Solution or Existential Threat

There are many reasons people back Donald Trump and are willing to ignore his “issues.” Let’s call them issues for now to not get bogged down with his problems while trying to fathom what to do with our own. Donald Trump, the man, is not the real threat to the survival of our democracy, it is the ambitions of his clever enablers that should keep us up at night.

One of the main ambitions of some on the extreme right is the shift of control from Congress to the executive branch. This group seems to believe an almighty president with more power could right the ship. When asked where they see the “checks and balances” on that power, they point to Congress. That is the same Congress that is the subject of their ire for its inability to get anything done. How would that work?

Another message from this alt-right group with roots in the Heritage Foundation of the 1970s, is their pro-business anti-government policy. Their mission is the elimination of much of the federal government. They believe many professional federal employee positions should be eliminated and the remaining employees should lose their job security and protection.

One current Heritage Foundation leader believes that our government employees are communist agents of the Russian and Chinese governments. Joseph McCarthy would have loved this group had he not died in 1957. Joe would have also loved our current demagogue, Donald Trump.

José Clemente Orozco's painting The Demagogue]

Demagogue defined: A popular leader in a democracy who gains that popularity by arousing the common people against the elites often using oratory that appeals to the emotions of that group, scapegoats minority groups, and exaggerates their fears for emotional effect. A demagogue’s rhetoric will numb the crowd to reasoned deliberation and encourage fanatical popularity. They regularly overturn established norms of political conduct. They will use false flattery and will evade discussing vital issues while promising anything they believe will garner support. They will appeal to racial, religious, and class prejudices. Demagogues thrive in democracies since power is derived from the people, they can appeal to the crowd’s baser instincts to have them relinquish the power they crave. They regularly advocate violence without deliberation and admonish those with more moderate considerations. Anyone not supporting their violent course will be labeled as weak and disloyal. They will seek to expand their power by diminishing constitutional limits and justify the power grab as mere expediency necessary to a proclaimed end.

The Heritage Foundation and others who follow its mandates are a threat to our continued existence as a democracy. While some of their founding initiatives were sound, they have devolved into an almost unrecognizable agent of its former self. They initially (1989) developed and supported the basics of the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) and Mitt Romney’s health care plan in Massachusetts (aka Romneycare). Today they abhor the ACA. Things changed in 2012 when Jim DeMint left the Senate to head the Heritage Foundation. A 2013 report on the costs of amnesty was based on their position that “Hispanics and Blacks are intellectually inferior to Whites and have trouble assimilating because of a supposed genetic predisposition to a lower IQ.”

This group occasionally gets things right. When Donald Trump was merely “candidate Trump” in 2015, they stated on a Fox News panel, “Donald Trump’s a clown.” When he surprised them and won the presidency, they changed their tune and became his mentor helping him with his transition into the presidency and assisting him to staff his administration. Over 66 foundation employees and alumni got positions in the Trump administration.

Some see Donald Trump as an existential threat and others see him as a quick solution to what they believe to be wrong with our current government. The assertion that our current government is broken will find agreement on both sides of the aisle. How it got broken is less important than the proper fix. Now is not the time for the abandonment of our democracy in the hope that an authoritarian replacement will be the simple answer. Strychnine can cure the common cold, but it is hardly the right treatment.