The Trajectory Looks Scary

This past week I had a heated phone conversation about how wealthy people use their money. It made me stop and think about where we are headed as a nation. It was clear during the conversation that neither of us is against the accumulation of wealth, nor do we begrudge the right of billionaires to spend 50 million dollars to have their wedding in Italy with other uber rich people and celebrities as guests. Our initial disagreement was about the harm caused by the undue influence expenditures of that money in politics can have on our democracy.

Capitalism encourages people to innovate and work hard to achieve personal gratification and wealth. When people and the environment are not overtly exploited by capitalistic endeavors, Americans tend to admire folks like Henry Ford, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Warren Buffet. Some of them are philanthropists, giving huge amounts of money to help others. And that’s a good thing, however, a country of free people must never depend solely on the generosity of the wealthy to provide for our general welfare. That is the job of “We the People” according to our Constitution. We elect representatives to direct the taxes we pay to fund policies, projects and programs that support the public good. This is why it is important that each American pay his or her fair share and why cutting taxes for the wealthiest individuals often comes at the expense of cutting the funds that support the public good.

In our conversation, I argued we have created a problem that allows wealthy individuals to use their wealth to exercise extreme influence over our elected representatives so that they no longer have to pay their fair share in taxes, can exploit people and the environment with impunity, and can redirect the allocation of public tax dollars away from supporting the public good. To our detriment, a few extremely wealthy individuals are using their money to influence elections, bribe supreme court judges, and pressure representatives to make laws that suit their personal agenda instead of laws that benefit their constituents.

This is what we have allowed to happen over time with one bad court ruling after another. Our elected representatives are no longer representing “we the people” as set forth in our Constitution. They are instead representing the interest of the corporations and wealthy individuals who finance their campaigns, offer lavish gifts, and steer them towards profitable investments in return for passing laws that benefit their benefactors.

This “Big Beautiful Bill” that just passed is a prime example of how our elected Republican officials failed to represent the people in their districts in their pursuit of life, liberty and happiness. Their express job is to pass laws on behalf of “we the people”. Instead, they passed a bill that will cut taxes for the wealthy while devastating the lives of the most vulnerable people in their districts and increase funding for cruel ICE deportations. Most workers will not benefit from the no tax on their tips provision because of the requirement to itemize deductions. Budget laws that allocate our tax dollars are supposed to provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty for us and our posterity. That is how our representative democracy was set forth in the Constitution.

At this point, I think it will be helpful to define a few key words that are being bantered around these days.

Autocracy and authoritarianism – government in which one person has unlimited authority.

Aristocracy – government by a privileged upper class who are regarded as superior.

Communism – a system of social organization in which all economic and social activity is controlled by a totalitarian state.

Democracy – government in which supreme power is exercised directly by the people or their elected representatives. A state of society characterized by formal equality of rights and privileges.

Egalitarian – the belief in the equality of all people.

Fascism – a totalitarian governmental system led by a dictator and emphasizing aggressive nationalism, militarism, and racism.

Feudalism – a medieval European system of social and economic organization based on estate ownership of land and the resulting relations between lord and vassal.

Nationalism – devotion to one’s nation; patriotism.

Oligarchy – a government run by members of a dominate clique.

Socialism – a system of social organization in which the means of production and distribution of goods are owned and controlled collectively or by the government.

Totalitarianism – a government in which one party exercises dictatorial control.

I thought deeply this Fourth of July week about the founding and trajectory of this nation. I considered the history of our nation: its aspirations, its present state, and where it is headed. We must never forget that the Fourth of July is a celebration of revolution against rule by an authoritarian king and its feudal system of aristocrats. The Founders were determined to replace that system with a representative democracy. It’s important to understand that our founders came from European countries (specifically Great Britian), ruled by kings who appointed aristocrats, gifting them land and governance over those living on their lands. They were oppressed by the authoritarian king and decided to fight for independence.

Once free, our founders were determined to establish a more egalitarian society ruled by the will of the people, not a king nor his aristocrats. Mind you, they themselves were products of the world in which they lived. They were the aristocrats of the new world. They were white educated wealthy landowners who had indentured servants and owned slaves. Their wives were their property who had no property rights nor social rights of their own. The egalitarian ideas they pinned in the Constitution were aspirational in nature. The notion that “all men are created equal” was not a part of their social upbringing nor their lived experience up to that point. But they pointed our country in the direction of greater equality, liberty, and justice for everyone.

Over the years, we have put in the work (including a civil war and multiple protest movements) to progress towards a more perfect union where the egalitarian and democratic aspirations set forth in our Constitution were on the edge of being fully realized. We stopped killing native Americans and forcing re-education on their children. Women gained the right to vote, to own property, to work, to get credit and bank accounts in their own name, and they gained bodily autonomy. Black slaves were set free, and people of color gained the right to be citizens, to vote, to expect equal access to opportunities, and were moving towards equal justice under the law. LGBTQ folks were able to come out of the closet without being jailed and even gained the right to get married like everyone else. This was progress toward equality and justice for all. We finally celebrated our diversity, expected equity as fairness, and pushed for greater inclusion in all aspects of society. We even elected a black president. But not everyone was happy.

A sinister backlash emerged from just beneath the surface. It began as a whisper and under Trump’s leadership it has become loud, cruel, brutal, and overtly violent. It was fueled by lies, insecurity, bigotry, and a visceral need to permanently re-secure both power and money in the hands of white men. A few wealthy white men whose European forefathers had written the aspirational words of the Constitution have turned against those ideas. We find ourselves in a situation where a few very rich white men have funded and enticed white “Christian” politicians to say what was necessary to be elected so that they could then disavow their oath to the Constitution and ignore their constituents.

The Republicans today are by definition fascists. They strive to embody the definition of totalitarian rule wherein their Party exercises dictatorial control. They uphold the ridicious executive orders of Trump. Their particular brand of nationalism is characterized by whiteness and “Christianity”, and they villainize anyone who is not white, Christian, or heterosexual. They call those who are against them “communist and socialists”, but they are the ones who are creating a system (much like the one in China) in which all economic and social activity is controlled by them, the totalitarian state. Think about that. They are actively trying to control women’s bodies, the media, private industry, journalism, education, people’s sex lives, information, scientific research, and books in the same way the Chinese Communist Party and the Taliban do.

The Republicans applaud Trump as their front man, cheering him on as he destroys any expectation that our Constitution is to be followed and that we are in any way egalitarian. Republicans are working hard to destroy the established value in diversity, equity and inclusion so that they can return to the myth of white male superiority. They are paving the way for a return aristocratic rule where members of the ruling class both in government and across all industry are straight white males. While Trump has dreams of being a dictator (like a king) with his gold toilet and his cronies praising his every cruel action and stupid comment as brilliant, Republicans abandon the rule of law and the Constitution itself while holding an American flag in one hand and a Bible in the other. They ignore the teachings of Christ and pray loudly in public like the pharisees Jesus condemned for their hypocrisy. They ignore freedom of religion in favor of establishing a “Christian” state that has nothing to do with Christianity, but everything to do with white supremacy through oppressive laws backed by brutality.

Independence Day was this past Friday. I didn’t celebrate. Instead, I reflected on who we are and where we should be headed. I, for one, will not silently return to the days when women, people of color, and LGBTQ folks are simply vassals to wealthy white men. Let’s hope our protests will be enough, but if not, I suspect a second revolution is in our future.