Communication and Change
The argument over mask-wearing and social distancing is a mess, one that exemplifies the state of our democracy.
The argument is confused three ways:
As we celebrate, let’s do it with big hearts. American democracy has been saved, for now.
And we’re called to restore it.
The death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg is symbolic of the slow death of democracy. She represented a model of public service set by the Founders, who in turn were inspired by the ancient Greeks and Romans and their concept of civic virtue.
The word “virtue” sounds quaint now — and this indicates what’s gone wrong. But Jefferson, Hamilton, Madison, and their peers believed strongly that if a democratic republic were to survive, the people must choose virtuous leaders, in the Greek sense: leaders who were educated, excellent, and ethical. Washington was the contemporary model. He was called the American Cincinnatus, after the great Roman general and public servant.
In the time since, we’ve had other presidents who rose to that standard, like Lincoln or FDR, and most at least believed in it. But for a variety of reasons — including the poisonous legacy of slavery (tainting even Washington), the rejection by Andrew Jackson of the Founders’ republicanism in favor of “give the people what they want” populism, the rapacity of the westward expansion and the industrial Gilded Age, the ever-increasing influence of media and entertainment, and the postwar boom in prosperity and consumerism — the Founder’s classical ideal of civic virtue has been replaced by our modern religion of the self.
In place of a President Washington, we have a President Trump. We’ve gone from an American Cincinnatus to an American Nero.
And from Ruth Bader Ginsburg to whoever looks likely to help Trump’s re-election — in other words, to gratify his personal needs of the moment. That’s the standard that now, under Trump, rules over all others.
I have a new book! After thinking hard about Trump and the state of our democracy for the past 4 years, I think I understand what happened: this has been coming since the founding. America is two nations, occupying the same land but seeing everything very differently — even including truth itself.
If you oppose Trump and can’t understand people who support him, I think this book may help.
If you back Trump and believe you have good reasons for that, I hope you’ll find your worldview presented with respect.
There’s no support for Trump himself in this book, apart from compassion for what his childhood must have been like. But there’s a deeper explanation for his rise than you may have seen yet, one that goes beyond the anger and blame we hear every day.
I hope you’ll check it out! It’s available now at Amazon.com. I’d love to hear any thoughts you have.
Erasing the difference between America and a thugocracy like Russia may be this presidency’s most tragic effect.
Millions of Americans are being held hostage by a leader who can’t get what he wants through the legitimate legislative process. Count 800,000 federal employees, with let’s say the average two children per family — that’s 2.4 million Americans. And then there are all those who depend on federal services — in some cases, with their lives at stake.
Millions.
And while he’s taking hostages, he’s also running a protection racket: he does damage and then negotiates a price to make him stop. Like creating a humanitarian crisis at the border, or throwing Dreamers’ lives into turmoil, and then offering to stop in exchange for his extortionate demands.
And then there’s the long list of his other mob-boss behaviors: intimidating witnesses, obstructing investigations, self-dealing, concealing financial information, constantly and flagrantly lying, attacking law enforcement, and years of business dealings with gangsters — Russian and American. How much more obvious could it be? Innocent people don’t behave this way.
America has never been perfect, as other countries have always been ready to point out. But other countries have also trusted that America was much, much better than Russia, or any of the other alternatives as the world’s leading nation — and that, not money or weapons, was why America could have so much power, for so long.
But now, they can’t be so sure. As the president himself said when challenged to — just once — criticize Vladimir Putin: “You think our country is so innocent?”
Not any more.