image courtesy of wikipedia.org
Campaigning with Vice President Kamala Harris in a battleground state, Republican Liz Cheney framed the stakes of the 2024 election like this. Our own security and our own freedom require that we have a president who understands America has to lead and that our strength comes from our greatness and also our goodness.
Cheney’s view of the importance of character in leadership is unarguable, but as to the nation’s greatness, history points to a different understanding of our place in the world. We were catapulted into international prominence at the end of World War 11. As the only Western nation left standing with a stable economy, President Harry Truman implemented the Marshall Plan, a strategy to help Europe rise out of its rubble.
That stability served as a magnet for the international banking system as well as for governments and the wealthy. They bought our bonds as a haven for their money, and our country imbibed the proceeds like drunken sailors. Before long, our expenditures exceeded our revenue, and this habit continues today, which accounts for a national debt that is in the stratosphere. As long as investors see our bonds as a safe place to park their money, Congress has no incentive to be frugal.
When President Richard Nixon decided to take our coinage off the gold standard in 1971, he risked weakening the dollar. To ensure it wouldn’t become worthless, he convinced Saudi Arabia to require that its oil sales be purchased in U. S. currency. The agreement kept our money in demand and explains why we turn a blind eye to much of Saudi Arabia’s politics.
Nonetheless, others have looked at our influence in the world with covetous eyes, particularly China and Russia. Together, they have begun to challenge our supremacy. BRICS is one example. It’s a separate money exchange where goods are bought a sold in other currencies. Several nations have joined them, including Saudi Arabia. Namely, they are Brazil, India, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, and Azerbaijan.
Some of our economists worry this new exchange will weaken demand for the dollar and force our Treasury to offer higher interest rates, a burden that is already destabilizing. In 2023, the country spent $658 billion to service the debt. Meanwhile, Russia and China have grown their spheres of influence, and fostering democracy isn’t in their plan.
Donald Trump seems oblivious to the challenges ahead, having increased the debt by $8.4 trillion during his first presidency. Given a second term, he would solve our problems by joining the tyrants.
To obscure that Trump inherited a strong economy and presided over its decline–due, in part, to Covid–he and his fellow Republicans divert our attention with fears about immigration. Unchecked, they claim the influx will dilute the nation’s character and weaken social cohesion. (“The Empire State of Mind,” by James Pogue, Vanity Fair, Nov. 2024, pg 81.) Too much diversity they add, without evidence, increases crime and burdens the welfare system.
If re-elected, Trump promises to begin mass deportations to rid the country of these vermin. But he won’t stop there. He will also target the 14th Amendment which gives citizenship to the children of immigrants who were born in this country. Down the road, some of his minions even dream of denying women the vote.
But why stop there? The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which is a Trump ally, would target the LGBTQ community as well. And, in the spirit of Dred Scott, at least one of Trump’s ilk talks of his desire to reintroduce slavery. Over time, the only people allowed to vote would be white heterosexual males who are Christian conservatives.
To be human is to blame others for our imperfect world. Attacking immigrants is one example. Even so, we’d do better to examine ourselves. On the question of drugs in this country, my Costa Rican mother used to say, “If Americans weren’t addicted to drugs, there’d be no drug trafficking”
Looking at our immigration problem through a different lens, we might see how our addiction problems erode the stability of foreign nations. Take Venezuela, for example. When we use sanctions and embargoes to punish a country overrun with cartels, we destroy the mainstream economy. The rich and powerful put their money in foreign banks, but without jobs, members of the working class can’t feed their families. Crime rises. People are murdered in the streets and honest citizens attempt to flee the country.
In fairness, let us consider the possibility that Americans drive the immigration problem.
Further, the unchecked power that Trump and the Republicans seek encourages the enemy within. Strong men don’t provide solutions, they suppress opposition. That way leads to madness. Consider Yahya Sinwar, the unelected Hamas leader. His passion to destroy Israel was so strong, that he admitted he would sacrifice 100,000 Palestinians or more to smite his enemy.
Likewise, Benjamin Netanyahu, as near a tyrant as democracy will allow, has also lost his way. Wrapping himself in Biblical authority, he hopes to disguise his war crimes. “Remember the Amalekites,” he says to Palestinians, reminding them of a time when Jews slaughtered every man, woman, and child of an ancient clan.
Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely because as ambitions rise, so does distrust. The inner circle purges itself over time, eliminating those who seem less loyal than others. It’s a never-ending competition to kiss the ring.
Promising to eliminate immigrants is easy because immigrants can’t vote. But who will come next? Catholics? Vegetarians? People with brown eyes?
Those who say they will cast their vote for Trump because they like his policies should pause. Do they know what those concepts are? Can they predict where Trump’s delusions will take him? Worse, can they imagine where the tyrant who succeeds him will drag us? Without the rule of law, are these Trump supporters confident their children and their children’s children will be safe?
