The Grand Illusion
Donald Trump, in various ways, has indicated that he believes the American people want – and need – a dictator, and that he’s the right man for the job.
For all of his many and terrible faults, Trump’s greatest political skill is identifying and weaponizing the problems that most concern people – and then finding the worst possible way to address each problem, usually in a fashion that appears superficially acceptable to a great many people, especially his base, but which will lead to far greater difficulties in the future.
As for being dictator… the real and very basic problem he’s attempting to address is the fact that American government in so many areas is no longer working very well, and even where and when it is, too many politicians decry the situation because whatever is being done doesn’t fit their preconceptions of the way issues and problems should be addressed.
As a result, all too often, problem after problem either doesn’t get addressed or is addressed in a way that offends a significant percentage of the population.
And people are tired of problems not being addressed and solved.
Trump didn’t create this situation. The idealogues of both political parties did by inserting extreme religious and social ideologies into the political dialogue and campaigns, and the rank and file in those parties allowed them to do so.
The result is that people are becoming more and more disillusioned with what they perceive as a barely functioning democracy and are more and more willing to accept a dictator whom they see as willing to act.
And Trump and his ever-growing legions of sycophants glory in his filling that position.
Protests against his high-handed and increasingly marginally legal (and sometimes illegal) actions won’t stop him. The only thing that will is better government getting things done, rather than getting in the way of getting things done.
And very few of Trump’s opponents seem to understand that…or perhaps they just can’t abandon ideology in favor of moderate, practical compromise. Equally unfortunately, neither can his supporters.
However, no government can last that does not have the will of the people behind it.
Will enough Americans support the dictatorship that’s gradually being implemented? If so, for how long?
And how painful will breaking free of tyranny take in that case? 1776 to 1783 was seven long years…
Come to think of it, how unpopular is Trump right now? How much of the public disagrees with his tariffs, his ICE raids, and his position on pretty much every other issue?
Sure, some out there want a dictator. But anything resembling a majority? I’m not so sure.
Part of the problem is a lot of people are just tuning out politics because they think it doesn’t affect them. A lot of it does, but at this point they aren’t seeing or caring about the relationships because things aren’t simple and they have plenty of other things to worry about (many of which will get worse with the policies that are being implemented).
For compromise to work both sides have to be willing to compromise. The longer both sides radicalize available choices the more likely that responses will be violent. Apparently both sides in the U.S need a good kick in the teeth to get their attention.
I can’t recall whether it was Samuel Johnson or Edmund Burke who observed, “There are few minds to whom tyranny is not secretly delightful.”
I always took that to mean that people are attracted either to the notion of being a tyrant themselves, or to the simplicity of letting someone else be responsible for everything.
People are more interested in their version of a solution than they are interested in solving the problem.
Cost of housing going up? We can’t build more houses, that’d benefit a corporation! A high-rise apartment building to increase the amount of units in an area? We can’t do that, think of our home values!