1870 WORDS
When Googling a political topic last week, the suggested sites included a man's picture in a t-shirt with bold lettering saying:
The System
Has Failed US
The man obviously is complaining that something outside himself has let him down and has caused his suffering. The statement covers the whole front of his shirt. And I wondered, what "System" is he talking about. And who's included in "Us"? The "System" is a vast territory. Is he talking about the Republicans, the Democrats, the society, or what? The t-shirt is provocative, but who is "Us" and exactly what piece of the system is faulty?
In America today most people are literate and can easily access more practical information than ever before. But they gravitate to watching funny videos on TikTok, following friends on YouTube, socializing and entertainment.
The System most people are complaining about is the local, county, state and federal government. These four levels of government each have their owns sets of laws. The structure of government is based on all these laws.
Turns out the last attempt to count the laws was over 40 years ago. Back then the two year counting effort stopped before it could finish! At the last count there were 23,000 pages of laws!
So, as kids in high school gradually mature into adults, they need to (but will not want to) learn to avoid getting on the wrong side of the law. For as soon as juveniles start getting into trouble with the law . . . life becomes a lot more difficult.
HAS OUR POLITICAL SYSTEM FAILED US?
I never felt I needed to get involved in politics until I was over the age of 60. As a businessman and psychologist, I followed the Golden Rule, used common sense, and was careful to observe what others did or didn't do. But about ten years ago I became aware of specific politicians and their political agendas that seemed inherently wrong. Such as:
- Systematic voter suppression of Black Americans
- Systematic manipulation of voting districts to suppress the voting power of the opposing political party or classes of voters (young, old, liberal or conservative, etc.)
- Worsening Income inequality (rich getting richer and poor getting poorer)
- Extreme and counter-productive distortions of truth and outright lies by politicians
Until Trump's 2017 election, few presidents (except Richard Nixon who was forced to resign by his own party) were totally out in left field. This was because they had political office experience and had many cabinet members and advisors with whom they hammered out reasonable policies and actions.
But not Trump. He was an extreme outlier during the presidential debates and only got worse once he became President. I have written many blogs about his glaring deficiencies and shared dozens and dozens of examples from high quality authoritative books and articles.
Check out these blog episodes for documented factual information about Trump in the White House:
10-25-2022 Department of Justice Stands Up To Trump & He Backs Down Jan 3rd 2021
7-26-2023 No Mysteries About Donald Trump--Dangerous To America, Unrepentant, Unredeemable
8-19-2023 Only Criminal Justice Will End Trump's Reign of Chaos
HOW BAD HAS JOE BIDEN BEEN AS PRESIDENT?
Of course, Trump has led the attack on Biden. And there are many people who say they "hate" Biden--even people who don't follow and listen to Trump! Same thing has happened with Mike Pence! WHAT IS GOING ON . . . ?
First, liking and hating presidents is largely based on personality factors in both the president/candidate and the rater of that president. Most voters cannot explain their feelings about presidents. The public personalities of Biden and Pence are quite different; but they're both honorable politicians who are disliked and/or ignored by the American voters. In contrast, Trump is a the most dangerous man in government and he's more popular than Biden. WHAT IS GOING ON . . . ?
BIDEN'S SUCCESSFUL PRESIDENCY GETS LITTLE MEDIA ATTENTION
Biden has spent most of his life serving in Congress, serving as a vice president to President Obama, and then successfully beating Donald Trump by a convincing majority in the 2017 election.
Biden began his Presidency with capable advisors and a reasonable political agenda. Important accomplishments of Biden and his administration were:
Biden's COVID-19 response was based on medical science rather than conspiracy theories.
He successfully tuned up the economy by supporting the middle class and placing more tax burden on the wealthy and on companies.
He chose economic policies which successfully addressed the inflation and job losses that occurred during the Trump administration--due both to Trump policies and to COVID-19.
He followed sensible economic ideas in responding to unemployment.
The Biden administration collaborated with Republicans to pass some gun control legislation.
In great contrast to Trump's time in office, the Biden administration was stable. American allies would benefit because of good communication and mutual respect. Gone were Trump's out-of-date ideas about treaties and economic policy. Biden made good use of his advisors; but Trump fought with his advisors.
Biden attended daily intelligence briefings, but Trump minimized such briefings and often had more confidence in what he got from TV than from his own intelligence briefings.
JUDGE TELLS DONALD TRUMP HE IS NOT A KING
Back in 2019 Donald Trump was in federal court trying to exert presidential executive privilege to keep the White House Counsel from having to testify (in the Mueller Russia investigation) before the House of Representatives.
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson dismissed President Trump's executive privildge claim and ordered Counsel Don McGahn to testify.
Judge Jackson took time to remind President Trump that, "Stated simply, the primary takeaway from the past 250 years of recorded American history is that Presidents are not kings."
Fast Forward to December 2023.
Almost five years later, Trump has lost the presidency, led an insurrection, been indicted four times (New York, Georgia, Florida and District of Columbia) for a total of 91 counts.
He does not have the capacity to stop himself--probably due to his inordinate arrogance and presumptuousness.
And for reasons none can explain, he will likely win the Republican Party nomination for president.
WE VOTERS HAVE FAILED THE SYSTEM
Lots of indirect evidence shows that American voters are voting out of ignorance of what political experience and personal qualities (honestly, willingness to put service to voters above self) are necessary in a candidate.
1.
Trump was and continues to be very popular. In popularity surveys he's always above 50%. And he is predicted to be the Republican nominee for president. He is so consistently popular that after his presidential loss 95% (yes that's 95%) of republican congressmen and women became election loss deniers. Even now he's very influential.
But now when surveys are taken about how he rates as a president, he is rated as one of the worst. In the 2021 C-SPAN survey, presidents were rated by 150 professional observers and historians. The result was that "Donald Trump is ranked near the bottom of all U.S. presidents by a group
of historians, getting the lowest grades for leadership of any
commander in chief who has served in the White House in the past 150
years." (Historians rank Trump near the bottom of U.S. presidents as Obama rises into the top 10)
2.
Since the Republican debates prior to the 2017 election, both the personal and public attitudes and behavior of Trump have found their way into the national news. Anyone who wanted to evaluate whether Trump would be good or bad in political office could do so. He has been on full display. There's very little he tries to hide. He commands attention by his outlandish statements, behavior, and indifference to how people feel about him.
3.
The New York Times in the past kept track of Trump's lies and at last count was 30,000 lies! Trump lied about anything!
The
Times analyzed how Trump's lies had a trickle down effect to state legislatures, especially in battleground states. In those battleground states there was no evidence of significant election fraud. In swing states Biden won, 357 lawmakers "took concrete steps to discredit or overturn the results of the 2020 election."
https://www.nytimes.com/by/nick-corasaniti
CONCLUSION
Donald Trump is very politically influential in a very bad
way. He clearly never rose to the occasion of serving his country, serving most
of the people most of the time. It was all about Trump being himself, feeding his ego, and no one else mattered.
Any long-serving men of integrity who are well informed
about Trump will have observed him to be very destructive to democracy. For
example, author Bob Woodward, James Clapper Director of National Intelligence,
Mitt Romney Senator, and William Barr Attorney General, all have seen and
documented Trump's continuing danger to America.
For the most authoratative, inside look at what a misfit president Trump was, read Bob Woodward's book, FEAR: Trump in the White House. Woodward knows our presidents--he's over a dozen books about them.
Many men and women informed Trump he had lost to Biden; but
Trump didn't care. He was going to go down fighting--no matter how destructive
to himself or others. He is still trying to do the impossible, namely:
Lead a successful insurrection. January 6th didn't work, but Trump is still trying.
I have been working to understand democracy and the possible
American transition toward tyranny and dictatorship. I read about nations who
went through that transition. From the excellent book On Tyranny: Twenty
Lessons From the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder. I highly recommend this book; it's easy to read and will give you vital knowledge about authoritarianism and tyranny.
Snyder writes that there are
several basic values we must thoroughly practice in order to resist tyranny.
1. Don't obey in advance. (Meaning: "Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then offer themselves without being asked. A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it can do."
NOTE: What is quoted above in #1 is true about the Nazi SS anticipating what Hitler might want and on their own beginning concentration camps and gas chambers. And, also, if you didn't know, Hitler was legally elected into power.
2. Defend institutions.
3. Beware the one party state.
6. Be wary of paramilitaries.
8. Stand out.
10. Believe in truth.
11. Investigate.
13. Practice corporeal (physically present) politics. (Meaning: "Power wants your
body softening in your chair and your emotions dissipating on the screen. Get
outside. Put your body in unfamiliar places with unfamiliar people. Make new
friends and march with them.")
17. Listen for dangerous words. (Meaning: "Be alert to the
use of the words extremism and terrorism. Be alive to the fatal notions of
emergency and exception. Be angry about the treacherous use of patriotic
vocabulary.")
18. Be calm when the unthinkable arrives. (". . . [T]he sudden
disaster that requires the end of checks and balances, the dissolution of
opposition parties, the suspension of freedom of expression . . . These are the
oldest tricks in the Hitlerian book. Do not fall for it.")
19. Be a patriot. (Set a good example.)
20. Be as courageous as you can. (If we aren't prepared to
be well informed and to work hard for freedom, then where we live will evolve
into tyranny.)
National election politics can be nasty, complicated, and even bizarre at times. Don't react emotinally, just see it calmly and get used to seeing it more so you can gradually get more comfortable with it. Take pride in your efforts. Be patient. Learning about politics takes time.
I expect that most voters will have to do some hard work to
listen carefully to candidates. Do hard work to listen to both sides of any
stories. Do hard work to read some news magazines and talk with others. Do
hard to work to hear the dangerous words. Avoid trying to correct anyone.
Every voter is vitally important.
Any
references not found above are on the page BIBLIOGRAPHY
/ WORKS CITED in the
VotersGettingControl.blogspot.com/ blog.
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