So, Trump has gone and done it. On behalf of Recep Tayyip
Erdoğan, the dictatorial President of Turkey, Trump unilaterally withdrew US
troops from Syria, giving our allies, the Kurds, the terrible choice of
surrendering to the brutal Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad or being slaughtered
by the Turks. So far, reports are they are surrendering to al-Assad, and I hope
he does not slaughter them. US troops, as they withdraw, are also at risk.
This is most likely treason – aid
and comfort to an enemy of the USA. “Enemy” is a little loosely defined – we
don’t often formally declare war these days – but with Turkey, a formal ally,
threatening US troops, I think enemy will do.
The situation in Syria is still
evolving. The outcome is unlikely to be good for anyone but dictators. I want
to talk about the situation in the USA instead.
No-one can say we weren’t warned.
We knew that Trump was a loose cannon. The Democratic Party, for whatever
reason, pursued a strategy of outwaiting Trump, failing to react as
Trump and
the Republicans stole everything that wasn’t nailed down. And now, finally, through
incompetence Trump has committed irreversible and destructive treason.
I wrote an entire discussion of
what might be done. The needed work is extensive and only begins with removing
Trump from office. But I set it aside, because that’s not what I want to
discuss here.
What I want to discuss here is:
WHERE THE FUCK WERE THE DEMOCRATS?
A few months back, I wrote
that Democrats of vision, courage, and ability are discouraged and often forced
out and that the Democratic Congressional delegation is filled with people who
are at best very cautious and at worst weak and cowardly.
And so, here we are. This is a
much broader issue, even, than the failings of the Democratic Congressional
delegation. At the foundation of the USA, we fought for the right to be a
republic and to make our own choices. We then immediately started cowering,
looking for people to tell us what to do. The Senate was fell into permanent
deadlock, pushed by Southern leaders who wanted to make their system of slavery
inviolable. It remains there to this day, undertaking major policy initiatives
only when there is nothing else to be done. The House fell, first, into
bickering, with many members cowed by threats of
violence, then into a place where money changed hands as votes were bought
and sold, and, finally, the honest slow-moving deliberative body that the
founders had hoped the Senate would be.
At the end of all maneuvering, of
the three branches of government that were supposed to be ruled by Congress, it
was the Executive, led by the President, and the Judiciary, led by the Supreme
Court, which were in the best position to act decisively, a deeply undemocratic
outcome, and so it has been for over two centuries.
Jim Wright, of Stonekettle Station, has written multiple
versions of, “If you want a better nation, then you have to be better citizens.”
But many of us are not better citizens and do a rotten job of picking our
elected officials. As long-time commentator Driftglass is wont to say, “The
Republican Party is full of Republicans” and Republicans support, out of fear,
candidates who both spread fear and promise monstrosities to alleviate
fear. But, also, what are we to make of
the Democratic voters who put this lot of overcautious and sometimes cowardly
Democratic officials into office?
It is probably fair to say that
the public has long been manipulated into fear and manipulated by fear. It is
hard to teach courage and independence of mind. But perhaps we can teach the
public to be better judges of character.
Meantime, what are we to do with
this Congress of cowards? I see no answer but to press on.
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