Humility Hour: Threats to American Self-government

I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible you may be mistaken.

— Oliver Cromwell, 1650

OK, I accept the challenge. Today I will consider comparative threats to what everyone — when convenient — likes to call American democracy.

In this corner, we have Donald Trump, who is now under 91 counts of felony indictments. It is true that he is still an accused person, which is not the same as being a convicted person. In December 2022, Trump wrote that his claims of election fraud justified “the termination of all rules, regulations and articles, even those found in the Constitution.“

In the other corner, we have the Progressive Left, who has a very rubbery interpretation of the Constitution. They are highly committed to upholding the Constitution — when upholding the Constitution leads to the outcomes they want. Otherwise, not so much. They like some amendments, such as the First and Eighth, much more than others, such as the Second and Tenth.

Consider the Paris Climate Agreement. The United Nations, which organized the conference at which it was signed in 2015, describes the agreement as “a legally binding international treaty on climate change.” However, the US Senate never ratified our participation in the treaty, as is required by Article II of the Constitution. In June 2017, as President, Donald Trump announced that the US would cease all participation in the treaty; on taking office, President Joe Biden signed an “instrument” to reverse this. The treaty has still not been ratified by the Senate. There is no clause in the Constitution excusing presidents from compliance with the other terms provided the president has really good intentions. The ratification requirement still exists and still has not been met.

Consider the legality of abortion. In June 2022, the Supreme Court decided Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, overturning prior Supreme Court decisions and finding the Constitution does not provide a right to have an abortion. Many people in this country were displeased by this ruling; I myself do not like the public policy consequences of it. However, influential people on the left have attached the Court over it; Laurence Tribe calls for packing the court to counter the influence of current serving justices.

Trump would not recognize justice if it hit him over the head — which may yet happen. The Democrats are campaigning for social justice, which is a contradiction in terms. All justice is individual, because only individuals are moral agents. Millions of Americans viscerally apprehend this, whether or not they can clearly articulate it.

The net is that neither side in this bout has any commitment to process. Both sides want the realization of their political agenda by any means available. Both sides claim that the other is a threat to our political process; on examination, both sides are correct. Neither side really gives a damn about process; they want what they want, period.

Donald Trump is entirely out for himself. Watching Joe Biden, I believe that he means well; still, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. This calls the question: if the President makes bad policy decisions, does it really matter whether his intentions are good?

Donald Trump offers despotism straight up. The Democrats serve despotism with a sentimentality chaser. The Democrats deliver verbally facile justifications, claiming that the country wants what they are planning to enact. Donald Trump renders parodies of these, with barely comprehensible word salads. All Trump’s actions are “perfect”; every measure taken against him is a “witch hunt”.

We could be facing a general election in 2024 in which we have, once again, a choice between the advocates of these two camps for President? What do we do?

Would you rather shoot yourself in the head, or give yourself the gas pipe? I choose c) none of the above.

The Lesser of Two Evils

Yes, the lesser of two evils is still evil. Yet, there is a very real possibility that such will confront us next year.

It’s usually easy to decide between good and evil (it can be harder to summon the will to translate decisions into actions, but that’s another story). It is harder to decide between evil one way and evil another way.

I still consider Donald Trump the greater menace to the Republic. These are my reasons:

• The Democrats have some public to whom they must answer, which imposes some limits on them. Donald Trump is in it purely for himself.
• The Democrats are a coalition, and there are natural problems keeping the coalition members focused on a common mission. This imposes further limits on the Democrats.
• With Trump, our expectations of his communication are reduced to the vanishing point. How do you hold a politician to account when you can’t even have a shared understanding of what words mean?
• To date, Trump and willing enablers have pushed the envelope of despotism further than have the Democrats.

Perhaps you don’t agree with my assessment of the relative risks. I can understand that. If you have considered the deficiencies of both sides and determined that there other risks that outweigh those I have enumerated, then you may decide on a different course of action than I have. Intellectual honesty forbids me from saying that you are wrong. I stand by my determination, using the facts currently available to me, but I recognize that I could be mistaken.

We will never know for sure which side poses the greater political risks. In 2024, the election can deliver at most one of the two possible results; the other will remain a speculation, a what-if scenario. You takes your choice and you pays the price.

Let your conscience be your guide.