What went wrong? Almost two and a half centuries ago, a group of men got together and wrote the documents that would guide a new country. They were educated men with enough foresight to plan for most eventualities. The one flaw in their plan was that they assumed that those elected to office would be honorable men and, collectively, they would do what was best for our country. You see, honor was important once upon a time, and men would defend that honor. With their lives if necessary.
Time passed and the country flourished. Sure, we had a few bumps on the road to this success, but overall we survived many obstacles to become arguably the most powerful nation in the world. Somewhere along this path, we lost our way. Honor was no longer as important as financial success. Laziness and greed shoved aside honorable traits. Lawmakers worked at making more money for themselves and if some of that largess spilled over to people who could keep them in office, that was also good.
Recently, honor has been reduced to just not getting caught or at least having a good enough explanation for any discovered dishonorable thing. When Bill Clinton got caught up in the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal, his opponents did a thorough investigation lasting several months that involved 18 boxes of supporting documents and resulted in a congressional report of 445 pages and an impeachment trial. Today, a suspected presidential pedophile has been able to stop the investigation, bury the report, and have himself declared a champion of moral virtue by the Christian right. Another of his henchmen was caught on camera accepting a bribe of $50,000 in a paper bag from FBI undercover agents. The Attorney General was asked about this and she defended Tom Homan and basically indicated she had no interest in the event because it happened before she was confirmed. Now that is chutzpah.
So, what happened? Over the years, instead of writing clearly defined laws that would be enforceable if violated, laziness prevailed. We ended up with a collection of rules, norms, and standard procedures that had no value when challenged. It was assumed that honorable men and women would follow the rules and procedures. These lazy legislators did not count on the likes of Donald J. Trump. For him the rule of law no longer applied as he continued to undermine the safeguards, many of which were merely unenforceable norms or rules. In some cases even well-written laws were ignored, and their enforcement was corrupted by a politically and sometimes financially compromised Supreme Court.
The idea of American exceptionalism, where the United States is inherently different and unique with a special destiny to lead the world, is a false narrative. This rationale has made us politically weak, and our complacency has led to an unstable foundation of vague laws that can be twisted and used against us by the unscrupulous. Our trust in our built-in checks and balances has proven false.
When Trump was first elected it was assumed that “honorable” people in government would keep him in check. This was mostly true in Trump 1.0, but by the time Trump 2.0 rolled into town, it was government by chaos, fear, and intimidation.
Once the heads began to roll, any of those who might have had some honor easily sacrificed it for a seat at the table. The trough was bountiful for the faithful and obedient. Challengers were quickly dispatched, threatened, investigated, brought up on charges, doxed, or otherwise quieted. Partisan enablers further eroded those constitutional checks and balances. Judicial partisanship with lifetime appointments was the final nail in the coffin of democracy.
Socrates said, The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be. If you mention honor to Trump, he thinks it is two words.
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