"History teaches us again and again that democracies can fall, they fall to populists, they fall to strongmen, strongmen who beguile their fellow citizens with conspiracy theories and false emergencies."
Liz Cheney, speaking in Wisconsin this week
I cited these words of Liz Cheney just two days ago, on Friday.
The subject of that post, titled A transformative act of violence, was the appeal of strongman government led by a charismatic leader who promises to get things done without the complications, delays, and "minority rights" impediments of a democracy. Power isn't awarded gently and gracefully unless people consent to that. It can also be seized, because a populist leader demands it and isn't stopped.
Our Constitution was not designed to be efficient. It was designed to allow a rough consensus within a large and complicated nation, through rights assigned to states and national power divided among branches of government. Trump and his supporters spoke last night in Butler, Pennsylvania about Trump's divine anointment. Trump said he "took a bullet" for us, and survived thanks to God's watchful hand. Friday's post observed that Trump was leaning into the necessity of cruel, decisive strongman government. Those people who sought and chased a recalcitrant Mike Pence were patriots, Trump says. He says we need to be "real rough, nasty" to stop crime. He claims the mandate of Heaven and the support of a majority of Americans. It is a fight, he said, between good and evil, and he represents good.
Democracies and constitutional government are fragile. Democracies with the peaceful transition of power are not the equilibrium state of human organization. A book many of us read in high school, Lord of the Flies, explored what happens when a small group of boys are isolated and forced to organize themselves. They did not establish a constitutional democracy. Gerald Murphy taught high school English in California. He describes an assignment he gave his students.
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| Gerald Murphy |
Lord of the Flies Revisited
The first high school English class I taught had “Lord of the Flies” as required reading. I thought it would be nice for my students to think about how they would behave if they were somehow stranded on an uninhabited island, an island with lots of fruit trees and wild pigs to capture and eat. What would they do for food, shelter, and what sort of a government would they set up?
They came up with a society not unlike Thomas More’s “Utopia,” including communal property and no class distinctions. They thought it would be doable if the work was shared and food distributed equitably.
It could be a little paradise on Earth.
One cynical student, however, brought up the problem of crime. What if someone refused to go along with the majority? What if someone steals, or fights, or destroys the harmony by spreading vicious lies? What’s to be done with them?
The answer came quickly: Build a prison and keep them there until they learned to cooperate.
And if they still won’t obey the majority? Some students suggested torture. Others thought the "bad" people should be exiled to another island. And some proposed execution for the ne’er-do-wells to keep peace and harmony permanent.
In short, it didn’t take my students long to come up with some of the same problems that bedeviled the kids in the novel. You can develop acceptable norms for behavior in any society, but there is always a snake in the tree whispering treacherous thoughts, a jealous Cain willing to knock off his peaceful brother, and a Jack able to convince a sizable group that the way forward requires a strong leader who will eliminate the clumsy and inefficient ways of democratic leaders to give us a shortcut to Utopia. We just need to trust the Dear Leader. And like Jack in the novel, he may not be gentle and kind, but at least he gets things done.
In times like this, we need a man of action to lead us, to protect us. Why not the Dear Leader?
I hear he’s available.
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6 comments:
Trump’s supporters are well aware of his bigotry, misogyny and dictatorial aspirations. That’s what they love about him. He panders to his base by talking tough and stupid, but he’s not a strongman. He’s old, fat and increasingly demented. His coup attempt and election sabotage are traitorous. Supporting him is, at its core, unpatriotic.
Strong men don’t need bluster. Real strength is caring about others and helping the less fortunate. Hopefully in November, far more Americans will embrace the better angels of their nature and reject Trump’s deranged, self-pitying ranting and raving.
Don Old's supporters don't realize that he can't be trusted to do his job.
And eventually he will turn on them.
He's a conman and his defenders are the marks.
Remember "surrender monkeys," in particular to belittle the French; and "freedom fries"? Remember "weapons of mass destruction" and 9/11 was Sadaam Hussein's fault? That was Dick Cheney and George W. Bush. If Donald Trump loses this November, Liz Cheney will claim vindication. Who will be Lord of the Flies for the next round of America's endless wars? It was not that long ago when it seemed we couldn't do worse than George W. Bush.
Utopian ideas are great, until they run up against human nature. At that point you end up like China during Mao’s Cultural Revolution, Cambodia under Pol Pot, etc.
It may be the nature of some humans to slaughter and oppress, but certainly not all or even most. We don’t expect Utopia. We just expect people to abide by our Constitution and rule of law or be held accountable. Republicans are outraged.
Thomas More himself was quite familiar with human nature, which is why his coinage and literary creation “Utopia” means “no place”.
No surprise that powerful ideologues expend their energies suppressing the “enemies” responsible for thwarting utopia’s realization.
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