The Immediate and Long-term Solutions for Trump and Trumpism
Hitler was given more than one chance to succeed in becoming Germany’s dictator. After various attempts, without being decisively stopped, he succeeded. Trump and his followers are a parallel. The Democrats and responsible, honest Republicans have to act immediately to impeach and remove Trump. He must be immediately detained, being a flight risk (possibly in league with a foreign enemy), and charged with treason and sedition. To wait for days or a week is to stupidly run a big risk. How many Republican senators would decide to align with Trump and oppose removal after the storming of the Capitol? Not many, in all probability. This is no time for foot dragging, for indecisiveness. Once Biden is in the White House, he must pursue a thorough investigation of the storming, the “stormers”, the inciters, the organizers, and hold them strictly accountable according to the law. It would be idiocy to not apply the strongest penalties, believing that would further “divide” the nation. A weak response ensures emboldened fascist extremists, in and out of government. That is the immediate solution for preventing another coup attempt by Trump and Trumpists in the near term. The long term requires correctly identifying the roots of Trumpism and which measures will succeed in eradicating it for good.
(A brief, important digression: The first thing Biden should do is immediately have Congress invalidate the fraudulent, unconstitutional Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) rule against indicting sitting presidents, ordered by Nixon to protect himself as Watergate was unfolding, knowing full well that indicting sitting presidents was indeed constitutional. Contrary to the devious rationale of the OLC, indicting is no more distracting than impeaching. In fact it is far less distracting. The Constitution does not explicitly list indicting a sitting president because it assumes that’s perfectly understood to be legal (following the principle that no one is above the law) and would therefore be redundant, while it had to explicitly list impeachment since it was a novel, additional way to control a wayward or criminal president, through Congress instead of through the judicial system. Also, attorneys general should be barred from being involved in all matters concerning the presidents who appointed them, due to conflict of interest considerations. Attorney General Barr illegally applied the invalid OLC rule, being perfectly aware of its fraudulent, corrupt origin, in order to prevent the Mueller indictments from being prosecuted.)
Incredibly, so far it seems hardly anyone has focused on the root of the Trumpist problem, namely that the great majority of extremists are undereducated, illogical, frustrated, angry, alienated, and mentally disturbed, as evidenced by their supporting an ignorant president who admires dictators and repeatedly asserts “Covid is a Democratic hoax” while ridiculing and discouraging masks; their believing the mainstream press is fake and full of lies; and their adhering to absurd conspiracy theories with no supporting evidence, just allegations and fabricated evidence from anonymous or discredited sources. Those who stormed the Capitol are most probably not college graduates (if some are, their college degrees are from third rate institutions).
Sure, there are some “stormer” inciters and organizers with graduate degrees, even from prestigious universities, but that does not per se mean being “well educated” and it does not exclude being mentally disturbed, as are all supporters of authoritarians, on the left and the right. The key to not having many undereducated, illogical, angry, alienated, and mentally disturbed citizens is to provide a universally excellent public school education with an enlightened curriculum: its importance is paramount since many youths do not go to college or get a truly excellent college education. Even many graduate students are not truly well educated, rather only narrowly educated for a profession. Contrary to popular belief, just being a lawyer doesn’t mean being truly well educated or qualified to be president, or even senator, representative, governor, or mayor.
To be truly well educated means being a “Renaissance” person. We need all our citizens to be “Renaissance” persons. That’s not too ambitious a goal. It can easily be achieved with an enlightened public school curriculum. The problem is we have been complacent and satisfied with offering a low average level of public school education, instead of demanding a truly excellent one for every single youth.
Consider what an enormous difference it would make to have the following courses included in the public high school curriculum: 1) logic and critical thinking (an antidote against falling for QAnon, cults, con men, aspiring dictators, dishonest and corrupt politicians, demagogues, liars and spinners; against believing Covid-19 is a “Democratic hoax”; against politicizing public health measures such as mandatory masks during pandemics; and against half the population not having the common sense to understand that masks are very effective against spreading the virus, and being oblivious to the example set by Taiwan and Singapore) with case histories and work shops; 2) economics and investing (with annual economic forecasting and portfolio management competitions), including explaining why QE financing can often avoid the need to increase taxes or cut spending; why QE-financed tax rebates (not ultra-low interest rates) should be the standard economic stimulus tool; why long-term capital gains taxes should be eliminated, being especially unfair to homeowners but also to investors and economically counterproductive; and why many mainstream economic theories governing our economic policy are fallacies, such as those regarding budget deficits and the causes of inflation, as proved by relevant statistical history (economics is simple, it’s only badly taught); 3) analysis of domestic and world history in great detail from 1900, focusing on the causes of World War I and II; on the causes of communism in Russia and why communism failed; on the causes of fascism in Germany and Italy; on the causes of the Great Depression; on the various causes of anti-Semitism and its culmination in the Holocaust; on the causes of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (“land” is a simplistic explanation); and on the causes of Islamic terrorism; 4) ethics and empathy (missing all too much in our society and government, as exemplified by our having separated migrant children from their parents) with case histories and workshops; 5) the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the history of human rights violations, which would serve to totally discredit racism, sexual and religious discrimination, intolerance, and censorship; 6) introductory law and Constitutional law, including explaining why the Justice Department’s OLC rule against indicting sitting presidents (ordered by Nixon to protect himself as Watergate was unfolding) is corrupt and unconstitutional; why the presidential pardon power is constitutionally limited by conflict of interest and corruption considerations (ours is not a banana republic constitution); and why attorneys general must recuse themselves from all matters pertaining to the presidents who appointed them (this conflict of interest rule would have freed the Mueller Report indictments to be prosecuted instead of being illegally suppressed by Attorney General Barr); 7) comparative religion, pointing out major religions’ similarities and differences, and the many egregious violations of human rights in the three holy books of monotheism; 8) history of art, architecture, and design; 9) history of music; 10) the major mistakes in economic, social, and foreign policy over the past 100 years and which would have been the correct policies; 11) a four year course on psychology accompanied by indispensable “group therapy” and “good parenting” workshops, which would greatly reduce violence, crime, addiction, abusive behavior, and psychological problems. Of critical importance is to provide individual assistance for students having academic or psychological problems, in order to prevent them from falling behind and dropping out. For uniform public school excellence nationwide, we need an enlightened national core curriculum and a serious national high school graduation exam, with federally funded college scholarships for low-income students. This public school reform is absolutely essential for the nation. One can safely bet that not one of our politicians has a well-rounded education, and that they all have deficient knowledge in many of the critically important topics listed above.
It is crucially important to acknowledge that Trumpists, for all their flaws, do have a couple of valid positions that any enlightened government (which we have not had) should address knowledgeably and intelligently in order to reach an acceptable, effective compromise. It is not yet clear whether the Biden Administration is capable of doing that, though it would like to unite the nation.
For example, Trumpist opposition to gun control is valid when one considers that gun violence (including mass shootings) is due to mentally disturbed individuals and that guns are and will always be readily available, like addictive drugs, on the black market, regardless of laws and regulations. Democrats should admit that gun control laws would not work any better than drug laws and focus on the only effective measures to greatly reduce gun violence: mental health, starting at a young age with four years of psychology in every high school, along with group therapy and good parenting workshops. At the same time, gun proponents must understand that it should not be allowed for people to walk around public spaces with guns: that is unconscionable in a civilized society. By having a course on introductory and Constitutional law, everyone would understand that militias are allowed only when they are called forth, organized, armed, disciplined, well regulated and governed by Congress, and when trained by the States according to the discipline prescribed by Congress (Article I, Section 8; and Amendment II). Private and free-lance militias are unconstitutional.
A second example is Trumpist and Evangelical Christian opposition to abortion. Democrats stubbornly, inflexibly defend abortion ideologically as though there were no negative aspects to it, and do not seek an effective solution acceptable to everyone. They put ideology above practical, effective solutions to the controversy. They should start by acknowledging that abortions are not happy events for anyone, not even for the women who undergo them, and that abortions should be avoided, regardless of religious or other grounds. Since practically all abortions involve high school dropouts, Democrats should put the emphasis on preventing unwanted pregnancies. That requires providing a truly excellent public school education with individual assistance to students having academic or psychological problems, in order to prevent them from dropping out. While Democrats must agree to focus on preventing unwanted pregnancies, abortion opponents must acknowledge that making abortion illegal has never prevented illegal abortions, just like drug laws have failed to control addictive drugs. Both sides must be logical and focus on the real goal, the prevention of unwanted pregnancies, which much more than anything else will lead to the practical elimination of abortions, legal and illegal. Real solutions, not blind ideology.
A third example is Trumpist opposition to “open borders” and illegal immigration. Democrats cannot logically justify “open borders” (half the world would want to immigrate to the United States!) and must acknowledge that every nation has the right to limit immigration. We have always had limits on immigration, and no one has ever claimed that was illegal or immoral. With many Americans in financial straits and health care very expensive, Trumpists have a point that our resources should be prioritized for citizens, not illegal immigrants. Democrats should focus on devising a humane solution for illegal immigrants, acceptable to both Democrats and Trumpists. As for our asylum crisis, the humane and effective solution would be requiring all asylum requests to be made at U.S. consulates in the country of residence, not at our border. That would prevent dangerous long treks to our southern border from Central America, and crowds at our border. In addition, we should have a major Peace Corps program to help poor nations develop though education and infrastructure projects. That would be in our own national interest, beyond being a valuable demonstration of goodwill and generosity. Regarding Trumpist complaints that many non-citizens voted, even if mistaken, it would be logical to have national ID cards verifying citizenship and legal residency, just like most European nations have, to ensure that only citizens can be registered and receive mail-in ballots. That system would also serve to expose foreign spies and terrorists living in our country.
A fourth example is Trumpist opposition to “socialism”, exemplified by high taxes, soaking the rich, and mindless handouts. The Democrats should understand that achieving the goal of eliminating poverty does not require socialism and soaking the rich, it requires providing every single youth with a truly excellent education through an enlightened curriculum. Democrats should also understand that QE financing of important government programs avoids the need to raise taxes, and does not entail an increase in real federal debt. If Democrats carefully studied economic history, they would understand that budget deficit fixations are misguided, as are “economic austerity” measures, particularly at times of unemployment and unused productive capacity. Democrats should also understand that the wealthy should not to be punished, since wealth is indispensable for investment and economic progress. Raising taxes on the rich only leads to less investment in venture capital, for example, the key to a dynamic economy. No point having invidious tax policy. Whatever the rich do with their money is good for the economy: consumption creates jobs, investment leads to more jobs and raises the economy’s growth potential. However, eliminating tax shelters is logical, as they reduce productive investment and unfairly benefit the wealthy. Biden should forget about raising taxes and forget about the deficits. He and the Democratic Party should repudiate socialism, explaining that poverty is not caused by capitalism or income inequality, but by a poor public school education and misguided economic policy. He should concentrate on stimulating the economy. In fact, he should eliminate the long-term capital gains tax which is economically counterproductive by limiting investment, apart from being unfair to homeowners and investors.
A fifth example is Trumpist opposition to the “individual mandate” of Obamacare. Democrats should finesse that opposition by requiring those with high enough incomes to afford medical insurance but refuse to buy it to be responsible for their medical bills. That’s a free market, non-socialistic policy. Meanwhile, Trumpists must understand that covering the poor through Medicaid is simply humane, not “socialistic”. As for Trumpist opposition to mindless handouts, Democrats must acknowledge that our welfare programs have not been successful when they do not provide effective guidance, structure, and discipline. For example, New York City’s welfare programs have been shameful, resulting in chronic widespread homelessness and children shuttled from shelter to shelter, from welfare hotel to welfare hotel, from school to school, with their lives and education totally disrupted.
Why is it so difficult for Democrats, Republicans, and Trumpists to find mutually agreed solutions to our problems? Because of a deficit of logic and critical thinking and deficient knowledge. That’s why a high school course on logic and critical thinking is essential along with the other courses listed above, so that all our citizens become “Renaissance” citizens.
Our scandalous shortcoming in not providing a universally excellent public school education with an enlightened curriculum is attributable to our very mediocre political leaders of the past fifty years, who have been responsible for repeated gross failures in economic, social, and foreign policy. If we want highly competent government, we need to require all our political candidates to show they are truly qualified, i.e., capable of explaining all the major mistakes in economic, social, and foreign policy of the past 100 years, and which would have been the correct policies. By that standard, none of our presidents, senators, representatives, governors, and mayors have been truly qualified. When have we ever had any truly qualified politicians? What should be realized is that truly highly qualified political candidates would generally be of much higher character than the candidates we have had over the past fifty years. As a nation, we have undervalued the importance of character, not just for politicians, but also for business leaders. The example of character must be set from the top, apart from being taught in every public high school if we want a highly moral nation.
What should be clear is the need for a very advanced post graduate degree for all political candidates, ensuring a high degree of logic/critical thinking and a high degree of expertise in economic, social, and foreign policy. Due to unqualified political leaders, we have been paying a very high price in terms of poverty, addiction, violence, crime, racism, bitter political divisions, incompetent policy decisions, and high taxes. Today, we are even risking the destruction of our democracy at the hands of various corrupt, immoral, unqualified, incompetent, demagogic politicians backed by enormous numbers of undereducated citizens who fall for them and for absurd conspiracy theories. It’s the fault of our collective complacency and lack of common sense. Will we, as a nation, finally see the light before it’s too late? How long before truly qualified candidates with enlightened, detailed platforms are sought out and elected? How long before we finally provide a truly excellent, enlightened public school education nationwide, in order to have a very well-educated, well-rounded, well-adjusted, highly moral citizenry committed to democracy and human rights, and a serene, economically and socially prosperous nation?
© Edward Sonnino 2021
January 8, 2021
