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. 

 

The Radical-Right/MAGA Perspective Is Not True to the Intent of Our Founding Fathers

The Radical Right of the Republican Party—whether it's the MAGA movement or radical jurists and historians who may not be MAGA—all hold to the same basic tenet:  that the Constitution and Declaration of Independence are to be interpreted as the words were intended at the time it was adopted.  The theory is called "strict construction" by jurists weighing the Constitution or it's called "self-evident" truths by historians analyzing the Declaration.  They find a difference between what was intended when written and the way the words have been interpreted in modern times.

This theory is contrary to the perspective of liberal thinkers who view the Constitution as a "living" document, meaning that the words retain their essence, but their application changes as the world the words are applied to changes. They find the intent of the Founding Fathers to be different than the Radical Right does.  Are these two ways of looking at our founding documents contradictory or complementary?

First, let's discuss the idea of strict construction.  The Constitution was written to last a long time.  Jefferson may have famously said that having a revolution regularly would be a good thing and that the Constitution should be reevaluated every 20 years, but for most of the Founding Fathers, the Constitution was written in such a way that it could be applied as written for a long time, with appropriate amendments when needed. It was thought to be a flexible document.

And indeed, that's the only way of looking at the Constitution that makes sense.  Literally rewriting the Constitution periodically would create harmful instability.  Jefferson's thought about reevaluating the Constitution is exactly what the courts do—deciding what is covered and what is not; applying the original intent to current circumstances—so there has been no need to rewrite it, except for adding amendments.

If we look at the Founder's intent—and it always comes back to their intent—we see that they were creating a document for the future, not just the here and now.  The question should be how would the Founder's interpret their words applied to the current situation, not how we interpret their words looking at the context in which they lived.  See below.

Next, let's look at the meaning of "self-evident."   Matthew Spaulding, formerly Director of American Studies at the Heritage Foundation, says he is a believer in the self-evident truths proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence and argues that liberals do not believe in the self-evident truths.

On its face, his statement seems incredulous, for who more than liberals, i.e. Democrats, believe fervently in the principle of equality and that all of us, each and every one, has the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

What becomes clear in reading Spaulding is that "self-evident", meaning obvious, is determined for him by what the a person would see or think looking around at the world he exists in.  As he sees it, the truth of equality then would not be the concept of equality that we have today.  The meaning of the word "men" would not have the all-inclusive implication we give to that word today.

But while the phrase "self-evident" does indeed mean obvious, requiring no reasoning, he uses the man on the street in 1776 to interpret what the words "equal" or "men" mean.  This is where Spaulding's interpretation is in error.  

John Adams and his fellow Founding Fathers were not the average man on the street in 1776.  The were men of the Enlightenment, the philosophical movement that held sway among learned men in the 18th century.

What did "equal" mean to John Adams?  While Adams said that there were many false notions of equality—words the Heritage Foundation focuses on—he goes on to say that equality "really means little more than that We are all of the same Species: made by the same God: possessed of Minds and Bodies alike in Essence: having all the same Reason, Passions, Affections and Appetites."

This is what the Declaration means when it says that it is self-evident that all men are created equal.  A more modern notion of equality could not be stated, except the reference to God.  (Today, those who don't believe in God would say that we are all the same miracle of creation.)  Clearly, Adams believed that regardless of color, regardless of social status, we are all basically the same when we are born, even as to how we are wired.

As for the meaning of "men,"  those who subscribed to the Enlightenment often used that word as a shorthand for "humanity."  Thus the use of that term by Jefferson in writing the Declaration means that all people are created equal.

In both cases, the intellectual/philosophical justification for the narrow reading of our Founding Documents used by both the intellectual thinkers of the Radical Right and the average Radical Republican or MAGA adherent does not hold water.  It is contrary to the intent of the Founders. And so their whole system of interpretation falls.

The Founding Fathers were not "small" men.  They were great men with huge intellectual capacity.  Some, like Jefferson, were bound to earth by their association with slavery, but their minds soared.  It is that soaring mind that is reflected in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.  And it is their minds and intent that should form the basis for interpreting these documents and applying them to the present.

It's easy to cherry-pick statements from a life of writing to make your point as the Radical Right does.  Conservatives have done the same with the Bible in order to make their arguments.  But when the Founding Fathers' life work or the Bible is looked at as a whole, then the real self-evident truth is revealed.  There is no conflict between looking at the Founders' intent and looking at the Constitution as a living document.

 

Are Liberals Destroying America's Ideals?

In the opening paragraph of the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025, it wrote, "America is now divided between two opposing forces: woke revolutionaries and those who believe in the ideals of the American revolution,"  

What a perfect example of fake news.  By taking on the mantle of American values and attacking their opponents as destroying those values, the Heritage Foundation has done what Trump and his allies always do: they accuse their opponents of doing what they themselves have actually done.  In truth, it is the MAGA-Right that perverts and destroys our founding values.

This distorted view of our founding documents was formalized in Matthew Spaulding's 2009 book, We Still Hold These Truths.  Spaulding is a former Director of American Studies at the Heritage Foundation.  In the book, Spaulding faults liberals for perverting the vision of the Founding Fathers.  Liberalism is the enemy.

For example, in speaking of the "certain unalienable truths" proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence, he states that liberals have "rejected the idea of self-evident truths and enduring principles."

How bizarre.  It is liberals, i.e. Democrats, who embrace the words of the Declaration of Independence.  Given the MAGA-Right's assaults on immigrants, LGBTQ, people of color, and women, it is clear that it is the MAGA-Right that has rejected these truths.

The position that support for conservative arguments can be found in our founding documents is not without basis, as I stated in my 2004 book, We Still Hold These Truths: An American Manifesto. But the MAGA-Right disavow traditional conservative positions. 

What they advocate instead is the dismantling of the Federal government to comport more with the Anti-Federalist view—a weak and limited national government—that was the basis of the Articles of Confederation, rather than the view that was adopted by the Founding Fathers after the failure of the Articles and was the basis for the Constitution—a strong and multi-faceted Federal government with proscribed checks and balances.  

True, some of the Founding Fathers, such as Jefferson, were concerned that a strong federal government would constrict the rights of citizens and so he proposed what became the Bill of Rights.

But for the MAGA-Right, there is no recognition, appreciation, or tolerance in their point of view of the rights of others.  For example, as MAGA Christians in what they consider a Christian country, they believe they can forbid gays to marry and demand that women act in accordance with MAGA beliefs. This is not protecting MAGA freedom of religion. This is imposing MAGA's religious views on others, violating others' rights.  They pursue the denial of liberty to others. 

If you read Spaulding's book—if you didn't read it carefully—you could come away thinking he is a reasonable man who respects our founding documents and history.  He has, for example, a section on equality and equal rights that is a powerful exposition, which one would think would presage support for all civil rights legislation as well as the DEI efforts of government.  He certainly talks the talk.  

But when it comes to the implementation, to the interpretation, of these words, he doesn't walk the walk, but distorts their meaning to suit his own political ends.  He and the MAGA-Right have a one-sided view of liberty.

The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are profoundly liberal documents for their era that depend on the balancing of powers and of rights. What the MAGA-Right is attempting to do, and in the short-term are succeeding, is to destroy that balance—whether it's between the branches of government or the rights of people. Their goal is to create a government and system of laws that is a radical departure from our historic ideals and values.

This destruction of American ideals can only be stopped by the people, by their realizing what the Trump administration is doing, and how it affects them and their children.  It is only by their votes that this perversion of America can be stopped.

Given the massive misinformation campaign by the MAGA-Right, for this to happen the Democratic Party must mount a counter-campaign to inform the public what America's true ideals are—what our founding documents and the Founding Fathers said—how the Trump administration cynically perverts those ideals, and how that perversion impacts us all.  That is the focus of my book, We Still Hold These Truths: An American Manifesto.

The MAGA-Right and Spaulding speak of equality, of freedom of religion and speech, and liberty being dependent on a respect for both rights and responsibilities—these are indeed America's ideals—but they just mouth the words; their implementation of those concepts limits and perverts the Founders' meaning.  And that meaning comes from the Enlightenment—the words were aspirational—not from the facts on the ground at that time.

For example, in saying that all "men" are created equal, the Founders meant that all mankind have certain unalienable rights.  Their "self-evident" came from the fact of creation—that "we were all of the same species; made by the same God"—not what they saw looking around them. These rights don't belong just to white men or the MAGA-RIght.

The traditional meaning of "balance of rights and responsibilities" is that someone in the exercise of his rights has the responsibility not to thereby interfere with the rights of another.  But the MAGA-RIght's interpretation is that others have the responsibility not to interfere unjustly with the practice of their rights; for example, by regulating business.  Whereas they aggressively interfere with the rights of others because, again, they do not acknowledge the rights of others.

But beyond this information campaign, the Democratic Party must rediscover the source of their policies and communicate that source to the people.  This source is not "liberal" thinking, or progressive "woke" thinking.  Instead, the foundation of all their policies are the words of the Declaration of Independence. 

To this end, I have proposed a domestic Mission statement for the Democratic Party:

"To build a country of greater opportunity for all where:

• each and every American has a real chance to experience the promises made in the Declaration of Independence … ‘that all men [mankind] are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights … Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness;’ 
• government meets its responsibility as set forth in the Declaration … ‘to secure those rights’ … within the constraints of fiscal responsibility; and
• all citizens have a shared responsibility to support the government’s efforts to secure those rights and promote the public good, each according to their ability, and to not, through the exercise of their rights, impinge on the rights of others."

This statement is the moral philosophy, the heart, the soul of American democracy. This is, or was, America’s common faith. 

I believe that this is the path out of the abyss of Trumpism and back to a government and policies that will truly make America great again—government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

 

More Hitler - Trump Analogy

I wrote a post on October 7, 2024 noting an analogy between the state of Germany and Germans in the 1920s that facilitated Hitler's rise to power as well as Hitler's propaganda tactics and that of the United States and Trump.

There is another unfortunate analogy that must be pointed out.  Hitler became all-powerful with the craven support of corporate titans and the conservative political establishment. Neither of these groups could stand Hitler, but they knew he was the new game in town and they played to his ego, thinking that sooner or later, he would fail and they would seize power.  Of course. that eventuality didn't happen until Germany was reduced to rubble and conquered.

In the case of Trump, we are seeing much similar behavior, but thankfully there are some who are not craven.  First the similarities.  Both politicians and billionaire corporate titans who spoke very poorly of Trump at one point, changed their tune when they realized that he had captured the soul of the Republican base and was a man who would brook no disagreement.

In general, when primary battles are all over, everyone supports the nominee.  That's as it should be.  But here there was a difference.  In the Republican primary (both 2016 and 2020), those trying to defeat Trump didn't just disagree on policy, they vilified the man in the harshest of terms.  Yet once he got the nomination and had obviously captured the party, they all fell in line, one after the other, and kissed his ring.  The fact that they had defined him in such negative, dangerous, and unfit terms was now irrelevant.

Then there were those, such as George W. Bush, who refused, even when implored by his daughter, to come out against Trump.  He didn't support him or say good things about him, but in this situation, remaining silent was the equivalent of endorsing him.  It's like Niemöller in Germany who didn't speak out against the Nazis and when they came to get him, it was too late.  (See my post, "Hitler-Trump Analogy.")

But thankfully there were a brave few who refused to forsake their principles—Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, Mitt Romney—as well as those behind the Lincoln Project, who tried to convince fellow Republicans to not support Trump.  It was to no avail, but their actions are a bright light during this sordid period of the Republican Party.

Unless Trump starts a nuclear war, he will not leave the United States in a heap of rubble.  But he can devastate our institutions and severely damage the country.  

One thing is certain: he will not Make America Great Again.  That has been a great marketing tool, but as is often the case with marketing, it bears little relation to reality.  (See my post, "The 2020 Election Is about the Survival of American Democracy, of our Historic Values.")

Making America Great Again? Trump Fails His Own Test

We of course are familiar with the Trump slogan and the red MAGA caps.  Trump certainly claims that he has.  But has anyone in print or otherwise bothered to systematically ask the question, “Has Trump made America great again?”  Not to my knowledge.  And so that is what this post will assess.

In doing so, I am not going to get into the philosophical discussion about what made America great or whether it was no longer great, as Trump claims, under Obama.  That’s another article.  This is just taking the phrase at its most simple, straight-forward Trumpian meaning.

Has America become stronger militarily?  Have we become stronger economically?  Have we become more respected among the world’s nations?  Have we become stronger geopolitically.  Has the average American citizen become better off financially, more secure?  Is the average American citizen closer to obtaining the Rights due him under the Constitution?  Is the average American citizen more physically secure now?

These are all stated components of Trump’s goal of making America great again.  Sadly, both for the country and for his followers, just the opposite has occurred in almost every area.  Trump has failed his own test.

Weaker Militarily:  While Trump has increased the Defense Department budget, military strength is only partly a numbers game.  It has more to do with effectively being able to deploy troops as needed and defeating the enemy.  While troops have been deployed effectively, though no better than before, our record of defeating the enemy has actually gotten worse.  Whether in Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, or Iran, our position vis a vis the enemy has either weakened under Trump or stayed pretty much the same.  Trump’s bluster aside, we are not stronger militarily.

Weaker Economically:  Even before the pandemic we were not stronger economically.  The stock market may have been going gang-busters, but the economy was growing at a slow pace and the average American had not felt much of an improvement.  Yes, unemployment was down, but most of the new jobs created were lower paying than the ones that were lost.  And of course because of Trump’s disastrous handling of the coronavirus, his total lack of leadership, the American economy is now, despite the once-again soaring stock market, in a very weakened state.

Certainly on the world scene, we were even before the pandemic not stronger economically;  China is the big bully, and while Trump stood up to China, America lost more than it gained in the trade wars.  Since the pandemic, we are way behind other countries in economic recovery. 

Less Respected:  America has probably never been so little respected among the world’s nations as under Trump.  He is a laughing stock to most of the world, and by association, so is the country.  We are not even respected by our allies.  Trump’s failed response to the pandemic has made matters worse; the greatest nation in the world with its great health system and capacity is at it’s knees, the virus is winning.  It’s probably safe to say that we aren’t even feared by anyone, except in the sense that Trump is so unpredictable that he capable of doing almost anything if his ire is aroused.

Weaker Geopolitically:  Our strength and respect in the world militarily, economically, and politically is has made America strong geopolitically.  Under Trump, there can be no question that America is less strong geopolitically.  In addition to the factors already discussed above, Trump’s “America First” perspective has resulted in a shrinking of our presence and impact around the world, which has in turn made us weaker geopolitically.  We are no longer either in actuality or perception the leader of the “free” world.

Average American Weaker Financially:  Trump in his Inaugural address talked of the forgotten men and women who suffered greater economic inequality.  Yet as mentioned before, despite the lower unemployment rate before the pandemic hit, the average American was not stronger financially, was not more secure financially.  The huge increase in wealth resulting from the stock market boom and the bulk of benefit from Trump’s tax cuts went to the top layer of American society.  And now the pandemic has resulted in a huge downturn in the economy and with it the financial status of millions of unemployed American workers.

Average American’s Physical Security Not Improved:  Trump made a major issue out of what he saw as the crumbling physical security of the average American from crime, especially in our cities, and the threat to our physical security from illegal immigrants.  Again in his Inaugural address, he said that “this American carnage stops right here and stops right now.”  

While he has sent more money to the police, our security is pretty much as it was before Trump.  While Trump has enacted draconian measures against illegal and other immigrants, that has not improved our physical security.   The reason why nothing has really changed is that Trump does not understand and so has not addressed the real factors that continue to make crime a major issue in the inner city.

Average American Not Benefiting More From His Rights:  Despite all the fuss about the 2nd Amendment Right to bear arms and the Right to Life, and in general talking about Rights in connection with the pandemic, we are further from our basic Rights now than previously.  The most essential element of our Constitutional rights is to be free from government intrusion, except when necessary to protect the greater good.  

But under Trump, an even greater percentage of our citizenry and many in the halls of government seem to have no concept of the greater good, of the American social contract.  It’s all about me, my rights.  And they’re angry about it.  There is a lack of understanding that no right, even the 1st Amendment, is absolute; the exercise of one’s Right can never damage the greater good and in certain cases cannot negatively impact another’s Rights.  And with regard to the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness noted in the Declaration of Independence, we are far from protecting that Right, certainly for people of color and the poor.

So even judged on Trump’s own terms, how he would define what would make America great again, he has failed miserably.  Worse, he has taken a large portion of Americans and Republican politicians down his dark path and so damaged, perhaps irretrievably, our democracy.  Ironically, in his Inaugural, he spoke of “ignorance stifled dreams.”  Truly, ignorance has never had a higher place of honor in our country than at the present moment.