A New Years Warning

Happy New Year to the USA. Goodbye to 2020 – and hello to the erosion of democracy.

2021 is here and every one of my predictions and assessments of Donald Trump have proven true. He is an autocrat in waiting, a cult figure, a liar, a fraud, and the greatest danger to democracy in America since Hitler and WW2.  

The danger is not from Trump himself. He’s just a delusional psychopath and pathological liar with fans. The danger comes from those that believe him to be the white savior of American freedoms. When actually - he is exactly the opposite.

The analogy to Hitler is not entirely 'Fake News', as Trump would say. Hitler's followers too believed him to be the nationalist hero that many Trump supporters think him to be. And like Trump, Hitler was not all that smart nor was he all that well liked by those that came before him. Their power came not from their effective leadership, but the lack of it by their forbearers. From millionaires that see profit in Trump’s lack of integrity to politicians that seek power through his followers, Trump and Hitler have much in common.

At this moment in America, We The People have spoken. Voted out of office by nearly 10 million popular votes and a hundred electoral votes, Trump insists the election was rigged and he had actually won. He asserted massive fraud in states that he won in 2016, but he did not in 2020.

Given the overwhelming evidence to the contrary, and the lack of any evidence whatsoever of any election irregularities of note, his stance should be laughable. But the opposite is true. A significant cadre of Republican representatives and senators are demanding an audit of an obviously fair and free election. Even going as far as to object to the certification of the election itself by congress.   

This is a turning point in democracy. When the foundational pillars of freedom and patriotism are denied by the very people we elect to uphold the self evident truths of democracy, we are setting a precedence from which we may never recover.

Great democracies never just fail. They are eroded. Like the slow drip of water on a rock. Sooner or later the rock is sand if the erosion is not addressed. Integrity is the foundation of a democracy. When it is lost, corruption replaces leadership, quartzite becomes sandstone, and erosion is inevitable.

Remember this election. Teach about it in schools and universities. Decry it in the free press and social media. List names and dates. Be assertive in your analysis and bold in your warnings. Only if the vast majority of Americans are alarmed can the erosion be stopped. 

JWB