You can discover what your
enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.
Eric
Hoffer 1902-1983
This Presidential election cycle begs the question of
whether the American public has become dumber or, more charitably, more
cynical about elected officials, or even how we select our leaders.
On the one hand, the democrats have fielded a whip smart
woman, perhaps too smart, a veteran of many years of public service, the wife
of a former President, a former US Senator, a Secretary of State with
impeccable academic credentials, a speedy and learned individual who invites
vitriol from her opponents, adulation from her supporters, and intense scrutiny
from a 24 hour unrelenting news cycle, but with a penchant for secrecy. Some of our past Presidents
had secrets also, including some of the great ones. Franklin Roosevelt, who kept his severe health problems and
paralysis under wraps and later on during the final years of World War II his
skyrocketing blood pressure and heart failure, ultimately to kill him. JFK kept his Addison's disease secret
as well as his addiction to painkillers and women. They and many other Presidents
did not have to deal with CNN and FOX News and Matt Drudge. On the other hand,
Donald Trump has to deal with a retinue of bloodhounds and his faults
have become readily apparent to all who choose to see him for what he is. The facts are out there for Hillary also.
In 1861, the newly elected Abraham Lincoln snuck into
Washington in a disguise, and changed trains in Baltimore fearing that angry
southern sympathizers would assassinate him. In the years leading up to his election, Senators and
Congressmen battled each other in the capitol, beating each other on the head
with canes or whatever else was handy over the issue of whether states should
be admitted to the Union free or slave. Lincoln himself bore ideas about the
racial inferiority of black men, and even supported their migrating to a colony
in Africa. The essential point at
the time was not slavery, but the balance of new states entering the Union as
free or slave. The dichotomy, if
you will, of two clashing economies and more importantly, two different
cultures. One agrarian and one industrial. The two were incompatible. We can draw some parallels from this lesson of history. Now America is faced with four other cultures:
the relevantly educated and the unskilled, the religious and the increasingly
secular. The theory that if
one is born into great wealth,
they will remain in this caste system. Those who wish to protect the status
quo are delusional. People
who are disabused of the notion that they can succeed when they cannot without
more education, more relevant skills by voting for a quack will find no answer. Those who
fight inclusiveness in our society of Twitter, Facebook and an incessant news
cycle are tilting at windmills, and not the ones that are generating power. The religious are confronted with
supporting a man with no religious values because they perceive Hillary as
abortionist lying she-devil. The religious right is seeing their society disintegrate before them, lost to a secular tidal wave.
Polarization is rife.
150 years ago, Lincoln had engaged in a series of debates
with Stephen A. Douglas over slavery and the composition of the expanding Union,
which had just stolen mucho land from the Mexicans (who else?). This debate was
settled by an enormous bloodletting and 700,000 dead, mangled and maimed. No
other war in our history was so costly in blood and treasure. No other war cast brother against brother,
family against family.
Lincoln, in his speech at Cooper Union, before his election, had
emphasized that the nation could not permanently endure half slave and half
free. Southerners knew where he
stood. The Lincoln-Douglas debates
settled that ending in civil war.
History repeats itself. Now our culture war roils between
the rich and the increasingly disappearing middle class. Between the coasts and the
heartland. Between the educated
and the not. Between a new melange of white, colored, brown, and yellow. Between angry white religious fundamentalists and a country which virtually overnight embraced gay marriage and LGBT rights. Things are happening very fast, perhaps too much so. Cultures need time to adjust.
The middle class is the lifeblood of America. The class that built the great
factories that produced 303,000 airplanes between 1939 and 1945 a to win the war. The class that once enjoyed a car, a
home and the implied promise of the benefit of hard work paying off with the
thought that its children would have a better life if it worked hard and obeyed
the rules seems a distant cry, a despairing denouement to the American dream. Is this class inevitably succumbing to
the existentially threatening global forces of cheap labor, robotic manufacturing
and technology? Some think not,
that people can be retrained to do more skilled work; some think that we can
restore our economy to where it was 50 years ago, or at least tell people it can to get elected. Others think
that we can resolve the deep seated education deficit of children who cannot
read, cannot do math, and certainly cannot do computer coding. Poor people watch television and think that the life on reality tv will be theirs for the taking.
Trump says that coal miners are going to get their jobs
back. They will not. Trump says that increased tariffs on
imported goods will create new jobs in America. Respected economists think otherwise. They think that Trump's plans will throw
our nation into a new recession, making goods more expensive to buy and making
it harder for the poor to survive.Trump's
prevarications and salesmanship, reminiscent of PT Barnum, appeals to a large
segment of American voters. He stands outside his carnival tent beckoning
people to come in with a disingenuous siren call. His character is well demonstrated by
his behavior.
On the other hand, sometimes character is not the sine qua non of a politician. Many of
such individuals who have succeeded for a little while, but then have fallen
victim to their own hubris.
Some of them have been Presidents of the United States. Richard Nixon, for example. Nixon perverted the constitution, created an enemies list, broke into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee, covered it all up and lied about it. He ultimately fell because of his own paranoia. He secretly taped oval office conversations and they incriminated him. Lyndon Johnson did as well. But Nixon opened the door to China and Johnson passed monumental civil rights legislation, Medicare and transformed the lives of millions of Americans. Lyndon was crass also, he did not have the patrician elegance of FDR or Jack Kennedy, but he sure knew how to work with congress.
Throughout the 1930s, during the great depression, in the
years leading up to World War II, America firsters fought against immigrants
and other perceived threats from abroad.
People lined up at soup kitchens, pitched tents on the Mall in
Washington, and General MacArthur brought in troops to evict them. These were far from pleasant
times. Trump claims that our country has never been in worse
shape. Coal miners will get their
jobs back and a wall will keep rapist Mexicans away from our women, believe me. The nation is not in as terrible shape as he says. We have been through much worse. Could the Republic survive a Trump Presidency? Probably. But we could also survive bubonic plague. Why bother?
Our history has played host to other demagogues--Huey Long,
Father Coughlin, George Wallace, among others. who preyed on fears and the
psychology of victimhood.
They were going to cure everything and no one else could. Wallace claimed that the south would
never desegregate. Passions
inflamed by these predators harmed our country by invoking a primitive
tribalism that should have been rejected long ago, but has now been reawakened
by Donald Trump. He even appeals
to evangelicals, who are in a real dilemma. Vote for the evil abortion supporting Hillary, or Donald
Trump despite his three wives, misogyny and his own serial infidelity. He
has sent out his surrogates. Chris Christie, the GW bridge facilitator, Newt
Gingrich, married thrice, and who informed one of his wives, suffering from
cancer that he was leaving her while she was in her hospital bed. And let's not forget Rudy Gulliani, who
called a press conference to inform the public that he was getting divorced
without even telling his wife, Donna Hanover. These surrogates now threaten to expose Hillary to the
slings and arrows of Bill's unfaithfulness. Good luck with that strategy.
The first Presidential debate matched an experienced,
polished politician against an unprepared vulgarian. Surprisingly, Americans, judging from
the polls, are not dramatically changing as a result of Hillary Clinton's
superior performance. People
are prognosticating that Trump will be better prepared for the next
debate. According to Tony
Schwartz who ghostwrote "The Art of the Deal," Trump has an attention
span of 30 seconds, so his next
performance, if that be true, will be no better than the last. Will people still be fooled by his
bombast? Will the American voter overlook Hillary's perceived untruthfulness
and secrecy be convinced that she is the lesser of two evils? Or will they understand that her length
of time in the public eye lends itself to exaggeration of her flaws. Because no one inhabits that space of
perfection, (except Donald).
How can we elect a man who wants to "renegotiate the
national debt," (as though it
were a shopping mall) have the Mexicans
pay for his wall, encourage
nuclear proliferation, cozy up to Vladimir Putin, not release his tax returns,
evince secret plans on how he will defeat ISIS, deport 11 million immigrants,
start a trade war with China, blow Iranian ships out of the water, call our
military a "disaster," punish women who want an abortion, disband a
health care program that now has 30 million signed up, call women pigs and
slobs, fat-shame a former Miss Universe contestant, have a history of discriminating against African Americans and other
minorities, know nothing about economic policy or foreign policy, scrapping 70 year old NATO alliances that has kept European peace under an American unbrella if they do not pay more to us, talk about winning as a function
of his own ego, stiff his workers and go through serial bankruptcies, and says
"that is business," complain about roads and infrastructure, but pay
no taxes? "That makes me
smart," he says. Other
endearing items include bullying, coarseness, and even embarrassing his own
political party. Many leading conservatives have abandoned him including George Will, Bill Kristol and Colin Powell.
The question that must be asked is why are his poll numbers
so high if he is so clearly unqualified to be President? Is it because Hillary is
perceived as untrustworthy? Is it because we are failing as a nation? Are we in
decline? Is it the dumbing down of
the electorate? Is it the fact
that people are uninformed? Are we suckers for a candidate whose positions are not worth a warm bucket of spit?
Is it that the world is transitioning to a different
economy? Is it the loss of
innocence? What about the
disintegration of a respect for intellect? People who run for office are told
that they must communicate on a 5th grade level to reach the electorate. Donald does that very well. Why do people fear elites? Elites founded our nation.Why is our discourse sunk so low?
Most importantly, what are the reasons that gave rise to such an unqualified candidate? We need to learn the truth.
Disconcertion over these issues is not easy to overcome
because it is a reflection of where we are as a society. Are we less racist? Are we more tolerant? Have we lost all
sense of reason?
Or is it that the public is incurably stupid?
