determine the America our children will inherit and the fate of its democracy.<\/p>\n

__________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

\u00b9 The \u201cgeneral welfare\u201d harkens back to Jefferson\u2019s \u201cunalienable rights,\u201d which include \u201clife, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.\u201d It is the principal upon which the Supreme Court can define fundamental rights not otherwise specified in the Constitution. The Ninth and Tenth Amendments provide the Supreme Court the authority to do so.<\/p>\n

\u00b2 George Washington, \u201cFarewell Address.\u201d Also referenced in my blog, \u201cPresidential Farewell Addresses<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00b3 The incumbent Presidential candidate did win one court case. That case allowed the mail-in ballots to be counted after the in-person ballots in one swing state. Since he asked his voters to vote in-person, he expected to be ahead in the early vote count. His election strategy had anticipated he would lose the overall vote, so he planned to announce his victory before the mail-in votes could be counted\u2014which he did on the evening of the National Election. This strategy was just one part of his overall fraud strategy.<\/p>\n

\u2074 Robert Wright, \u201cThe Evolution of God,\u201d pp. 464-465.<\/p>\n

\u2075 On 12-1-2016, the month before Trump assumed office, I wrote a blog that outlined a few concerns Americans should have about what I euphemistically\u2014perhaps more ironically\u2014called the post-modern world (reference \u201cHow to Survive in a Post-Modern World<\/a>\u201d). On 7-1-2018, about a year and a half into the Trump Presidency I addressed his impact on the Republican Party in another blog (reference \u201cThe Manchurian Party<\/a>\u201d). These blogs now seem like bookends to the Trump presidency.<\/p>\n

\u2076 In my blog \u201cA More Perfect Union, or Not?<\/a>” I described George Washington\u2019s first principle of our democratic state as the indissoluble bond between love of liberty and the preservation of our union.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is America\u2019s democracy fated to end because of intrinsic unworkability\u2014as its enemies assume, or of the inevitable ambition of political factions\u2014as warned by its first President, or of the indifference of its citizens? By its definition, democracy should provide us Americans the ability to demand a legislature responsive to our needs, to hold a rogue […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-domesticissues"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3UqUK-pF","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aculpableinnocence.com\/home5\/aculpabl\/anthony_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aculpableinnocence.com\/home5\/aculpabl\/anthony_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aculpableinnocence.com\/home5\/aculpabl\/anthony_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aculpableinnocence.com\/home5\/aculpabl\/anthony_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aculpableinnocence.com\/home5\/aculpabl\/anthony_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1591"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/aculpableinnocence.com\/home5\/aculpabl\/anthony_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1591\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1593,"href":"https:\/\/aculpableinnocence.com\/home5\/aculpabl\/anthony_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1591\/revisions\/1593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aculpableinnocence.com\/home5\/aculpabl\/anthony_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aculpableinnocence.com\/home5\/aculpabl\/anthony_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aculpableinnocence.com\/home5\/aculpabl\/anthony_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}