Frank's Musings

The election of Mike Johnson as the new Speaker of the House will demonstrate that his views on the issue of the alleged steal of reelection victory from Donald Trump are meaningless for the fulfillment of his obligations within the constitutional framework of the American government.  Apparently, his role in the functions assigned to the Congress is so critical that none of them can be completed unless he is in place.  Although the actions that the Speaker performs are mainly procedural, they can be nuanced in ways that favor or oppose one or another policy.  Building ad hoc coalitions of individual representatives is probably the most important way the Speaker assures that legislation essential to the country gets passed through the parliamentary process.

Speaker Johnson’s loyal support of former President Trump’s claim that his defeat in the 2020 election was fraudulent won’t prevent his satisfaction of the responsibilities assigned to him by the U.S. Constitution. Moreover, the fact that he will be able to operate at all, despite his conformance with the self-indulgent stance of his party’s leader, only subverts the seriousness of that claim.  It matters not whether the candidate for reelection as President of the country acknowledges the result of the vote if that defeated candidate limits his protests and those of his supporters effectively to tantrums.  I would like to believe that the new Speaker voiced his support for Trump’s election-loss tantrum only because his constituents would not have elected him otherwise.

The sad corollary of that belief is that many of the voting citizens of the U.S. are susceptible to manipulation by a tantrum-throwing media celebrity.  Think of what that means about the upbringing of stubborn children--an increasingly combative and uncollaborative population.  Regarding the future of American democracy, it means vulnerability to tyranny by a skillful adapter of the formal features of democratic government to disguise the accomplishment of his personal ambitions.

In the end, it comes down to deciding what is the ultimate objective of life.  It is either the maximization of personal well-being or of the general welfare of everyone in the future. (Anything in between, like Nazi nationalism, is only a demon’s methodology for self-aggrandizement.)  This metaphysical question has been highlighted for the whole world by Trump’s presidency.  History will not soon forget how easily America fell prey to the antics of an entertainer who chose to make its government his playground.  Perhaps we have learned how to escape the disastrous results that Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan wreaked upon the world during the last century.  If the end of the  MAGA regime happened only by luck, however, we may have a bumpy ride ahead.