The empty-headed destruction of democracy

 I have never understood why anyone who believes in democracy and liberty, equality, and justice could vote for Donald Trump.  He is the antithesis of everything our country claims to stand for and has fought wars to preserve.  During the 2016 campaign, his behavior was widely broadcast from debates and campaign events.  His business practices were documented:  he stiffed contractors, he amassed huge debts that he didn't pay;  he lied about everything so that none of his business deals could be trusted; he slandered, insulted, and abused competitors; his businesses discriminated on the basis of race.  It is impossible to ignore Trump's record.  So, if one votes for Trump, we must assume that the vote is for the country to descend to the level of malice, stupidity, and criminality that Trump exhibits. 

The local newspaper published some letters-to-the editor which reveal the kind of mentality that votes for Trump.  They raise the question of what will become of democracy if the attitudes they express prevail.  They recall what skeptic-of-democracy Thomas Carlyle once said:  "Democracy will prevail when men believe the vote of Judas as good as that of Jesus Christ."   Those letters reveal mental processes so defective that they pose great peril for the nation.  

We tend to forget that there are people who attach themselves to authoritarian figures--sort of mental tape worms--and everything they say or do is in emulation of their host figure. If the figure says the grass is purple with orange stripes, to them it is purple with orange stripes.  They have no observations or ideas of their own.

One of the letters begins:

Pelosi and Schumer led their Mean Machine and slandered Trump every step; their charges were proven false every time.

The Democratic leaders have cited Trump's falsehoods and errors, and reported on factual matters Trump has done and said, but they have not said anything that can be defined as slander, unless revealing a person's offenses is considered slander.  And no one has "proven" their reports to be false. 

 Biden is vague, has no agenda and should be running for dog catcher.

In his campaign appearances and campaign advertisements, Bide announced a very specific agenda, including steps to control the coronavirus.  One might disagree with his agenda, but it is a total falsehood to say he doesn't have one.  Then, we have this model of coherent expression:

With regard to the Chinese plague, Biden wanted to open borders. Trump and Pence consult with the finest scientists who discovered Regeneron — the drug used on Trump.

Biden's response to the  coronavirus threat has been to “re-embrace international engagement,” leadership, and cooperation.  He has said nothing about opening the borders.  When Trump contracted a mild case of Covid-19, the Regeneron company obtained an emergency use authorization to try on Trump.  What the borders and Trump's supposed consultation with the Regeneron scientists have to do with each other is, well, you know, lost in a Trump kind of sentence.

If elected, Hidin’ Biden will leave major decisions to Harris, who represents the radical left. During the riots, Kamala said, “It’s about time they stood up for Black Lives Matter...” What the rioters need is to be in jail. One that has a woodshed out back. Martin Luther King, Jr. protested in a civil fashion. Let me be clear, Black lives matter. We all matter! Especially the lives of the unborn, who don’t stand a chance at the hands of an abortionist.

The idea that  Biden would leave the hard work of the presidency to Kamala Harris has no  basis other than the malevolent minds of his detractors.  But what Kamala actually did was to make a distinction between protests and rioters.  She rebuked the rioters, but encouraged  "the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."  The reference to taking rioters to the woodshed  and MLK and BLM is a muddle of inanity and incoherence.  It appears to be the product of mental incompetence, but reveals a perennial hazard within our democracy.  

Our founders addressed the matter of people of limited intellect casting votes.  Jefferson insisted that a democracy can survive only with an educated citizenry, and his influence was a force in the development of public education.  Education has the purpose of giving people the skill of apprehending facts and reasoning with them.   John Adams concurred:

“The Whole People must take upon themselvs the Education of the Whole People and must be willing to bear the expences of it. There should not be a district of one Mile Square without a school in it, not founded by a Charitable individual but maintained at the expence of the People themselvs they must be taught to reverence themselvs instead of adoreing their servants their Generals Admirals Bishops and Statesmen.”

Ben Franklin thought so, too: “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest."

Those letters-to-the-editor force us to confront the matter broached by Andy Borowitz:  How did people with such little knowledge or respect for facts get processed through our education system?   Educators accept that education does not have a lasting effect on everybody.  However, in an educated society, the ignorant and those with defective thinking skills are put in a context.   The uninformed and incapable have the right tp speak their minds, but the informed have the right and the responsibility to point out misinformation and defects of thought.  The accession of Trump to the presidency has given the deficient mentalities the temerity to put their thoughts on display.

The local newspaper in printing letters-to-the-editor that stated factual falsehoods breached a journalistic principle.  Newspapers I worked for and with abided by the rule to never publish as fact something we knew to be untrue.  If in a quotation a falsehood was stated, the principle of balance was applied through which correct information and its sources was presented.  As editors, we also were careful not to expose the ignorant and illiterate letter-writers to ridicule.  

Unfortunately, when members of the public have inanities published, our education system receives the blame.  In some school systems, that blame is deserved, as the development of competent language skills has been sacrificed to programing students into being obedient, unquestioning employees.  The corrective is to restore curricula which gives the prospective voters skills in information gathering and critical thinking.  

The alternative is to dismiss the concerns of our founders for what sustains a democracy and to surrender to ignorance and foolery.  Trump has given us a preview of what that will be like.