I’m wondering too
The previous election cycle and now this one have caused me to agree with DirtyJobsGuy:
“It makes you wonder how many little tyrants are out there.”
If there’s one thing that’s now clear, it’s that many many people—left and right—don’t mind a strongman or even a tyrant if they think that the strongman or tyrant is on their side. Ends justify means, if the ends are the ends you desire.
This election has been an education for my 16-year-old son. His mother and I are both politically well-informed, and we often disagree. My son started out as a Trump supporter, but he has come to see that there’s more at stake than jerking his poor parents’ chains. I hope the electorate are as wise.
Both the left and the right are seeking the same thing: a benevolent dictator. Of course, each side its own view as to what / who that dictator should be.
Preserving the republic in a manner that controls the tilt towards “Ends justify means” is in itself an end that must be won via competition with the activist method.
Jo Sarich:
“Both the left and the right are seeking the same thing: a benevolent dictator.”
The Left and alt-Right are seeking that, unless you’ve already displaced the competitively handicapped activist-deficient conservatives of the Right, handed over their erstwhile branded domain, and consequently dropped ‘alt-‘ from the alt-Right.
I think there’s a much larger group–that is, larger than the group of those who are consciously left or right–who don’t even think in terms of political philosophy, end-vs-means, and so on, but simply want to be taken care of. They naturally look to a king or some variant thereof to do it. It’s a fundamental of human nature, really, the default mode, from tribe to nation: the big guy in charge. I thought that was very apparent among Obama supporters in 2008 (and since).
When you add their number to those who value the idea of having their party in power far more than they value the institutions of the U.S…yeah, that’s a pretty grim picture.
Mac has the right of it. Historically, the tyrant, king, dictator/strongman has ruled far, far more often than has the consent of the governed. Through ignorance, willful blindness and a childish magical thinking… the foremost political heritage ever bequeathed to a people is being cavalierly thrown away. Generations will curse our memory. We have met the enemy…
Various Philosophers and historical scholars have told us rather plainly that a democracy, or Constitutional Republic, has a finite life span. We thought we were different; maybe we are, and maybe we aren’t.
On the other hand, Trump is still only getting a plurality of the GOP vote. There is that. Circumstances of this GOP primary season have conflated his importance unnaturally.
I am not sure how the Democrat demographic breaks down in terms of freedom versus benevolent despotism. We know that there is a segment that wants power over others even if it means bending the constitution. Still, I know that there are a number of people in my close circle who are assuredly democrat voters, but who prize independence and freedom in their personal lives–they are self-supporting–but somehow think that government should actively control the activities that they find objectionable, and support the “less fortunate”. They just think of government as a benevolent entity. This attitude persist even among those who can see first hand that government is a rather bumbling enterprise. Then again, they have never experienced the dark side of government.
Sometimes you need an strongman, when the whole society is in danger.
Think in one the strongest men in XXth century: Winston Churchill. He never was a good prime minister in peacetime, but he saved England from Nazis during the war.
Neo, what you don’t see is that you dislike Trump because you look at him as a manager for peacetime, and he’s far from being good at that. The problem, though, is that many people in western world think that we’re not in peacetime anymore:
http://judgybitch.com/2016/03/02/the-trump-win-is-easy-to-explain-we-are-at-war/
Lincoln suspended Habeous Corpus.
Roosevelt put Japanese in intern camps.
These are considered two of the greatest American presents ever.
What Trunp has promised to that supersedes either of these? Oh yeah, enforce the borders. That’s horrible!
I’m sure every Trump supporter has one or more annoyances with the governance of this country. The problem is, imo, there is no obvious way to fix the issue, whatever it is.
The VA? “We’re federal employees and there’s not a G.D. thing you can do about us, so screw you.”
Kate Steinle (aka “who?”). All levels of government acted as they promised in order to get her killed and none of those involved said, “oops, my bad”. Instead, they promised to continue.
The IRS? You’re joking about fixing them, right?
The EPA? Anybody lose a job over that mine spill disaster?
Waco? Ruby Ridge? Resume’ enhancers, apparently.
So the issue is not tyranny for tyranny’s sake, but some other way than those we are supposed to be using to fix problems we have been told can be fixed in the traditional manner. But, demonstrably, are immune to the traditional remedies.
With the IRS, just for starters, maybe we already have a tyranny. With Loretta Lynch saying they’ve discussed prosecuting climate change deniers…and not being immediately impeached….