13 hours Ago
Despite broad public support in the U.S. today for a broad range of human and employment rights, health and nutrition programs and entitlement or public assistance programs, these are now under threat.
Federal institutions, the press and the judiciary are under assault by an administration that has imperiously, and without meaningful congressional oversight, impounded appropriations, eliminated federal jobs, defied court orders and begun to eliminate or disable federal agencies and programs. The balance of our constitutional powers is under threat as stunned public servants, a perseverating public and the wider world look on and try to comprehend our motivations and the perilous path ahead. Richard Stark is a retired military officer, former congressional staff member and a professor of political science.
He lives in Portland. The administration and its allies have exploited political divisions to hamstring democratic discourse and devolve it into doltish drivel and myopic memes. From media outlets and bloggers to an administration staffed with executives who will not accept simple realities — such as acknowledging that Russia invaded Ukraine — Americans face an emerging authoritarian political landscape.
Yet important voices remain silent. As Ralph Nader wrote on March 14, “There are reasons why influential or knowledgeable Americans are staying silent ..
. most of these reasons are simple cover for cowardice.” Where are the voices of Obama, Clinton, Bush and other former government executives? Where are the Jimmy Carter-style examples of rectitude and principled devotion to our values? More strident and intellectually honest concerns are being voiced in Europe than among our most important public figures.
In town halls across the country, as in Gorham, Maine, on March 19, disgruntled citizens are increasingly frustrated with elected officials who refuse to meet to answer their questions. How have our polarized parties been motivated to such extremes of positions and greatly divergent modes of public engagement and reasoned discourse? It seems too simple to just “follow the money,” which is how we most often discover human motivations. Today, an ingredient of fear lurks in the silent complicity of many officials and former officials.
While a raucous and complicit element enthusiastically supports the threat to our system of government, their motivations may be based in greed and fear. I’m reminded of a Warren Buffett quote, “Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.” So, is it greed, fear or stupidity (ignorance) that grips our nation? Albert Einstein warned that “three great forces rule the world: stupidity, fear and greed.
” While the great majority of Americans agree on the most important issues facing us, they remain marginalized by pandering political parties and self-interested public figures afraid to speak truth to power. Those who cast “government” as “the problem” should be skeptical. The American Founding Fathers deliberated earnestly — reflecting on important philosophical tenets from the age of the enlightenment — to devise a system of government that would protect its citizens through the balanced powers of three branches of government while providing for the public good.
James Madison underscored the need for government to protect us from powerful forces in the Federalist Papers (Federalist No. 51), writing: “If men were angels, no government would be necessary.” As Thomas Jefferson wrote: “The government you elect is the government you deserve.
” Citizens are already organizing in town meetings across the nation. Every elected representative should be asked what will convince them to act. And ordinary Americans need to inspire each other to stand up and advocate for their common interests if the nation is to shrug off the growing threats to our imperfect, but aspirational, national ethos.
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