31 January 2021
Those Left Behind
The people of the world have recognized the success of the democratic society in America by immigrating over its borders whenever they have needed a last resort. The reasons have varied from economic opportunity, political and ethnic oppression, insufferable climate, cultural penury, to others. The incumbent population of the United States of course, has descended in most cases from ancestors who also originally came to the country for similar reasons. The longer they have stayed and grown roots in America they more they have developed a sense of ownership of the nation’s physical bounty as well as its behavioral and aspirational standards. Somehow, this sense of ownership creates a natural jealousy that prevents willingness to share the country’s advantages with newcomers.
Education, pleasant community adjustment, and material wealth help most residents of the U.S to overcome their natural jealousy and allow them to welcome new immigrants, and to make it possible for disadvantaged groups, including those who came here under force or before European colonization, fully to integrate into the most privileged ranks of society. Unfortunately, one consequence of immigration Is also the abridgement of the exclusivity that some members of American society believe is a justified birthright of descendants of earlier immigrants. This is particularly true of those citizens who are insecure in their status in the economy or community, or who are envious of the higher status gained by other residents.
This envy can turn into a violent form of resentment that may fuel civil unrest and threaten good societal order. Any democratic civilization is vulnerable to the danger that resentment among certain of its elements can disrupt civil order and lead to insurrection Such sources of unrest are different from movements that seek equity for elements of the population whom artificial (i.e. racial, gender, lifestyle, ethnic, religious, etc.) discrimination deprives of full access to all of society’s benefits. Even when the same resentment is exploited non-violently for political purposes, it can be hard to control and may result in outbreaks of disorder like the Capitol riot of January 6, 2021.
A democratic society like the U.S. must always be vigilant and dampen the explosion of violence that will inevitably tempt those who feel left behind by its standards of equitable opportunity.
27 January 2021
Threat of Insurrection
Former President Trump probably believes that he has harnessed a faction of the public that willingly supports his resumption of the Presidency as the symbolic leader of their populist takeover of American government. That faction has shown its vulnerability to animistic violence conducted by organized hate groups.
23 January 2021
The Capitol Insurgency and Russia
The January 6, 2021 Insurgency at the U.S Capitol may portend, in reverse, the hopelessness of the demonstrations that are occurring in Russia on the return and imprisonment of Alexei Navalny. If they gather enough support throughout the country and are sustained long enough, they may justify thoughts of an overthrow of the Putin regime. However, like the Capitol Insurgency that was so labeled in the media, it is doubtful that it represents the will of an ultimately dominant majority of the public
The victory of Joe Biden in the 2020 Presidential Election has proved the shallowness of the "movement" behind the Capitol Insurgency. Nevertheless, the forces of democracy in the U.S. must be vigilant of the real disaffection that divergence in the distribution of the economic and social benefits of capitalism. The resentment it causes can explode into the destruction of the peaceful order that American society needs for continued success
The Putin regime is undoubtedly capable of repressing the Navalny movement and imposing an even tougher police state. Animistic eruptions of democratic sentiment can be counter-productive unless there first is careful and unbreakable construction of a replacement popular form of government. Otherwise, the anti-authoritarian movement will only fade away. Hopefully, the same destiny faces the out-of-control rabble that defiled the U.S capitol.
18 January 2021
War is Community-Condoned Violence
From the beginning of recorded time, human society has allowed violence in the service of communal interests. It is up to the community to define what those interests are. They are often defined retroactively, as in the case of revolution, for example. Thus there can be conflict between self-righteous parties. The winning party gets to set the rules.
Those rules may include absolute principles that forbid rebellion. Therefore, those who violently revolt against the dominant order are usually punished. The dominant order will usually claim that such insurrection violates a universal value. If one advocates a realistic approach to politics, rebellion is justifiable after it succeeds.The assault on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021; therefore, was unforgivable because it was hopeless. Nevertheless, it was a natural expression of frustration by disaffected members of society. In that way it was like war. Civilly ordered societies may also fall into violence when their members have conflicting interests. Both human exercises of violence are common in history; moreover, both are deplorable under the rules of the dominant order.
Under the rules of the US government the perpetrators of the assault on the Capitol deserve prosecution to the full extent of the law. A recurrence of that insurrection will only be prevented when the rebels are subsumed in the benefits that draw allegiance from the members of society’s dominant group.
Virtual Movements
The assault on the Capitol was organized and financed by an organization that existed only online. This is the same supposed movement that Donald Trump claims to lead.
In fact, the Internet has facilitated the mobilization of violent impulses in segments of the public because of the growing addiction of many disaffected people in our society to the unedited information nearly freely available through their computers, phones, tablets, etc. The growth of this trend has, of course, spread more rapidly under pandemic-induced lockdown
Although these communication channels are protected by freedom of speech rights, their adherence to truth and civil order will not be enforced without an equally committed and dedicated effort by volunteer democratic spokespersons. Otherwise, the country will descend onto either autocracy or chaos.
13 January 2021
Political Contributions Reform
The response of some corporations to the insurrection at the US Capitol on Jan 6, 2021, to suspend certain or all campaign contributions should lead to the wholesale reform of political campaign funding in the U.S. It is long past the time for us to limit all contenders for public office to equal public funding.
National parties can act as the channels for the allocation of these public funds to individual campaigns; but private corporations and individual donors must be prohibited from supporting specific candidates. Moreover, if either makes donations to a political party, the use of those funds on behalf of specific candidates should be illegal.Trump Is Just A Tool
Trump has welcomed being adopted as the symbol of disaffected white people who are resentful of the divergent wealth in the country and uncomfortable with the growing equality in the country. The people who voted for him feel left out and taken advantage of by the the larger number of citizens who have thrived in the knowledge-based society made possible by technological advancement, sophisticated management and complex finance.
That segment of society legitimately resents being taken for granted—the nation wouldn’t function without them. However, their concerns are given short shift in the news media and are treated as secondary by the more heavily reported actions of the wealthier class. At the same time, their ill feelings make them easily corrupted by spewers of racial, cultural, and sexual prejudice.Donald Trump intelligently recognized the political power of this group of voters—his “base.” He didn’t create it; it will always be there. He has merely offered himself as their symbol.
When egged on, they constitute a threat to equitable order in our democracy. Therefore, holding
Trump to account for the insurrection at the Capitol is needed in order to protect that vision of the “American Experiment.”
09 January 2021
Resign or Impeach
Donald Trump is left with few choices for his exit from the Presidency in 2021. He can continue to ignore his duties until the inauguration of his successor, Joe Biden. He can persist in his delusional attempts to lead a disaffected segment of the public in threatening the order which conscientious members of the public have been trying to establish in this country since its founding over 220 years ago, at the risk of impeachment or other removal from office. Or he can gracefully resign from office (an unlikely move).
I any case, he can take his whole crew of clowns with him, including Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, Michael Flynn, Betsy DeVos, Kayleigh McEnany, Mike Pompeo, Louis DeJoy, William Barr and many others who should never be asked to join a normal administration. It is up to the rest of us thankfully to wave goodbye and learn the lesson that democracy is not automatic. Oh yes, elections can install a government of incompetent would-be autocrats, but there is more to fair and effective government than staging the trappings of democracy. Does the order that exists in Russia, for example, make its citizens proud of their ability to support individual rights and fulfillment?
Some of us really believed that what has happened to the U.S. over the last four years, and particularly in the first week of 2021, was not possible because of our commitment to laws and the institutions we have created to enforce them. Although much of that enforcement needs to be reformed, those institutions, we’ve learned, can still be hijacked by an ambitious manipulator of the communications media, like Donald Trump. Even his retreat from Washington, with his tail between his legs, won’t spare us from having always vigilantly to keep our republic.
06 January 2021
Trump and His Supporters Are Failures
The Republican party was founded on a set of principles and a commitment to getting its members elected. However, Trump and his supporters seem to have forgotten their raison-d'être. To wit, they are claiming that election process corruption is the cause of their defeat at the polls, in Georgia as well as nationally. They don’t admit that they have failed in one of their principal functions: winning elections by representing the will of the people or by convincing the people to adopt their own goals. The same goes for the President.
