The Problem
“These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine
patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that
stands it now deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.”
– Thomas Paine
The American Crisis – 23 December 1776
We Americans once again are in political crisis. Unlike the revolutionary war period, today’s crisis is one of our own making. It is the result of both the political, legal decisions we made in governing ourselves and the decisions we did not make; where we allowed precedent and custom over time to harden into democratic norms of belief and behavior which are even more essential to our society than any written law. Centuries ago, our forbearers decided that we should have two political parties compete to package our choices in government. The parties have changed names and positions over time, but essentially one will represent a conservative position on governmental policy, while the other counters this position with more liberal ideas on governance. The parties themselves, recognizing that limiting the electorates choice to just these two alternatives enhanced their power, both adopted a “conservative” position in actively repressing the establishment of other political parties. The last time there was the establishment of a new major political party was over 160 years ago before our Civil war when the Republican party was formed to prevent the spread of slavery to new states in our United States.
Our two party system requires that both parties wholeheartedly conform to the discipline of the following societal democratic norms of belief and behavior to function properly.
- Both parties must agree to work with each other, toward the common good of our country
- Both parties must agree to abide by the results of elections
- Both parties must agree that government at the Federal, State and Local levels all have a role in maintaining the common good for all of us
Our current crisis is that only one political party in our United States, currently conforms to the above democratic norms of behavior – the Democratic party. Many members of the Republican party have openly rejected these norms of belief and behavior of civil society. The Republican party for my entire lifetime ( I am 61 this year ) has been lowering it’s standards in all these areas, in favor of a policy of consolidating political power in any way possible. This consolidation of power and influence has been accomplished by their refusal to compromise, ignoring opportunities to enact policy for the good of all Americans, and a rejection in the idea that government itself ( except for police ) is necessary for any society. The Republican party has replaced the societal democratic norms in their party ideology with the ideal of absolute individual freedom, however it is a freedom that only those who agree with Republican ideas enjoy. Some examples.
- Business free to pollute our common water and air, and pay lower ( or no ) taxes than the common individual taxpayer.
- Every individual free to openly carry semi-automatic weapons in public while we experience mass shootings nearly every day somewhere in our United States.
- Full personhood rights to a fetus while the woman pregnant with that fetus is denied the right of lifesaving healthcare to terminate that fetus even if it is not viable until she is on the verge of death herself.
All Republican party members, voters, and office holders own this madness in their sabotage of policy making and bear responsibility for the rejection of the normal democratic values and behavior which would lead to sound governance for our United States.
With the emergence of former President Donald Trump, this degeneration in the integrity of the membership of the Republican party has moved with stunning speed. I believe most Americans are overwhelmed by the new normal of naked corruption which has sullied many of our most cherished American institutions by the Republican party. The most notable victim of corruption being the Federal Judiciary, especially the majority Republican nominated members of the Supreme Court, where precedent has been replaced by partisanship, and constitutionality seems to be whatever policies this “conservative” majority wants to inflict on the rest of us.
It is my thesis in The American Crisis – 2024 that the United States cannot exist in any recognizable form with one of our major political parties intent on their own self-aggrandizement rather than the common good of our United States. The following postings will outline the damage that Republican party members and office holders have done to themselves and our United States. I will conclude these essays with a posting of the remedy to our Crisis. It will take us all, working together as Americans, to save our country. It is my hope that we can once again return our country to common norms of democratic governance.
“that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
– Abraham Lincoln
Gettysburg Address – 19 November 1863
What is Good 