The Experiment May Be Failing

The Great American Experiment in democracy was first labeled such by George Washington in an address on January 9^th, 1790:

"The establishment of our new Government seemed to be the last great experiment for promoting human happiness."

Ever since that time, American leaders and scholars have been referring to the Great Experiment to warn the American people: This democracy we hold dear is not yet, and may never be, without danger of complete collapse.

Throughout our two hundred forty six year history, only the Civil War was a greater danger to our republic than the nationalism and autocratic lure that surfaced during the Trump presidency.

I do not blame Trump for being Trump. As a mater of fact, some of his rhetoric is what many of us heard from family and friends at the annual Thanksgiving roundtable. In some ways, his lack of decorum and diplomacy was, somehow, refreshing - at first. 

But his abandonment of political correctness was not, as it turned out, the full measure of the man. Trump’s true nature was one of self-indulgent illusions of grandeur. Falsehoods, and an eerie attraction to dictatorial autocratic leaders, raised flags early. His autocratic role models played a part in his constant denials, coercion, and purges of those that spoke truth to power.

But Trump is not the bad guy here. It’s the Experiment that has failed us. The Experiment assumes the American system of government is run by patriots and servants of the people. It has checks and balances to protect the Experiment from any lone-wolf dictator that would subvert the rule of law and the republican institutions that make this Experiment work.

The deep allegiance to power that Trump fostered in his brief time in office has provided a primer on how to subvert the Experiment and introduce autocratic rule in an astonishingly short time. Trump was not exceptionally intelligent. The next person may be far more capable..

Trump surrounded himself with people smarter than him that he could manipulate. In short order he had loyalists in key roles in government administration and the judiciary. His popularity and ignorance combined to pull in factions in conspiracy theories and para-military militias. He elevated hate groups, Nazi organizations, and special interests that could buy his favor for an ever decreasing price.

The last vestige of the checks and balances lay with congress; and there he excelled. Using his nationalistic rhetoric and lies he could weld the power of his right-wing base as no one since Regan. His endorsement meant a politician could sustain their power and prestige. Opposition was a political death sentence for any right-wing incumbent. Nearly every right-wing politician pledged allegiance. They pledged not to America, as their oath demanded, but to an autocratic leader and a political party that was being built in his false image.

Thus, in November 2020, when the last true power behind the Experiment (We the People) could speak, he was voted out of office. The candidate that ousted him was not remarkable in any way. He was an aged lifelong politician. Lacked charisma. Nothing unique about his platform or agenda. But then the people were not voting for him. They were voting against what Trump had wrought.

Trump had thoroughly expected to win in a landslide. Just as he convinced himself that he was always right, even when lying, he convinced himself that any loss would be due to subversion. The primal fear of any dictator: A coup.

Trump rallied his pledges to get his power back. Power striped of him by massive fraud and deception. He called on everyone he had placed in office – from governors to judges and congress. He rallied his hate base and convinced them he had their back if they could overturn the election and reinstate him to power.

They actually tried.

Today, nearly a year after that election, his control over the right-wing establishment has weakened only slightly. Few right-wing politicians will admit Trump lost the election when asked. States still spend millions on lawsuits, audits, and other trickery to overturn – but it’s far too late. And nearly every state dominated by the Republican party has passed new laws in 2021 to insure more 'right minded' people can vote.

So, it sounds on the surface, that the Experiment did not let us down. We the People won out. Right?

Wrong. It should have never gotten to an election. And our nation is significantly weaker as a result. His fitness to hold the office was in question from the first year. Yet congress did nothing as they were ruled by party politics rather than their oath of office. If the Experiment had worked as it should, we never would have had the insurrection that followed.

It is clear to me now that Trump was intent on a second term because his complete transformation of the rule of law, the Republican party, and our checks and balances was not complete. He fully intended to ask congress to pass legislation that would allow him to be president for life. He just needed four more years.

Two key provisions in our government have made this type of takeover (from the right or the left) not only possible, but now I fear, probable, if we do nothing. They are both rooted in the lack of term limits.

Congress: Ridding the republic of incumbency is the ONLY answer to preventing political and special interest coercion. A SINGLE eight to ten year term (with provisions for recall) for any congressional seat - House or Senate - will suppress the need to abandon the oath of office for an oath of interest.

Supreme Court: A SINGLE twelve to eighteen year term of overlapping service that insures at least one justice is appointed to the court in each four year presidential term. And these appointments cannot be blocked by parliamentary means.

Single term congressional seats will result in several meaningful changes:

• More independent candidates: Without the ability to offer lifelong power and influence, political party endorsements will be less of an advantage. Often special interests today back parties & PACS. But with their influence on elections diminished, such interests would be open to supporting more independent candidates and popular viewpoints.
• More qualified candidates:  If serving in congress did not have a lifelong allure, we would see more retired veterans, collage graduates and business leaders willing to take 10 years to serve. They could still return to successful private lives and businesses when they leave congressional service. No more posturing for the next election. Once they were in office, their constituency would have more power than any party or interest.
• Much better governance: Case in Point: In 2019 the President attempted to subvert funds from FEMA to build a wall. Twelve republican senators voted with all democrats to block the move. Only those republican senators up for reelection during the Presidents term voted otherwise. Far from a coincidence, it serves as glaring proof of the coercion inherent in incumbency.

The role of parliamentary procedure in weakening the Experiment:

• The fact that a single person or president can appoint multiple Supreme Court Justices to serve for LIFE does not reflect the diversity of judicial integrity we should expect. Nor does the fact that a single person - like a Senate Majority Leader - can refuse to consider such appointments as long as they see fit.
• The parliamentary procedures that allow the party in power to delay administrative and court justice appointments must be outlawed. When the President submits an appointment for consideration the Senate should have 30 days to confirm or reject. If they do neither in 30 days, the appointment is considered confirmed.

Prince Otto von Bismarck (1815 to 1898) was a right-wing German empire builder, statesman and master manipulator. Bismarck is credited with crafting the popular diplomatic meme: "Politics is the art of the possible". 

Since Bismarck’s time, that phrase has been used as an explanation of failure to meet expectations by diplomats and politicians alike. The need to appease self-interest always trumps fixing what is broken. No pun intended. I have no illusions. This ailment will persist. 

On this date, October 2nd, 2021, congressional gridlock swirls around money. As it always does. Spending in and on America is the constant priority of congress and the interests to which they answer. How poorly the current government itself functions - and how grave the consequence of not fixing the causes – is on no one’s agenda.

JB