Corrupt Legislation, painting by Elihu Vedder, 1896. Thomas Jefferson building of the Library of Congress. Public Domain
President Joe Biden wisely decided not to seek a second term. He blessed his Vice President, Kamala Harris, and he urged the Democratic Party to nominate her for the November election. There may be better Democratic politicians to run for president –like Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island. But the Democratic Party has little time to select Biden’s successor. The presidential election of 2024 takes place in November. The successor to Biden must have a proven record for respect for democracy, ending the wars in Ukraine and Israel, and fighting the hot climate dragon. These priorities overshadow everything else in America and the world.
Democracy
Democracy to me is like breathing air. Aristotle said one, a few, or many citizens can successfully govern a polis, provided that the public good was uppermost in the mind and policies of the tyrant, the oligarchs, or the democrats. Aristotle wrote after the Peloponnesian War when Athenian democracy put Socrates to death and even threatened Aristotle. Corruption does nor specialize in the capturing of one or a few rulers or politicians. It can easily infect members or “democracy” like that of the United States in 2024. For example, most members of the Republican Party say climate change is a hoax. These Republicans willfully forget that their rejection of climate change is a rejection of science. Ignoring science is opening the doors to dark ages and tyranny.
In addition, democracy is a very difficult political arrangement. It demands knowledge, control of hubris, wisdom, and commitment to benefits for all citizens not merely one, a few, or people with wealth and power. Democracy is almost like religion. A citizen in a democracy cannot say he is minding his business and ignore the needs of his polis. The ideal of human and divine perfection and equality motivate people to come together and work things out for self-reliant communities, which also would provide common defense. The invention of the gods / god complete the picture. The divine gives answers to unanswerable assumptions about equality, justice, freedom, and even “life after death.” Equality like love is beautiful. That’s why democracy came into being. It tried to eliminate obscene inequality – and slavery. People may look alike but they are not. Some are utterly selfish, others selfless, others in between the two extremes. Democracy avoids extremes. Human weaknesses and war for survival limited democracy to ancient Greece. But the same selfish attitudes also undermined oligarchies and monarchies – for centuries.
Thus, when the Founders of the United States wrote the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and the Constitution in 1787, they did not include the word democracy in those two documents. Late 18th century was certainly the Age of Enlightenment, but monarchies and oligarchies governed the world. Yet the idea of democracy survived, even in monarchical states and emerging non-monarchical societies like in the United States. Visit the Library of Congress and enter the lobby to the reading room in the Thomas Jefferson building. You will admire a 1896 painting by Elihu Vedder extoling government of the people / by the people / for the people.
Government of the People, by the People, and for the People. Painting by Elihu Vedder, 1896. Library of Congress. Public Domain.
In two years, 2026, the United States will celebrate its 250-year birthday. These two-and-a-half-centuries have made the United States almost an empire with an elected emperor / president. And yet American politicians keep talking about American democracy, as if democracy was enshrined in the country’s laws and policies. In fact, despite its imperial façade and history of imperial conquests and policies, the United States also does have a democratic lipstick / façade in laws protecting freedom of speech, travel, assembly, ownership of property and environmental protection.
The little and perpetually threatened democracy in America will be obliterated by the Republican Party and their presidential candidate Donald Trump. If Americans are bamboozled and vote for Trump in the November 2024 election, all the vestiges of democracy and democratic civilizations will be erased by the determined followers of billionaires who want Trump to give them more tax cuts. These Americans call themselves “conservatives.” I wonder what is hiding behind their dogmas against the government, environmental regulation, worker protection, abortion, immigration, and the anthropogenic dangers of climate chaos. Their Project 2025 says conservatives must “rescue the country from the grip of the radical Left.” So, “conservatives” define the Biden administration as “radical Left.” This wrong and false rhetoric reveals the depth of political ignorance of the conservatives who conveniently ignore science with their medieval rejection of the extreme danger of the looming climate cyclone. They cover up the damage of global climate policies by their presidential hopeful, former President Trump. “Former President Donald Trump dismantled the pillars of U.S. climate policy when he took the United States out of the 2015 Paris climate accord. Trump also gutted our environmental regulations protecting water, food, air and endangered species.
War and climate
War is exacerbating climate chaos. It burns enormous quantities of petroleum. It explodes thousands of large and small bombs. These explosives emit vast amounts of greenhouse gases. War also prevents transition to solar and wind energy. And at a time of climate emergency, the wars in Ukraine and Israel expand the immediate and long-term destructive effects of rising global temperatures. Biden’s successor should promise to bring these useless wars to an end. At the same time, the Democratic candidate for president should promise to make climate chaos the defining issue of the American government and society.
Trump showed his true colors during his first term. He wrecked the government and impoverished the people and did not tell them the truth about the raging pandemic. He sought and inspired the overthrow of the government. Giving this irresponsible billionaire another chance at the White House would be madness.
