As I watch the events unfolding in the country defined by Trump, I can’t help being pessimistic about the road we have chosen (chosen for us) to go down. My fear is that once we have gone down this road there is no returning – this may be a one-way trip. Trump and his Republican lemmings have changed the narrative on how we view the traditional norms of our social and political structure. Confessing a degree of naiveite, perhaps these ‘new’ norms were always slightly below the surface just waiting for a ‘champion’ to say it was “OK” to behave this way. Maybe a significant percent of our society wanted to openly embrace a different behavior but acquiesced to the popular social norms as a social convenience or were ‘brain washed’ by the distortion of the right-wing media.
I never thought I would see our ‘leaders’ say what they felt like saying whether there was any grain of truth or compassion in the statement. As I grew-up and matured, I expected a modicum of honesty from our leaders (and peers), whether political, educational, or religious. I am not talking about political or social hyperbole or even an ‘honest’ error in factual content, I am talking about blatant, made-up, deliberate, erroneous bullshit. What is scary is that the speaker and his lemmings know that everything can be fact-checked with the speed of the internet or the quick cuing-up of videotapes, yet they factually do not care. We are redefining truth to a moment in time where it is expedient to say whatever you feel like saying. The road we are going down doesn’t seem to put much weight on factual content.
For a moment, let me pick on the propaganda arm of the Republican party – FOX News. It is consistently rated the least truthful source of the major media news outlets with independent data suggesting that 60-80% of all the news is mostly to completely false to ‘pants-on-fire’ false. In fairness to FOX, other news outlets have an unacceptable level of truthfulness, just not to degree practiced by FOX, nor with the political sanctions of FOX. Ironically, Trump’s whipping post, CNN seems to consistently rate the highest in truthfulness. The fact that we have to fact check our news sources (any one) already makes my point. We seem to calmly accept the notion that we will be lied to on a regular basis. What kind of road have we chosen that routinely accepts (aka ignores) the truth. I can’t help being constantly reminded of Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s oft quoted line, “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.”
What has this level of dishonesty spawned? I think its first cousin is a level of hypocrisy which is alarming. I confess that I am astounded by the so-called religious leaders of this country who can embrace a president of such defective moral character that he is the antithesis of everything I learned that religion stood for when I was growing up. What kind of hypocrisy does one have to embrace to accept a president that openly talks about grappling women, has had multiple affairs (and marriages), constantly lies (see above), has zero humility, doesn’t even know the word empathy, attacks the defenseless, illegally profits from his office, and on and on? How can religious leaders stand in front of their flocks on Sunday morning and sermonize about Christian values and then on Monday morning openly embrace the moral disaster called the “president?” I think once on this road, there is no turning back and trying to put religious values back in the box and pretend that it is OK to behave like a cretin yet embrace and preach a contrary moral code. In a parallel sense, this is like the Catholic Church promoting priests, bishops, and cardinals from parishes and dioceses known to cover-up pedophilia.
Once of the strengths of our form of democracy as envisioned by the writers of the constitution was a system of checks and balances which if nothing else, forced compromise and reconciliation. We have gone down a road which so distorts this notion that the any inkling of compromise is viewed as giving way to the enemy.
Where is this road taking us? I see a future with a new moral code. If you think this ends with the current president and his lemmings, guess again. I see a future where:
- Everything that you disagree with is labeled “false news’ – right or wrong
- Reporters and analysts are labeled whether they have affiliations or not
- Moral behavior is no longer a limiting criterion for holding office
- Religious doctrine is subordinated to political doctrine aka, the end justifies the means
- Personal gain is a sanctioned and an unquestioned benefit of political office
- Government ethics are non-existent or at least extremely elastic.
- Rules and norms are constantly changing depending on who is in power at the moment.
- Everything is short-term. It is like a business run on quarterly reports.
- Climate change, environmental legacies, international relationships are no longer considered worthwhile investments. Remember everything is measured in the short-term.
- Competence and experience are subordinated to loyalty and political expediency in filling critical government posts.
- The likelihood of ending gratuitous gun violence is even more remote than it has been which hasn’t been very likely, to date.
- Compromise and accommodation will continue their disappearing act.
I don’t mean to sound like George Orwell, but the road ahead is a lot different than the road on which we have been accustomed to traveling. A significant percent of the population of this country is not only willing to go down this road but seems to be willing to resort to violence, threats, and chicanery to stay on the path.
The systems necessary to reverse the process seem to have been corrupted which makes a reversal of direction very difficult even if the majority were to demand it. Money and power rule politics and as suggested by Gilens and Page of Princeton several years back, our democracy has been replaced by an Oligarchy. Add to this, the corruption of the voting process, e.g. suppression and foreign intervention, by political greed and power retention, the ability to rise-up and ‘throw the bums out” has diminished if not vanished.
I don’t expect many, if any, will agree with this assessment, but it is how I see the country headed. I think once down this road, it is not easy, maybe impossible, to return. If “making America Great Again means creating unsustainable deficits, trashing the environment, attacking our allies, profiteering from political positions, killing social programs, and embracing our enemies, I want no part of it.
DGG
10/2018