2020 has already established itself as a year that will be in the history books for decades, if not centuries to come. It might also be the time when 244 years of American democracy comes to a crashing halt. The destruction of this cherished institution will not be the product of German Nazis, Soviet Communism, the International Zionist Conspiracy, the Masons, Antifa or any other real or imagined outside source. The engine of this tragedy will be a second-rate real estate and reality show con-artist who managed to defame the Constitution, American values and the American people and somehow got away with it.
Although I’ve never been a supporter of Sen. Bernie Sanders, he got it right last month when he declared that this election isn’t between Donald Trump and Joe Biden but between Donald Trump and democracy.
Simply put, Donald Trump is Vladimir Putin constrained by our democratic institutions. That constraint is being deliberately whittled away. If such whittling succeeds, America is in danger of becoming a failed state, an abysmal kleptocracy like Russia.
The signs are already there with Trump’s demonizing of the Free Press, his desire to become president-for-life, his meddling with the need to vote by mail, use of Gestapo tactics against peaceful demonstrators and lately, his white militia thugs threatening to kidnap or murder state governors. Should these trends become our fate, then the United States will cease to be that “shining city on the hill” and descend instead into a morass of authoritarian repression and corruption.
I have few illusions that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will transform our country into some enlightened utopia. All presidential campaigns contain their share of grandiosity but the Democratic Party decided to go all in by embracing progressive ideals instead of tiptoeing timidly around them as they have in the past. Biden, unlike his competitor, is a decent man who will steer our ship of state away from the abyss that it is currently in danger of tumbling over.
Personally, I don’t need to share a beer with Biden or have him sympathize with my woes or me with his. I want him to be a leader who rolls up his sleeves, tackles our problems with truth and intelligence and makes America great again. We’ve had four years of a selfish, incompetent egomaniac who cares only about himself and the tragic result is obvious to those of us who value facts and critical thinking. We no longer have the luxury of Trump’s deficiencies of moral character. American democracy hangs in the balance.
Myself, I will vote for the Democratic slate because I love and believe in my country. I always have and am lucky to have traveled over the length and breadth of it. While I have never been blind to the dark and ugly side of our history, I note that for so many years, people like my ancestors, fleeing oppression and poverty, have come to our shores to find the Statue of Liberty welcoming them in, a promise negated by immigrant children caged at our borders. Quoting Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., I want America to live up to its promise, to make it what it ought to be. In short, to walk its talk. “We, the People” is a sacred contract, not a campaign slogan.
My dislike of Donald Trump comes down more to the personal as opposed to the political. I don’t like him because I dislike cruelty, bullies, liars and braggarts. I don’t care for individuals who bring out the worst in others, as Trump has. I wouldn’t like them even if they were members of my family, which fortunately they are not. This coming election is less about the economy and more about values.
It’s worth remembering that in August 2015, Donald Trump began his presidential campaign by labeling Mexican immigrants as “rapists and killers” which, of course, they aren’t. His racist scapegoating was all it took to fire up his base and little has changed in his attitudes. Over the course of Trump’s 2016 campaign, he loudly and unapologetically insulted the disabled, combat veterans, African Americans and women as he continues to do so to the rapturous cheers of his supporters. What’s obvious to me, however, is how much contempt Trump has for those who adore him.
Those are Donald Trump’s values. If you vote for him then, whether you like it or not, those are your values too, Values that someday you will have to justify to your children and grandchildren.
Daniel A. Brown lived in Franklin County for 44 years and was a frequent contributor to the Recorder. He lives in Taos, N.M.