Better Governance

 

Those who say that we must reduce the rhetoric of violence causing further acts of violence, must ask themselves the question of what has exacerbated the violence of an already violent and gun infused society.  Seems like we need a new form of governance—a more enlightened form of governance.  Smarter, more humane leaders. Not necessarily humans, though.  I’ll get to that in bit.

 

No one individual has done more to stoke the fires of hatred than Donald Trump.   He has sowed the wind, but by a turn of his head, missed reaping the whirlwind.  If he is re-elected, as he now almost certainly will be, strapping on seat belts will not be enough to be sucked from the improperly bolted airplane.  He’s the orphan pleading for mercy after he killed his parents.

 

Some say the dysfunction of our government and political system is on the verge of dealing with chaos of unspeakable magnitude and is no longer capable of governing.

 

Those who believe the demagoguery of “leaders” who recently said that Democratic persecution of Trump is responsible for the heated political climate, must look to themselves.   JD Vance says it is the Democrats fault for calling Trump a threat to democracy.   (JD wants to write another elegy—this time as vice president.)

 

That truth is not forthcoming in social media, in the mainstream press, nor in the heated oratory of political office seekers.  We are losing the battle for effective leadership.

 

The struggle between good and evil, the moral battles of mankind are no newer than humanity itself, and it is just the present moment that makes it seem most acute.  It must have been just as urgently felt in 1861, in 1941, and in 1968.  

 

If it is true that the evil that men do lives after them and that the good is interred with their bones, the potential assassin’s poor aim will have made no difference.  If Trump had been killed, as many of those baser instincts of his enemies desired, it would have magnified his martyrdom although it is an open question of without their dear leader they would have had as much cohesion.

 

Trump does not belong in the pantheon of martyrdom:   Abraham Lincoln, JFK, Dr. King and Bobby Kennedy—all victims of the American malaise, violence and a frontier mentality that still accommodates the expediency of evil.  The same ruthlessness that built our country yet saved Western democracy.   The contradictions of humanity as reflected in the American psychosis, all corrupted, anachronistically governed by a failing political system and anchored by decrepit institutions and gerontologic leaders.  

 

The frustrations and rage of Americans seem particularly strong at this moment.  To those who think that the rhetoric from both sides is morally equivalent, perhaps the “threat to democracy” cries are overwrought.   To those who think that the threat to democracy is very real, must ask if speaking out against the perceived evil of our fellow Americans will aid our nation recover and glide past the current crisis. Edmund Burke to the rescue.

 

While it is true that political assassinations have altered the course of history, the effects of those assassinations have caused wars, changed the political dynamic of nations, but mostly not for the better.   The boils and blisters remain.   Poverty, ignorance, prejudice, and hatred.

 

The technological changes occurring now have increased exponentially both the processing speed of AI and the degradation of human dialogue, people no longer communicating with each other, looking at screens for instant gratification, and listening to shallow snippets of misinformation, incomplete information, or siloed opinion.

 

So, finally, is it worse now than in the past?   Optimists think not.  Statistics contradict the perceptions.  Less poverty, a higher literacy rate than 100 or even 25 years ago.  Each of us carrying a supercomputer in our pockets, medical advances extending human life, science working to combat climate change, new sources of renewable energy.

 

All the contradictions of humanity, religion, tribalism still remain, but are we on a better path?  Depends on your point of view.   If as Stephen Hawking predicted, humans are engineering their own demise, if AI will replace most professions, are we headed to a Faustian end?  Maybe not.

 

All this anger and argument reminds me of McEnroe violently arguing over the line calls; this was eliminated by electronic line calling.  Why not the same result for political discourse, clearly not capably handled by people?

 

Could properly designed algorithms replace Congress?   Certainly, the combined intelligence of those in Congress cannot compete with a computer that can defeat the complicated board game “Go.”  The luddite Supreme Court could be replaced by a more enlightened AI to render more humane, well-researched, enlightened decisions.   Most certainly the office of the President of the United States could be better served by an ageless cloud-based decision maker not subject to cognitive decline, narcissism, self-enrichment or  gilded toilets.