Democracy is about building

No one believes for a minute that Trump understands how Constitutional Democracy works. This is evident in his questioning of elections and his obvious suggestions that he might not vacate the office should he lose the election, or worse that he might not allow the election to take place.

The constant hope is that if push comes to shove, Republicans will push back. Unfortunately, Republicans have been silent in the wake of so many Trump atrocities that one has to question their own understanding of Constitutional Democracy, including the role of Congress.

I’ve been reading John Bolton’s book, The Room Where It Happened. My takeaway so far has been there was enough ego in that room to embarrass and de-feather the most self-respecting peacock.

Just as the peaceful succession of the presidency is key to our democracy, so too is the idea that one administration builds on the work of the previous one, and in the process, the country will move forward—always toward a more perfect union.

Making things better is what good governments do.

A perfect example of this, coming in a crisis no less, was the efforts of Bush, Obama and McCain, along with Republicans and Democrats in the closing days of the 2008 election when the country was falling into a recession. That may have been the last time our nation worked as one.

On the night that Obama won that election, Republicans in Congress essentially declared, “We’re out of here. Anything you do, you’ll have to do without us. Furthermore, we’re going to make doing anything as difficult as possible.

So Obama moved ahead on his own—not because he was a dictator as Republicans claimed, but because they had relinquished their responsibility to do anything except obstruct. They claimed he was an illegitimate president, not quietly in back rooms but as loudly as they could, not because the election was rigged, but because they didn’t think he was a naturalized citizen.

First was the Affordable Health Care Act, which made health care available to millions of Americans.

Then came the Paris Accords, which enabled the world to speak with one voice against a global problem of climate change that will spare no one.

This was followed by the nuclear pact with Iran, signed by every industrial country in the world, but never approved by the Republican Congress.

DACA was an attempt to ease the pain of millions of young immigrants, who everyone agreed, at least publicly, deserved a break because they had done no wrong. Again Republicans passed.

President Obama was continually forced to go it alone, and then roundly condemned for going it alone.

The thing is, none of these actions resulted in perfect fixes. They were initial steps toward solving big problems. As our forefathers noted, we only strive for perfection, nothing more, and nothing less.

Republicans however, who tend to treat the founding fathers as if they founded the Republican Party, see things differently. More and more, they seem to strive for something less.

Trump, with the support of Republicans has killed one Obama initiative after another rather than try to build on them. Treaties, regulations, programs, even his strategy for dealing with a pandemic have been abandoned.

The only time they even pretended to make something better was their “repeal and replace” approach to Obamacare, which failed miserably because Republicans at their core, and Trump despite his boorish bragging, are not builders.

Democracy is dependent on builders if it is to succeed.

Anarchy—something Trump seems obsessed with—centers on destruction.

If there is one thing we can expect from anarchists, it’s that they will deny they are anarchist.

Four years of Trump and the last ten years of Republican control have demonstrated a complete lack of understanding of what America stands for.

To think Republicans will protect us from a destructive Trump is foolish thinking. We have repeatedly seen that they are not up to the task. Why would they be? He is only walking along the path of destruction they have laid out.