This was the title of an article by Thomas Paine in a pamphlet called The American Crisis published on December 19, 1776. These words were the beginning of his inspirational article to help bolster the spirits of a Continental Army that had suffered repeated defeats at the hands of the British regulars. We are in a different situation today, but the challenges are no less; we are now facing threats to our very democracy.
Many people feel disconnected
from government and are dispirited by the choices they face. They are confused
by an avalanche of news that is often misleading or consists of false claims.
They feel, as many did in 1976, that these are times that try their souls.
The threat we face is not a
military one, and it does not come from without. It lies at the very core of
our democracy and the values we cherish. I am not worried that some external
power will take our democracy from us. I am afraid that the people of this
nation will give it away, not understanding what they are doing and unaware of
the consequences of their actions. Already we are hearing stories that the
youth are turning away from a democratic form of government as not the best one
to meet their needs. Strongmen leaders, as they are called, are appearing
around the world, and many are following them in the belief they will make
their lives better.
We have our own version of a
strongman here in the form of Donald Trump. Many believe they were better off
under his presidency and are not concerned about the fears some have that his
reelection would be the end of our democracy. Still others would like to see
our democracy ended, and they are OK with him as a totalitarian leader. They
like his talk of isolating the United States from the world stage and his threats
of vengeance and retribution.
Recently, I decided to read,
and in some cases reread, the great novels that depicted dystopian futures.
These included Animal Farm, 1984, Fahrenheit 451, and Brave
New World. In 1984 and Brave New World we are presented with
two different views of a future totalitarian state. The countries that come to
mind as current examples seem to be following the view presented in 1984,
which consists of complete monitoring of a person’s every word and action, with
severe penalties for those who violate the accepted behavior as defined by the
state. Daily conditioning is used to control and suppress. The monitoring and
conditioning to various degrees is already happening in many countries, but in
North Korea, China, Iran, and Afghanistan, to mention a few, it approaches the
fervor of Big Brother in 1984.
I recommend that people read 1984,
if they are unfamiliar with the book. Do not focus on the year; it just stood
for a future time when the book was first published in 1949. It may be more
relevant today than it was in 1949. In the story there are slogans that Big
Brother employs as part of the daily conditioning. One is “IGNORANCE IS
STRENGTH.” I think about the narrow view of the world offered by Donald trump
and the MAGA Republicans, who believe it is a source of strength.
Maintaining an Ignorance of the
truth among his followers drives everything that Donald Trump says and does. He
views it as his strength because his followers believe they can only get the
truth from him. He derives tremendous power by keeping his MAGA members
ignorant. For him lying is a tool to condition and control his followers.
Although I do not consider him an intelligent man, and he is certainly not well
read, he is smart enough to know how to manipulate his followers. Consider his
contest with Hillary Clinton. He rarely mentioned her name without the
appellation crooked applied. He wanted to fix in the minds of the listener that
“crooked” and Hillary go together.
If you are unconvinced of the
danger we face, I suggest you read the history of how Hitler came to power. I
am not suggesting an exact parallel with the situation in the United States,
but a brief read on Wikipedia will help you see how a German democracy turned
absolute power over to Hitler, albeit on a temporary basis, a power that he
never relinquished. He had spent time in prison for a failed coup, so he tried
another approach. He did not seize power; he followed a political course and
during a crisis that he may have had a hand in creating, the power was handed
to him by a naïve German Parliament. And we have just seen how a naïve, and
politically biased, Supreme Court, has increased the power of the president.
They have now made it possible for a person such as Trump to become a
totalitarian leader with unlimited power. The Supreme Court knew the key issue,
which was Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election, which
culminated in the attack on the United States Capitol. By not addressing it
directly and pushing it back down to lower courts, they have ensured that it
will not be resolved before the election, and Trump may never come to trial for
his involvement in January 6.
From his past actions, Donald
Trump has already shown that he is a threat to our democracy. Donald Trump is
not for the American people; he is obsessively for himself and always looks to
glorify himself. I find his habitual lying something I cannot condone. And I do
not believe he has the skill, understanding, or leadership to solve the
problems this nation faces. His talk of vengeance against his detractors is
chilling, to say the least. I do not think he should ever be near the
presidency again. Of the problems facing this country, and the world, climate
change is the most serious. This threat has been ridiculed by Trump as
something manufactured by the Democrats, just as when COVID-19 arose he said it
was no worse than the common cold. Now over a million deaths later, we know
that was not the case.
A democracy is not a perfect
form of government, but it is far better than totalitarianism. Refugees are not
clamoring to get into Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, or Afghanistan. If we do
not stand up for our freedoms, we may wake up some day to find that they no
longer exist because we simply gave them away. From the time that Hitler
assumed power, Germany ceased to be a democracy in a matter of months. MAGA followers
have their mantra, and so did Nazi Germany. It was Make Germany Great Again.
America is already great, but Trump has tried, and is still trying, to undo the
very basis of our greatness by casting doubt, without evidence, that our
elections are free and fair. He just does what he always does; he lies.
