Trump is the Cultural Revolution
The Chinese Cultural Revolution has come to America in the form of Donald Trump. Rather than forcing the scientists to dig potatoes or encouraging middle schoolers to eat their teachers, the educated and knowledgeable citizens are being forced to be led by an ignorant bozo. In some ways it is kinder than the Chinese version, but in other ways it is more embarrassing and certainly more dangerous internationally. Our allies will no longer negotiate with us because our chief negotiator is unreliable and uninformed. And the Demagogue in Chief is the Commander in Chief of the military with his finger on "the button". What could be more dangerous.
Our Demagogue in Chief was elected because of the same problems that spawned the Chinese Cultural revolution - nobody listened or took seriously the culturally disenfranchised in America. The Democratic Party showed interest in immigrants, women, transgender folk, and people of color but they forgot about the small farmers, low income wage earners, fundamentalist Christians, and out of work miners. These later groups got back at the Democrats by electing Trump. Rather than forcing the intellectuals to slaughter pigs, they put a pig in office and forced us all to listen to him. Maybe the Democrats will take them seriously next time as deplorable as some of them might be.
As I've said before, the real challenge is for America to operate a multicultural democracy. This has never been done. Look at the ethnic divisions still going on in Europe and all over the world. Everyone wants to live next door to people like themselves. But with both physical and economic mobility folks are getting all mixed up. Without tolerance and forbearance we can't live and work with people unlike ourselves. These are the personality characteristics we need for our world today.
In the book How Democracies Die by Levitsky and Ziblatt, they say that tolerance and forbearance are the characteristics needed by our legislators if we are to have a functional government. But we need these traits in all of us. We need to be tolerant of people who do not think like us, look like us, or even speak our language. And we need forbearance - patient endurance and self control - when dealing with ideas and life style dissimilar to our own.
On the other hand, new immigrants to America need to do a little assimilating. They need to learn to speak English so we can all communicate. They need to understand how our government works and participate. They need to pay taxes. In the old days most people who came to America wanted to become "American" and some still do. But more and more they are being encouraged to hold on to their cultural identity in order to not feel so lost in a new country. This is good because it also flavors America with cultural spice. But eventually we all need to have enough common rules to allow us to live as one nation.
My blog on October 2 predicted Trump would be impeached partly because Mitt Romney was available as a seasoned, moderate Republican candidate for president. Today's Atlantic says now is the time for Romney to step up to this position. My blog also predicts violent insurrection if Trump is impeached. The violence will be started by those who believe in the conspiracy theory of the "deep state". Trump and the Republicans need to step up now to defuse this bomb. We need to hear from both Trump and the Republican politicians that impeachment is part of our constitution. That this process is not a 'kangaroo court' as Trump characterizes it. Unless Trump stops this Roy Cohn style brutal attack on the press, the Democrats, and the constitution then he will be responsible for the blood that will inevitably flow after his impeachment. Someone grown-up needs to speak to him and let him know he is dooming some of his followers to a violent end. Let's hope that Mitt Romney steps up so the Republican have somewhere to go after they vote to impeach Trump and let's hope that Trump throws off his Roy Cohn mask and starts acting like an adult so that his children don't come to a violent end.
The Trump presidency as the American version of the Chinese Cultural Revolution has been a lesson for many of us, a lesson that we need to know our neighbors better, and help take better care of them. We are all in this country together and we need to make it work.
Our Demagogue in Chief was elected because of the same problems that spawned the Chinese Cultural revolution - nobody listened or took seriously the culturally disenfranchised in America. The Democratic Party showed interest in immigrants, women, transgender folk, and people of color but they forgot about the small farmers, low income wage earners, fundamentalist Christians, and out of work miners. These later groups got back at the Democrats by electing Trump. Rather than forcing the intellectuals to slaughter pigs, they put a pig in office and forced us all to listen to him. Maybe the Democrats will take them seriously next time as deplorable as some of them might be.
As I've said before, the real challenge is for America to operate a multicultural democracy. This has never been done. Look at the ethnic divisions still going on in Europe and all over the world. Everyone wants to live next door to people like themselves. But with both physical and economic mobility folks are getting all mixed up. Without tolerance and forbearance we can't live and work with people unlike ourselves. These are the personality characteristics we need for our world today.
In the book How Democracies Die by Levitsky and Ziblatt, they say that tolerance and forbearance are the characteristics needed by our legislators if we are to have a functional government. But we need these traits in all of us. We need to be tolerant of people who do not think like us, look like us, or even speak our language. And we need forbearance - patient endurance and self control - when dealing with ideas and life style dissimilar to our own.
On the other hand, new immigrants to America need to do a little assimilating. They need to learn to speak English so we can all communicate. They need to understand how our government works and participate. They need to pay taxes. In the old days most people who came to America wanted to become "American" and some still do. But more and more they are being encouraged to hold on to their cultural identity in order to not feel so lost in a new country. This is good because it also flavors America with cultural spice. But eventually we all need to have enough common rules to allow us to live as one nation.
My blog on October 2 predicted Trump would be impeached partly because Mitt Romney was available as a seasoned, moderate Republican candidate for president. Today's Atlantic says now is the time for Romney to step up to this position. My blog also predicts violent insurrection if Trump is impeached. The violence will be started by those who believe in the conspiracy theory of the "deep state". Trump and the Republicans need to step up now to defuse this bomb. We need to hear from both Trump and the Republican politicians that impeachment is part of our constitution. That this process is not a 'kangaroo court' as Trump characterizes it. Unless Trump stops this Roy Cohn style brutal attack on the press, the Democrats, and the constitution then he will be responsible for the blood that will inevitably flow after his impeachment. Someone grown-up needs to speak to him and let him know he is dooming some of his followers to a violent end. Let's hope that Mitt Romney steps up so the Republican have somewhere to go after they vote to impeach Trump and let's hope that Trump throws off his Roy Cohn mask and starts acting like an adult so that his children don't come to a violent end.
The Trump presidency as the American version of the Chinese Cultural Revolution has been a lesson for many of us, a lesson that we need to know our neighbors better, and help take better care of them. We are all in this country together and we need to make it work.
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