The Fall of American Democracy

In the recent US Presidential town-hall debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, the former very clearly and openly threatened his opponent with a special inquiry and prosecution to jail her.  If some non-American would have gotten confused whether s/he was watching a tinpot despot from a Banana Republic threatening to get even with his opponent, s/he could hardly be blamed!

[inlinetweet prefix=”Trump: ” tweeter=”drishtikone” suffix=””]In any democracy Laws, Rules, Institutions and Bureaucracy are there for a reason[/inlinetweet].  These components of a democracy aren’t always perfect.  In fact far from it.  Yet, they have a sense of impartiality.  Yes, we all know that there are people who game the system.  But that doesn’t bring down the need for a system.  In fact, it enhances the reason to abide by the system so much more.

In absence of systems come the dictators.  And the draw of dictators will not always bring a Lee Kuan Yew (who also was reviled in his country at his time).  One could get Kim Jong-un as well.  That is why instead of depending on the luck of the draw, the founding fathers of USA depended on a SYSTEM.

Not many in human history have done what George Washington did.  To share the power with all, even when he could have been the king of the country.  Now his vision and his work is being squandered because hatred and bigotry need to be exercised.  Incendiary ways have to become rights!

In a system, despite its many flaws and weaknesses, the government and its opponents work through the system, no matter what!  That is the sine qua non of a democratic set up.  Sometimes things go wrong and many times a large number of people are unhappy with things.  That is when they work with the different levers of the system to set it right.  Judiciary and the media are two ways to bring about change in the governance system.

In a banana republic, systems don’t matter.  Whatever the tinpot dictator decides happens.  And it is not restricted to getting your favorite “reform” or religious dictate go through and become law, but also what you eat, drink, and live and where you do what.

You see in a dictatorship – AFTER you have installed a dictator, YOU cannot choose.  He does!  And, since he is the unchallenged ruler, who can jail his political opponents, he makes sure you cannot criticize him or even question him.  Heck, in Saddam’s time, you couldn’t even look at his palace when you were driving past it.  And in China and Pakistan, you cannot access so many sites.  Why?  Because you – the passionate, revolutionary harbingers of change – aren’t mature enough to see that content!

Like I said – once you have handed over your destiny to a tinpot dictator, then you have handed over your entire being to him.  And, then you have no way to change anything.  System or no system.  That is it!  Try explaining that to the dark corner of your heart which harbored the bigotry which manifests as the tinpot over you!

In a multi-cultural society, decisions and policies always have to stand the test of being useful to the majority of the populace, if not all.  And, in that milieu, no group can make decisions on behalf of all others.  Whether one likes that or not.

I have always seen democracy as a cumulative of the vectors of social forces.  Whatever laws and policies we have today is manifestation of the whole society as a whole.  If we have a liberal populace, which is ok with Gay marriage, then it is so because, they believe rights to be equal for all.  That is where the vector of today’s social consciousness and forces ends up at.

To change the direction of a nation, one needs to work with the system and the consciousness of the people.  That is the democratic way.

And, it is perfectly fine if everyone in the nation decides that we are no longer going to be a democracy anymore and will be happy to go the Kim Jong-un way, but then please do not pretend that you are still living in the “greatest nation on Earth” or even can hope to make this nation worthy of any respect – forget “Making America Great“.  For, “Great” in a Kim Jong-un parlance has a very different connotation and it comes with a nice, neat genocide.  Of course, some “Deplorables of Trump” are already getting ready for a Deportation Force and leap of faith from a Deportation Force to an Execution Force isn’t ostensibly a whole lot.  But in real terms and for millions, it literally means difference between Life and Death.  For others, it means doing, eating, reading, singing, writing and speaking what the American Kim Jong-un wants you to.

As this gets published, we see that the Republican party is literally unraveling.  At the end of this election, it may not even be intact.  And, Trump would have lost.  Not just lost but lost by a massive landslide!!

Trump’s impact on American politics, however, will not just be that he brought the Republican party down.  But that he tore apart the democratic fabric of United States of America.  All these years, the Americans pointed at Russia or Cube or China as the powers who were out to destroy the US.  They never ever looked at their own hearts.  Ever thought really that the bigotry and hatred lurking inside their hearts will one day do far worse damage than any foreign dictator or power could.  For, their own bigotry when stoked well by vitriolic enough rhetoric could create a homegrown American tinpot Dictator.  And he could do the honors that no Russian, Chinese, Iranian or Cuban leader could ever dream of.

If you are reading this and were born much after America ceased to be a democracy anymore, then please know that this is where your misfortunes started for.  If, you are allowed to read this stuff anymore!!