Democrats and Republicans
Democrats and Republicans
Do you want to hear what’s wrong with contemporary party politics in America? Do you want to know what the root of the problem is? I am going to tell you—and you won’t like it. The Republican party is the party of winning and success. The Democratic party is the party of morality and caring. Trump has tapped into that streak in Republican politics—he aims to win by whatever means possible. He is unconstrained by morality. The party politicians have simply capitulated to that amorality. This is obvious. What is not so obvious is the plight of the Democratic party, and here the problem is more disturbing, because irremediable. Party members want to be guided by morality but they are no good at moral thinking. They are morally illiterate (I wrote a book called Moral Literacy and I meant it). So, we get a kind of ersatz morality: a load of blather about God-given rights, the Constitution, pop psychology, bodily autonomy, “who we are”, the great American experiment, religious fervor, victims and predators/oppressors, the patriarchy, humorlessness, literalism, silly slogans (“me too”), virtue signaling, safe spaces, etc., etc. This leads to a barrage of catch-phrases and mumbo-jumbo. The Democrats have succumbed to the self-proclaimed guardians of virtue who spout nonsense. Accordingly, they have lost support and lost their way; they flounder in phony moral rhetoric. What is the solution? A university course in ethics would help, but it’s an uphill battle (I used to teach such a course and had to spend two whole classes demolishing moral relativism, which nearly every student thought was indisputable; and then I had to go on to demolish God-based ethics). The American mind is just not comfortable (a favorite word) with morality, the genuine article. They think it interferes with their “freedom”—and yes, it does. They are shameless and guilt-free. They worship popularity above all else. They have no idea of justice. They think morality has something to do with the law. They just don’t get it. Thus, the Democratic party lacks what it advertises itself as being—the party of right and wrong, of justice, of the good (as opposed to the successful, measured by money and “likes”). In the absence or morality, everything turns into a power struggle. That’s the state of things now.
I noticed that long ago. The Democrats only want to win an argument like one held in a college seminar at Radcliffe- the Republicans want to win- we’ll see what history thinks, which is what the Democrats care about. Let’s be civilized with the cro magnos taking over the zoo!
The trouble is that the Democrats have been taken over by bad philosophy.
Maybe Barabas from Marlowe would kindly come out of retirement to lead the resistance against Trump.
Some Democrat needs to get up on stage and after every stupid thing Trump does yell and point out how stupid it is and why it is hurting Americans where it really hurts. Pretty simple I think
The Democrats have to be prepared to go for the (metaphorical) kill when Trump’s policies blow up as they surely will. There are some of their voters who aren;t in the wolf pack but rather sheep who are scared (of what? Of immigration, of abortion, of crime, or of something even more trivial) they are sheep and the whole flock might wander or rush away from the abominable Trump, if it is made clear to them that he is a disaster waiting to happen. Not just put up a fight, like the Atlantic reports the base clamors but say I told you so as all of his idiotic policies spectacularly fail. There is a race between Trump the power grabber and Trump the disaster area- we have to be ready, not just to be right and moralizing, but to win as some dumb manager of the Giants in the thirties said was the only thing.