In another forum, one of my Facebook friends and I have an occasional discussion regarding Trump. She has drunk all of the Kool-Aid in her glass, and still desires more. I find it amazing how she tries to defend Trump (and the GOP) against anything that makes them look bad and the Democratic party look good. But then, people who have been successfully scammed try to defend the scam, lest they feel like fools in front of others. This is human nature at its worst.
We are seeing the beginning of what could be the breakup of America along political lines, or the beginning of a healing process for this country. If the latter, many of the people who served to enable Trump and his attacks on our democratic institutions will also need to call out the extremists in their party, and finally hold the populists in check. And I see that the some of the GOP leadership is being forced to do just this. Will they be successful? Only time will tell.
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With the above being said, I can say that I have faith in this country and most of its people. On an individual level, most people are kind and decent people. However, the human instinct to identify with a family, a tribe, and a nation can cause good people to do evil things. That is why we need a representative government who will respond to the peoples' needs, but will take the time to think things out. Today, we're seeing the reasons why America needs a government with built in "circuit breakers", because we will occasionally need a political reset when a major system failure is imminent.
Today's political debates are a perfect example of the need for a reset. Four years ago, Trump won a hotly contested election. Many people in New York City and in the global banking community knew him to be a self-centered crook. But people outside these community saw him as a successful businessman, due to his former TV show. They were bamboozled by the glitzy image he liked to show the public. With untruths running free across the internet, and people choosing to see "news" which only supports their own biases, there was no way a competent political insider could win the 2016 presidential election. Four years later, after Trump applied a wrecking ball to our government and its political norms, it was time for a change. And yet, we have two political tribes that are as polarized as ever. So, we have the need for a reset.
I expect that the next four years will be that political reset. Biden will likely be the president whose most important priority will be to cool off the passions of the public, so that the 2024 election will be more of a traditional choice of candidates. Yet, this will not go as far as we need it to go - we need a government that can get needed things done. America won't be able to heal unless we fix the underlying problems of government. And that means that political gridlock must not be tolerated.
In 2017-2019, we saw what could happen when radicals from one political party controlled the levers of government. Once the House changed hands in the 2018 election, there was a check and balance on the party in control of government. In the 2020 election, we saw the public throw out a corrupt president. Yet, they also voted to check the excesses of the party in charge of the House. We're seeing something good - America as a whole wants moderation in government, and we may just be edging in that direction.
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When I started this entry, I didn't know what was about to happen. No one, save for security people, should have needed to be prepared for the mob which stormed the capitol building. These people are criminals, and should be treated as such. But then, we have a criminal for a president. And it's time that he be impeached and convicted for removal from office, or that the 25th amendment be used to remove him from office. Yet, this doesn't address the underlying illness we have in this country - 75% of the GOP loyalists believe Trump's lies. It will take at least a full generation to deal with this social sickness.
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Why am I writing about politics today? Well, we are affected by the machinations of those people who we elect to represent us. The Trump administration has not been friendly to Transgender people, and has acted to take away our rights and privileges. How many of us remember that it was Trump who acted to expel Transgender people from the military? How many of us remember his Education department's attacks on Transgender rights? What about his administration's attack on the census collecting data on the LGBTIQ community? We must remember the recent past, lest we allow an ignorant populist to get power again, harming us in his/her pursuit of power.
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