Democracy

Democracy is that flawed unattainable objective that we strive and die for. It is a concept that can’t be seen but we know when it is threatened. In its simplest form, with just two people, it can function but still doesn’t always work. Add more people and the problems expand exponentially.

A marriage between two people can be democratic. If successful, a marriage works when two people work together toward common goals in a symbiotic relationship that exists on compromise. A husband wants the thermostat set at 76 degrees, but his wife wants it set to 72 degrees. The solution is simple, you set the temperature at 72 degrees and the husband puts on a sweater. There you have a working democracy.

When we add more people to this democracy, we find it can become unmanageable. The solution in the United States was to set up a representative democracy where our elected representatives make decisions for us with the goal of benefiting the constituency. It may look good on paper, but the reality is that it fails to factor in greed, corruption, naïve emotional voters who may be easily swayed by empty promises, and any number of external forces that work against the democratic objective.

While it remains to be seen what awaits us after January 20, 2025, we have been here before. Our new president could issue an order to round up and deport all Chihuahuas because they are Mexicans without proof of citizenship. While such a scenario is totally ludicrous, he would find support from some in Congress, if it happened. That is the current insane state of our democracy.

Project 2025 is a blueprint for the dismantling of democracy to be replaced by a Frankenstein-like creation that is large and powerful but impossible to control. This pseudo-democracy would be nothing more than a dictatorship managed by a powerful wealthy class of oligarchs. If you understand anything about the “democracy” of Russia, you can see where this is headed. By admission, this new president admires the power of Vladimir Putin, Viktor Orbán, Kim Jong Un, and others of their ilk. He has learned the lessons of Hitler and Mussolini and thinks they had it right but only lacked the right environment for success. When I say “he has learned” I mean that others who are his influencers learned as he is too busy to be burdened with history or facts.

Over a million Americans have died in service to our country with over half of those deaths in combat. Countless more have been maimed or so badly damaged as to be considered additional casualties in our fight for democracy. It would be a shame to see their sacrifice be for naught as monied interests with corrupt intent squander those lost lives in exchange for more gold in their pockets.

Warning, The Surgeon General has found that politicians are bad for your health.

Americans have made poor elective choices before and survived. We seem to be in a lather-rinse-repeat cycle where we keep electing charlatans, eventually see that nothing improves, and wait for the next bastard to come along with more outlandish promises. As consumers, we regularly fall for the spiel of “new and improved” only to find that our clothes are no cleaner, our teeth are not brighter, and that this brand of cigarettes is not safer because it is the choice of nine out of ten doctors.

I don’t envy our youth who spend much of their time with their heads buried in “the cloud” that is our new world structure. Artificial intelligence has the ability to help humanity but only if real human intelligence doesn’t get burned in the process. I can only hope that our youth look up from their devices long enough to see what is happening around them in time to salvage this democratic ideal before the monster takes a bride. The monster's offspring will not be pretty, even if they wear expensive clothes and long red ties. I could go on but I feel a chill and I need to go find my sweater.