The Answer to the Democratic Party Dilemma of What to Do to Defeat Trump and the MAGA Movement

A few months ago, I did a Google search for “Preserving American Values.”  Many state and local Republican Party organizations came up in the search results because they use that phrase in policy documents.  Not a single Democratic Party organization showed up in the search results.

Then the other day, as I was looking for a new platform for this blog, I entered the title "Preserving American Values" and the sub-line: "Our nation stands under attack ... from within not without.  Both our politics and culture have been corrupted."  And this one platform, using AI, designed a whole new blog.  There was one big problem—the new blog was a MAGA site!  AI had assumed because of the words I used that I was a Trumpist, a MAGA adherent.  Talk about proof for the following argument.

I have for the past 2 decades—since writing the book, We Still Hold These Truths—argued that the Democratic Party should embrace America’s founding documents—the Declaration of Independence and Constitution—as the basis for their policies, making it their Mission statement.  That they should rightfully wrap themselves in the flag.  But they have not followed my advice.

Instead, it is the MAGA Republicans who have embraced the phrase “Preserving American Values,” cherry-picking those that they choose to advocate.  While Republicans have always wrapped themselves in the flag, claiming to be more patriotic than Democrats, they have now taken this a step further.  

This broader approach probably was influenced by Matthew Spaulding’s 2009 book, We Still Hold These Truths, excoriating liberals for perverting the country’s conservative founding values.  Given that I wrote a book of the same title in 2004, arguing that our foundation documents were decidedly liberal, not conservative, I disagree with him.  FYI, Spaulding was Vice President for American Studies at the Heritage Foundation for 2 decades.

By not tying their policies to our founding documents, Democrats have left themselves open to Republican criticism for being “elite”, somehow un-American, and not supporting the working man. 

Whereas in actuality, it is the Republicans who have always sided with the true elite—large corporations and banks—in their policy priorities. They have never been for the common man.  Donald Trump certainly talks the talk, but so far he has not really walked the walk.  Instead, he has surrounded himself with billionaires whose only interest is in enriching themselves and their class.  He has done little for the average American.

It is past time for Democrats to expose Trump and MAGA Republicans for what they are … hypocrites masquerading as the party of the people.

I will say once again what I've been saying since I wrote my book in 2004: Democrats must fight for the hearts and minds of the American people by creating a vision for America that the American people understand, one that they get.  A centrist liberal vision that speaks to all Americans, that does not pit one segment against another. And this includes corporations; they have a vital role to play, but they cannot to be allowed to control government or act against the greater good.

Luckily, there is a vision that is as American as apple pie; that every American knows by heart: the words of the Declaration of Independence.  I therefore proposed in 2004, and have since, that the Party adopt a Mission statement based on the words of the Declaration of Independence that brings all these policies together in a coherent message:

“To build a country of greater opportunity where:

• each and every American has a real chance to experience the promises made in the Declaration of Independence: 'that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness' ;
• government meets its responsibility as set forth in the Declaration—‘to secure these rights’—; and
• all citizens have a shared responsibility to support the government’s efforts to secure these rights and promote the public good, each according to his ability.”

The longer Democrats wait to wake up to the reality of how they have allowed themselves to be perceived, the longer they and this country will suffer under the so-called leadership of Trump and his Republican allies. 

 

This July 4th, There's Nothing to Celebrate - America Is Losing Its Light

America has been, for most of its 250 year history, a beacon to the rest of the world.  It has been a light of freedom and humanity-regardless its own failings—in a world in which there has been little freedom and humanity.  In a world where the 20th century saw the rise of dictators for whom the words freedom and humanity were of no use, where the peoples of Europe, Russia, and China were subjected to unspeakable horrors and daily deprivations.

In some countries, like Germany and Italy, the citizens voted these misbegotten men into office.  These men did not hide what they wanted to do.  But they were forceful, charismatic men, and the despair of the people resulted in their being hailed as God-like creatures:  der Führer and il Duce.  All the powers in those countries—politicians, judges, the military, educators—bent their knee to these elected dictators and swore absolute subservience to their leader.

If this description sounds close to home, it unfortunately is.  Trump is obviously no Hitler re the depths of his evil, but the analogy is nevertheless valid. Donald Trump was serious when he said he wanted to be a dictator or a king, and he was serious about all the outlandish things he said during the 2024 campaign, to which many Republicans responded by saying that that's just the way he talks; he won't do those things.  

Well, it turns out he did mean those things and he is implementing every aspect of the aggrandizement of power that he preached.  He is punishing his perceived enemies.  And he has taken all power unto himself.  .

He has with a flourish of his pen, through Executive Orders, not just put his imprint on government, but has turned the agencies of the federal government on their head—tearing down what Congress had ordered them to put in place over the years and changed their function to one of an adversary to the very people and institutions they were meant to protect.  

He has has turned Congress into little more than a rubber stamp; we have just seen that even when Senators and Congressmen criticize a piece of legislation in very harsh terms, when they are face to face with Trump they just roll over.  Some times he threatens, other times he flatters—the result is the same.  He knows how to handle these people.  I guess Trump isn't familiar with the words of Jesus—that the weak shall inherit the Earth.  For him, the weak, the poor, are trash who don't deserve the help of the government.

Even the judiciary has been impacted.  The judges he installed in his first term, and they are many, have been shown to be more likely to be open to his complaints than other conservative judges.  While there are still many judges that are saying that his actions are not lawful, many are finding them lawful and the Supreme Court has a mixed record of listening to his madness.

At this point, he's on a roll.  Everything is going his way.  And for the first time in my life, I fear for this country.  Even if he loses Congress at the midterms and a Democrat is elected President in 2028, it will take a long time to undo the damage that Trump has done to this country because it isn't just him, it's not just the government, it's the people that have become enthralled by him and believe in him.  

We've seen this in the reactions of the German people after losing WWII. There were many who continued to believe in Hitler and speak well of him, despite the destruction that he had brought to their country.  It took years of re-education and a generational change to bring about a reborn democratic and humane people.

America continued existence and flourishing depends on a populace who, as lawyers say, "agree to disagree."  With the exception of the Civil War, that has always been the case, and when it wasn't we were torn apart.  We have a populace now, because of Trump, who again do not agree to disagree.  That's why there's occasional talk of a new civil war.

Our only hope is for the Democratic Party to lead us back to the future, back to the founding document that was the core of the light that shown to the rest of the world—back to the words of the Declaration of Independence: 

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men . . .”