Majority Rule?

 “Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely. The real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education.” Franklin D. Roosevelt

The topic of Saturday Evening Club speaker Terry Brendel's talk was "Majority Rule." The main focus was on how gerrymandering has subverted democracy in the U.S. Congress and state legislatures. Brendel noted that during the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, George Washington presided from a chair that depicted the sun, causing Ben Franklin to quip, “I have often looked at that without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting.” Franklin chose to believe it was rising, and Brendel hoped that was still the case.

 

Most participants slammed Trump's refusal to accept election results as a threat to democracy, our federalist system, and public order. Former IUN colleagues Pat Bankston and Richard Whitman, citing their experiences as poll watchers, ridiculed the notion of a fraudulent election. Referencing Jill Lapore's "These Truths," I mentioned that in 1789 no successful government had existed based on the three cornerstone principles of natural rights, sovereignty of the people, and political equality, Skeptical that pure majority rule was workable in a diverse nation, the Founding Fathers created checks and balances, separation of powers, and a federal system that retained state and local control over elections. I quoted cynic H.L. Mencken's prediction that “on some great and glorious day, the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be occupied by a downright moron.”  I added that Trump is certainly no moron but has historical amnesia and no respect for the Constitution. Bankston cited the erosion of political parties and the rise of social media as factors enabling a conservative populist demagogue to become president. I concluded by a quote attributed to Winston Churchill: “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.”

 

“"If we should perish, the ruthlessness of the foe would be only the secondary cause of the disaster, The primary cause would be that the strength of a giant nation was directed by eyes too blind to see all the hazards of the struggle; and the blindness would be induced, not by some accident of nature or history but by hatred and vainglory," Reinhold Niebuhr, quoted in Julie Lapore's "These Truths”

 

In an essay entitled “Trump’s Coup Attempt: Losing Power While Raking in the Loot,” Ray Smock wrote:

    After four years as president, Donald Trump still does not know a thing about how government works or how elections work. He thinks they work by the force of his will. He has squandered his entire presidency with little to show for it except his constant campaigning to keep the Trump brand before the public. The fecklessness of Donald Trump is staggering. His denial of Joe Biden’s victory is a form of mental illness. He lives in another reality, where he remains in power and is loved by the people. His pseudo-coup is so obviously frivolous that a smart ten-year-old could probably come up with a better plan to stay in power. Trump has only one game plan, the same one he has used his entire adult life. He hires lawyers to win for him what he is incapable of winning for himself. 

    At his own admittance on multiple occasions, Trump has claimed that the election might end up in the Supreme Court, where the results would be decided by just nine people, three of whom he appointed, regardless of the results of the elections in 50 states and the District of Columbia that resulted in a clear and decisive victory for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. The election was conducted with fairness and accuracy.  Not so, says President Trump. The election was rigged. It was fraudulent. The fix was in. He continues to engage in mask-less rallies since his defeat and gets the crowd to yell: STOP THE STEAL. Before we get to the inauguration next month, we could see violence as Trump continues to whip his hard-core followers into a frenzy. 

    Despite the pathetic squeals of the president, despite the dozens of embarrassingly frivolous lawsuits in battleground states, the president is shrinking before our eyes. Those state officials who conducted the presidential election, whether the states were run by Republicans or Democrats, are a solid phalanx against the president’s Rudy-suits. The Supreme Court refused to even touch a suit brought to overturn the Pennsylvania results. They dismissed it unanimously in one sentence and slammed the door. 

    One of the last pathetic attempts to make this pseudo-coup work is the effort of the Attorney General of Texas to throw the election to Trump by having the Supreme Court determine how the electors in the Electoral College are selected. He has been joined by 17 other states, all with Republican Attorneys General. I have read this filing and the thing that struck me is that it is a complete parroting of the unfounded claims of voter irregularities that Trump has been spouting at every rally. A section of the complaint, called “FACTS” consists of unproven allegations, many of which have already been laughed out of court in other lawsuits. There should be some kind of sanction or serious penalty that stops such blatant partisanship and such a raw power grab to overturn a presidential election.

These elected officials are not upholding the laws or the constitutions of their own states. They are henchmen in Trump’s pseudo-coup. They are engaged in sedition and they should be impeached for it. They are hiding behind a curtain of law in an attempt to overturn the law. 

    Trump has run out of challenges. The process of certifying this election, despite Trump’s efforts, did not derail the process from being on schedule. This train will arrive on time.

    What Trump has done since the election in terms of using the occasion to continue to campaign and raise money is another unbelievable degradation of the electoral process. People keep sending him money. His aggressive money machine never stopped when the election was over. He has collected more than $250 million dollars from his loyalists since November. He has, in effect, created a Super-Pac that will put money in his own pocket for his own purposes. “Help Keep Donald Rich!” This should be the slogan. Trump’s money grab is the greatest swindle in the history of political chicanery. Trump’s pseudo-coup has worked for him; not to keep him in office beyond his term, but to make him vastly richer on the way out the door. 

 

I replied: “ In These Truths historian Jill Lapore concluded: “Between the attacks of September 11, 2001, and the election of Donald Trump 15 years later, the U.S. lost its way in a cloud of smoke. The party system crashed, the press crumbled, and government imploded.” Let's hope Georgia sends 2 Democratic Senators to Washington and that the Biden/Harris team is up to a momentous task ahead.”  Ray responded, “Amen brother.”

 

 

The so-called runoff debates were very telling. Republican incumbent David Perdue was a no-show, claiming he'd already debated challenger Jon Ossoff twice. Addressing an empty stool, Ossoff said, "Your Senator feels entitled to your vote He is so arrogant that he is not here today to answer questions." Perdue and Republican colleague Kelly Loeffler had unloaded stock worth tens of millions of dollars after a closed-door briefing about the nascent coronavirus. Loeffler did square off against Raphael Warnock, senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church, the 11th of 12 children raised in public housing and an advocate for programs on behalf of the poor. Taking excerpts from Warnock's sermons out of context, all Loeffler could offer were wild accusations that Warnock was a Marxist "radical liberal" who was anti-military, anti-police, and had an arrest record stemming, it turned out, from a sit-in at the State Capitol on behalf of expanding Medicaid. Although he provided examples of why he believed in the free enterprise system, I was disappointed that Warnock didn't give as good as he got; but as Ray Smock has told me, a better strategy is for a candidate to speak directly to voters and basically ignore specious charges.

 

Even though the Supreme Court unanimously refused to overturn Biden’s victory, by a 6-3 vote they denied a petition to stop the rash of executions the federal government is rushing through during Trump’s final days, including that of Brandon Bernard, just 18 when he and four others robbed and then killed youth ministers Stacie and Todd Bagley.  The former prosecutor in the case and five jurors went on record opposing his death, and Trump turned a deaf ear to pleas from Kim Kardashian, who released this statement: “While Brandon did participate in this crime, his role was minor compared to that of the other teens involved, two of whom are home from prison now.”  Bernard last words were, “I wish I could take it all back, but I can’t.”  The family of Stacie and Todd Bagley issued this statement: “We pray that Brandon has accepted Christ as his Savior, because if he has, Todd and Stacie will welcome him into heaven with love and forgiveness.” 

 

On December 13, 1895, the Chesterton Tribune declared: “Everyone in Crocker hustles, which is why it is such an enterprising town, situated in a good farming locality.”  Located in Liberty Township, the unincorporated community was founded in 1892 upon the arrival of a rail line. A post office began operations the following year but closed down in 1905 when the predicted growth proved illusory.  The local paper also carried, tongue in cheek, this bit of town gossip: “Houses are so scarce and rents so high that Mr. Rice, our blacksmith, and Mr. Sphade, our electrician, have concluded to couple up.  One furnishes the provisions and  the other prepares the meals, and they live as happy as cats and dogs.”