Remember Donald Trump’s convention speech so many months ago? The part where he said, “No one knows the system better than me. That's why only I can fix it." Were you scratching your head, wondering why so many American people believe him and are willing to give him the opportunity to fix our country?
Well, it turns out that four years ago Justice David Souter forewarned us of such a person showing up and promising that he could fix everything. Rachel Maddow showed a clip at the end of her show tonight. What Justice Souter said should give everyone pause. The entire segment is below, but here’s the money quote from Justice Souter:
Some one person will come forward and say, "Give me total power and I will solve this problem." That is how the Roman Republic fell. Augustus became Emperor, not because he arrested the Roman senate. He became Emperor because he promised that he would solve problems that were not being solved. If we know who is responsible, I have enough faith in the American people to demand performance from those responsible. If we don't know, we will stay away from the polls. We will not demand it. And the day will come when somebody will come forward and we and the government will say, "Take the ball and run with it. Do what you have to do." That is the way democracy dies. And if something is not done to improve the level of civic knowledge, that is what you should worry about at night.
Anyone who stays away from the polls and does not vote, is giving Donald Trump the power he covets. Anyone who votes for a third party candidate and stands by and watches Donald Trump become President, is helping to kill our democracy. We have to get out the vote for Hillary Clinton! What do we have to lose if we don’t? EVERYTHING!