Most pundits noted the resilience of our democracy in the days
following the lethal violence within our nation’s capital. They, like almost everyone, believe that democracy
is our nation’s bedrock principle. Without
question we believed our democratic republic was the global gold standard for
any stable government.
That shine should now be gone. And our national hypocrisy exposed. An instigated mob of Trump supporters and
enablers used their view of ‘democracy’ to bring this fool to power and then sustain
his abuse of that power for four increasingly dangerous years. It would be laughable (and is from the capitols
of other nations) if his persistently proven lies, immoral exploits, and abuses
of power were not so dangerously foreboding.
There should be no doubt that it is important for people to
have a say in the laws of any government they will be forced to obey. It would be wise to grasp the fact that what
they have to say needs to match with reality.
Not just their own, but those of science and the basic foundation of every
major religion – the golden rule. But what
is far more important is for everyone to know that history has repeatedly
proven that democracies have never worked. Like houses built with flawed materials democracies
always collapse under stress.
There are a few undeniable truths that have fueled dozens of
succinct quotes by respected political analysis, philosophers, and even our
nation’s founding architects. My favorite
being Thomas Jefferson’s “Democracy is two wolves and a lamb deciding what to
have for lunch. And a well-armed lamb
contesting the vote.”
Another is the persistent economic, social, and political stresses
that remain rampant in our federal democratic republic 232 years later. Most
of these stresses can be pegged to the word ‘injustice’ - and an unequal enforcement
of an incomplete list of fundamental human rights. Rights that are essential to protecting the
life, liberty, and pursuit happiness (however you want to define that sloppy word)
for all. (I find it profound that the
author of our Declaration of Independence didn’t listen to his esteemed friend
and eventual signer of that Declaration, Dr. Benjamin Rush, when he suggested replacing
the word “Happiness” with “Health”. Image
where we would be today…if he had.)
Our nation has routinely praised similar violent displays in
other nation’s capitols as valid outpourings of anger against other ‘undemocratic’
regimes. Nearly 70 million Trump supporters
believed the last election was undemocratic.
Too few Biden supporters failed to learn (or want to remember or
believe) that our November election was a bit cloudy. Numerous states understandably changed voting
rules for ‘this’ election so it should be understandable for Trump’s supporters
to feel cheated. But the validity of
Biden’s eventual clear victory, should have been accepted. And minor flaws in that, or any election, should
never excuse and exacerbate the cognitive dissonance (a mental flaw we all
share) that drove Trump, and a majority of his followers and enablers, to clung
to challenging the outcome of an election - until after it resulted deadly
violence in our capitol.
Remember when protesters in Hong Kong violently broke into
the city’s legislative building in 2019?
US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called it “a beautiful sight,” and Mike Pompeo,
our nation’s Secretary of State said that the US stood with them and supported
their “freedom of expression”.
Before the deadly violence in our capital it would be difficult
to find many US political makers justifying the muzzling of both protesters and
the President. The 1st Amendment
is a bedrock of human rights in any valid democracy. But popular pressure inspired major social
media platforms to purge both Trump and his extreme supporters from their sites. Even before January 6 Trump himself claimed
those platforms were working against him. After the attempted insurrection Jafar Blori wrote
in Kayhan, an extremely conservative Iran newspaper, “Yes, you
heard right, the biggest pretender to democracy and freedom of expression in
the world,” the one that censures others for attacking the free press, “overnight
became the biggest censor in the world!”
How many Americans remember that the US was largely responsible
for the overthrow of Iranian’s legitimately elected progressive President? Or, the many other popular democratic
elections around the world our nation has undermined?
Then there is our nation’s 2nd Amendment -- based
on the fundamental principle of self-defense and our only real protection of ‘we
the people’ against a tyrannical government. I dare
to believe this amendment still holds. And that nearly every elected official at
every level of government who opposes allowing firearms into their house of decision
making (and passes laws to enforce it) is a hypocrite.
Going way out on a
limb I suggest that if guns were allowed without restriction into these institutions
(and even corporate board rooms) we would live in a far more just society where
those not abiding by the golden rule would have inspiration to reconsider.
If our elections continue to fail in ensuring such a culture
of fairness and respect at local, state, national, and global levels -- there are
no laws capable of preserving the stability and security that we all desire for
ourselves and our children. Something is
clearly needed to demonstrate the need for our responsibly exercising our freedoms
- in this increasingly interconnected world.
That said, real security is essentially an illusion. Without expanding our responsibility to live
our lives in ways that enables the lives of others to thrive, our freedoms and
our security will not be sustained.
There is a viable alternative to democracy as the most important
guiding principle in our American brand.
It is phrase frequently used but rarely defined or understood. Note how often you have heard the phrase “the rule
of law”.
Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy once offered the most useful
definition of this phrase when asked by an international audience “what makes the
rule of law most effective?” He said it
requires “three basic elements”. First is
democracy. People want a say in the laws
they will live under. But that is not enough. Hitler had that. Second is
justice. The laws need to be applied equally
upon everyone. But that still has problems if basic rights are ignored. The third, is that the laws must be
protective of certain inalienable rights.
Rights that everyone has because they are born. Rights they have regardless of their skin
color, age, sex, religion, ethnicity, or nation of birth.
To survive, we grasp the fundamental reality that we must unite
in making a basic decision on how we organize and manage our interactions with
each other (known as politics). In addition, we only have a simple spectrum of
options we can chose from. At one end of
the spectrum is completely unlimited individual freedom. No enforceable rules
or laws. At the other end? All out war.
With no means of effectively limiting the means of mass murder or mayhem
without abolishing nearly every human freedom.
If our minds can grasp these fundamental facts, then we can see
we need to engineer a political system we can live in that maximizes both our
freedom and our security.
Tragically, the concept of democracy is closer to the war end
of the spectrum. The “Rule of Law” is in
the smack in the middle.
If you haven’t noticed, the world is increasingly chaotic,
dangerous, and politically unstable. This is due to several basic factors.
1.
The evolution of multi-use technologies and their
global spread, affordable access, and anonymous use as a weapons of mass destruction,
death, delusion, or distraction.
2.
A persistent global system of governance that is
unjust, undemocratic, and unenforceable, while increasingly influenced by
populist movements that divide people instead of united them.
3.
Increasing global threats that can require unified
global solutions effectively addressing root causes.
4.
The evolution of pathogens regardless (and sometimes
exacerbated by) our reactions to them and the unsustainable degradation of our
planet’s/species’ life support systems.
5.
The resistance of democratic nations (and our minds)
to adjust to these accelerating changes and threats.
In a nutshell “Things change. Can we?”
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