Ever since the Pleistocene era, “conservatives” have held three dogmas sacred. First, tax cuts and deregulation solves all economic problems. Second, belligerence solves all foreign relations and domestic crime problems. And third, business people are superior in practical (any maybe even moral) wisdom to anyone else in almost any realm of human endeavor—and that goes especially for government.
Well, the first two dogmas were put to the test during the last Republican administration. The result of the experiment should have been instructive: destruction of international economy and worldwide turmoil. (To be clear, there is more than enough proof in history that Republican “principles” always turn out badly when implemented. But there is plenty of evidence to support that truth everywhere on DailyKos.)
Now Trump and the Republicans are set test the third and last dogma just as spectacularly. The Trump cabinet contains as many names from business backgrounds as Reagan’s cabinet, which had the most of the past five presidents. (Check out bit.ly/… and bit.ly/...) On top of that, Trump himself is nothing but a businessman, and a piss-poor one at that, despite his “wealth.” (Money doesn’t expunge the stains of moral turpitude, demagogic instincts, or aggressive ignorance, nor does it turn a pile of excrement into flock of angels.) And on top of that, everyone in his inner circle whom he is likely to “listen to” (whatever that means for a megalomaniac like him) probably has a business background.
So here comes the test. When the failures, crises, disasters, and collapses start issuing from the business “successes” who have no knowledge of, or experience with, the difficult art of governance—which, because peoples very lives are at stake, can’t be steered like a corporation or other bottom-line entity—the experiment will prove conclusively that the third Republican “principle” is also a lie.
Then the question will remain: Are there enough Americans remaining who have the intelligence and character to act on the evidence and turn against Republicans once and for all? The nearly three-million voters who dealt Trump his popular-vote loss indicate that there are enough of us.
But can we overcome the original sin of the Framers in their dealmaking to get a federal constitution—namely, giving the citizens of small states more weighty votes than citizens of large states? (This sin was inseparable from its obverse face—slavery.) The Framers worked hard to prevent the tyranny of the majority. But their deal-making has now landed us in a tyranny of the minority, who (judging from the execrable demonstrations of character they have exhibited over the past forty years) show every indication of making their tyranny permanent.
And as the horror of inauguration approaches, it seems to me that the proof Trump and the Republicans are about to provide about the utter fraud of “conservatism” will not be grasped by the very people we need most to turn against Republicanism. I am astonished by the millennials and younger people who still don’t seem to understand that these are not normal times. I have spoken to many who still believe that the parties are the same, that politics is just a power-struggle that doesn’t affect them, and that their lives will go on as usual.
For those of you who know someone like that, let me suggest a resource I came across just yesterday. It’s a new ebook perfect for young people who don’t follow politics closely. A very short read, it brings them up to speed on everything they need to know to understand that the new regime is not just going to inconvenience them—it’s going to completely destroy their future.
The book is Trump Revealed and Republicans Unconcealed for Millennials by Scott McMurrey. It’s brief enough to read on a short lunch break, and it’s only 99 cents, but I see on the author’s website (bit.ly/ScottMcMurrey) that it’s going to be free on January 20-21.
There’s not much in the book that wouldn’t be known by someone at DailyKos, but I’m going to give it to everyone I know, both young and old, who thinks that politics doesn’t play much of a role in their lives. Because they’ll be lucky if the Trump/Republican politics of the near future doesn’t actually KILL them and their loved ones.