Frank's Musings

Hilary Clinton hasn’t changed her clumsy rhetoric since it cost us her election loss in 2016. She continues to protest Donald Trump’s proposals and supporters as ‘a basket of deplorables,” although in the 28 March 2025 NYT she just calls them “dumb.”

The only way that tariffs can be said to be paid by a foreign supplier is to assume that the import market is so crucial that it forces those exporters  to reduce their prices sufficiently to beat their domestic competitors. This reasoning was rejected after the Smoot Hawley Act that contributed to the Great Depression.   Nevertheless, President Donald Trump relies on it to galvanize support among the majority of Americans whose perspective is narrowly focused on their personal well-being and who lack an appreciation of critical thinking.

It has become apparent that Trump’s genius is that he recognized that he could attain the most prestigious political position on the planet by running for the U.S. presidency because most American voters, regardless of race, share his solipsism. He and they have no higher goal in life than maximizing their personal or their biological family’s comfort.

It’s not that they don’t understand; they just don’t care. Moreover, they resent being looked down on by elite critical thinkers who mysteriously are wealthy and act like they are in control. They think elites are presumptuous and deserve to be put in their rightful place by a populist demagogue like Trump.

If those elites wish to serve the general welfare, they must learn how effectively to communicate in a modern democracy. (One illustration of this is  “servant leadership,” advocated by Rep. Jason Crow (D. CO).  cf. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/19/opinion/jason-crow-democrats.html)

In a liberal democracy, the common people usually outnumber the highly educated  elite.  Nevertheless, by reason of equity, ultimate control of society is awarded to the numerical majority of participants in the decision-making process—general elections.

Public opinion in our modern society is influenced by those who are adept at utilizing its diverse means of communication. These channels include electronic and digital media (broadcast and targeted); in-person contact at rallies, at town-halls,  and door-to-door; hidden messages associated  with various work, recreational, and cultural contexts; not to mention direct mail and print.

As long as public opinion still matters in our system of government, those who wish to redirect its policies towards equitable, non-discriminatory distribution of benefits must learn to communicate effectively to the people who ultimately control it.   The modern irony of liberal democracy is that advances in communications technology have weakened the relative persuasiveness  of critical thought versus entertainment.  Now more than ever, the medium is as important as the message.  Restoring democracy’s liberal values requires packaging them in a consumer-friendly style, not in language that only speaks to the minority elite.