Democracy is not necessarily the best, fairest or most effective form of government. Bear in mind that two and a half millennia ago in the first democracy, Socrates was sentenced to death by 500 Athenians.
In our own representative democracy, we just had an important election. Here are some observations on the state of our democracy. Spoiler alert: It’s better than in Athens, then or now.
First, most of the media and pollsters are both biased and incompetent. This is a very serious problem. If people don’t trust the media, and they don’t, for good reasons, where are they supposed to get the news? If they don’t get the news, on what basis are they supposed to vote?
Second, assuming the current results hold after court challenges, Joe Biden will be a weak president because he’s a weak man. He’s incompetent, unprincipled, inane, slightly senile, spineless and pretty shady. Not to mention hair-plugged, tooth-capped and hand-wandering.
That doesn’t mean he’ll be bad for the country, however. Whether he’s bad for the country depends on who owns him. If Kamala and the left get to his ear or other parts, watch out. But if Wall Street gets to his wallet – and I suspect they will because they can – then we’ll be OK. In any event, Mitch McConnell’s GOP Senate will stop the worst of it.
Third, incivility doesn’t persuade people to vote for you, whether you’re a Democrat or Republican. On the Republican side, for example, Trump’s probable loss can be traced to two things. (I make this criticism as someone who voted for him twice, publicly promoted him, wanted very much for him to win, and predicted he would.)
The first is that people grew tired of his late-night Twitter storms attacking whomever for whatever. The second is that his foaming, frothing performance in the first debate made people cringe.
Republicans may say that we already tried civility with Mitt Romney, and lost. That’s true, but we didn’t lose because Romney was civil. We lost because Obama was a somewhat popular incumbent president, the economy wasn’t terrible, the media had the fix in for Obama, and religious bigots didn’t like Romney’s religion. Twitter storms and stage antics would not have saved Romney.
On the Dem side, they failed to win the Senate and lost half a dozen seats in the House where they were supposed to pick up ten. In the House, the impeachment hijinks of the Dems, the incivility of Nancy Pelosi and the angry hatred by The Squad were unappealing to everyone except the media and other wild leftists.
Making a show of tearing up the President’s State of the Union speech on live TV in front of the nation isn’t a political statement – the Dems had a counterpoint speech already teed up for that – it’s a petty, snarky, angry, childish finger flip. I suppose it made Pelosi feel good, but voters expect better at the President’s State of the Union Address to the joint houses of congress and the nation.
In the Senate, people didn’t like the Dems’ smear job on Brett Kavanaugh. Their relative restraint in dealing with Amy Coney Barrett served only to remind people of their smear of Kavanaugh.
Fourth, in the same vein, censoring, silencing and cancelling people for political incorrectness is not persuasive. It instead illustrates the weakness of your position.
Fifth, street violence also isn’t persuasive. It may feel good to vent your anger, but recognize that the cost is to discredit your position. “Burn it all down” is not a political position. It’s a temper tantrum, and your skin color doesn’t earn you a free pass. Dems are likely to be more critical of street violence going forward. That’s good.
Sixth, Black Lives Matter lessened support for Dems among not just suburban whites, but also city blacks. Most minorities don’t want to burn it all down, especially in their own neighborhoods. Trump consequently got a higher percentage of the black vote than any Republican in 60 years. (He also did relatively well with Hispanics, gays and lesbians.)
This feel-good melodrama of violence, finger-flipping, canceling, censoring, twitter-storming and general incivility is perpetrated mainly because the perps enjoy their little passion plays. Think about the amusing video clips of leftists hysterically pulling their hair and gnashing their teeth about Trump – the classic one being the image above — always with one eye on the camera.
They justify their exhibitionism with the erroneous notion that passion correlates with persuasion. But it doesn’t. The correlation is instead inverse. The price you pay for your self-indulgent emoting is to dissuade your audience from your position.
The worst thing about current politics is that people are tribally polarized in a way they haven’t been since perhaps the Civil War. But fortunately, as in the Civil War, people are weary of it. The times are ripe for less heat and more light, for less emotion and more thinking – the kind that goes back 2,500 years.
The unexamined life, someone observed, is not worth living. So far, we in America haven’t sentenced anyone to death for saying that.
the Aspen beat 
I like your stuff but you are wrong on this.
The fraud is so blatant, yet you are going to give up and let him have it?
Really?
No, of course I’m not giving up with respect to the fraud allegations. But I’m letting the allegation of fraud get decided where it’s supposed to be decided – in the courts, not in my heart.
The evidence we’ve seen so far is tilted by one side or the other for their political purposes. I won’t allow them to manipulate me that way. I’ll let the Courts decide it.
I agree. Who can forget the hollywood lunatic who tanked God for the virus. Many dems felt the same way. It allowed dem run cities to cheat much more easily…sad.
What fraud, let’s hear about it
Our government has failed to deliver justice for at least 10 years now.
The FBI and inner workings of our DC deep state have protected more
Democrats than I can count. So you might be waiting along time for that justice through the courts.
Caleb. Precisely.
And I completely disagree with this : “The first is that people grew tired of his late-night Twitter storms attacking whomever for whatever. The second is that his foaming, frothing performance in the first debate made people cringe “. 1. I could care less about his using twitter…his only way to speak to the people without the media twisting his words into lies. 2. I never saw him froth once BUT it’s overdue that a R stands up to the hypocritical lying left. I love that he had guts and is fearless. It’s refreshing to have someone not beholden to some special interest group or the NWO!!! Why do the R always criticize their own when the Ds NEVER do it. Trump got lied about & harassed for 4 yrs for trying to help the people and County. He definitely didn’t need this CRAP. Stop criticizing him!!!!! Go home and write about somebody else since you are prefect yourself.
I’m puzzled by your comment, Gabriella. Are you saying that until I achieve divine perfection myself I can’t express the slightest criticism of the man I voted for twice, actively promoted and went out on a limb to predict would win?
If so, you’re asking me not just to support the man, but to worship him. I decline that request.
agree Gabriella. He took on the propaganda like no one else. it drove him to crazy tweets and if that is a price to pay for all that he has done for this Country than bring it on! Name anyone who could have survived all that he has!
2016 Hillary outperformed 2020 Biden in all major cities except Milwaukee, Detroit, Philadelphia, and Atlanta, which are all cities with large black/minority populations run by Democrats for decades in swing states. Rumors suggest that many inner-city districts in those cities have near 100% turnout or higher (as they did in 2016 and 2012), but everywhere else in the country Trump won more people of color votes than any Republican candidate in 60 years. The only possible explanation is massive voter fraud at a level never before seen, and the courts are unlikely to do anything about it because most of the local judges are Democrats who are major players in the local political machines, and the Roberts Supreme Court hasn’t shown any appetite to get involved.
Thus a corrupt and senile Joe Biden has likely “won” the presidency via a corrupt voting system specifically designed to make voter fraud easy and safe from prosecution, and protected by a media not interested in investigating anyone with a D next to their name. I suppose the swearing in ceremony will need to be completed before 9 AM when Joe puts a lid on his first day in office, and I look forward to seeing Pelosi’s attempt to push Joe out soon thereafter with the 25th amendment due to sudden and “out of nowhere” mental impairment and ill health. I wonder when that “bombshell” Durham report will come out?
Trump won in 2016 because no one expected him to win against Hillary… including the GOP. So Democrats didn’t gear up their vote harvesting, vote duplication, and other voter fraud measures. For 2020, the economy was great and so was Trump’s re-election bid. The Dems set their voter fraud machine to high gear and blasted off. We’re seeing the results as the votes trickle in. Trump is a fighter.
I agree!
I have said the same thing. They polished up their voter fraud technique during the 4 yrs to be unrivaled. Biden said : Joe Biden brags about having the most “extensive and inclusive voter fraud organization in history.” He spoke the truth for once.
A good post-Morten, but I still say the guy was murdered — by a thousand cuts in a thousand polling places. And the forensic evidence will get us about as far as DNA evidence did in the O.J. trial.
Really feels great to see you crybaby losers talking about insane ideas. When it’s all very simple. The American people voted the moron out.
So, that wasn’t you then, in 2016, out on the street with your fellow hysterics beating up on conservatives? So, it didn’t worry you when Hilary Clinton recently said that if Trump wins again, no one was to accept or acknowledge it? My dear, your opinions are selective. And if you’re talking about insane ideas, i can’t decide if it was insane or sinister that the democrats chose an elderly man with dementia as their best candidate.
The Dems had better options, ones that could probably eat Trump for lunch, but chose not to go with them as they were also to much *like* Trump in that they wanted to put *Americans* first ahead of other countries. But that’s not what the Dems wanted. They want a politician who will play nice in the international sand box, even when the other kids are kicking sand at them. I’d rather the POTUS be the one willing to stand up to those types, and shove them out of the box entirely if need be. That’s why the Dems chose Biden. Because in their eyes, that’s what he’ll do. Heck, you heard it during the final debate, when asked what he’d do about NK. Flat out saying he won’t do anything about them without help from China…. who has every interest to keep the DPRK right where it is, and act as a buffer so those in China who want to escape, can’t.
Keep harping on the dementia thing until you end up with dementia and even if he did have it its better than a lunatic moron bigot egomaniacal pervert
He has dementia. Check out you tube. Age or dementia, either
way he’s unfit for the job. He’s only
President elect and already CNN is talking about Harris taking over if it becomes too much for him. The trouble with people like you
is that you confuse hostile epithets with honest debate. There’s an adjective you’ll never link to Biden and those democrat vipers propping him up. 🤭🤭🤭🤭
You can moan and groan about fraud and a sore loser president that will never ever do the right thing and concede. I hope they drag the bastard out by his feet.
You let your conservative nature, your fanatic hold of conservative ideas skew your sensibility that Trump is a derelict with no moral compass, not suitable as a human being much less president of our great country. You cannot forego your moral obligation to first rid this unscrupulous person from leading our country, then seek a more conservative person in the future to lead.
Everything you said about Trump also applies to Biden. You said that our moral obligation is to rid us of Trump. Does that mean we should now go after Biden much the same way that the Dems and the MSM went after Trump for the past four plus years? And if we manage to get rid of Biden, do we have the moral obligation to go after Harris? The same description can be laid on her. And if we are successful in ridding ourselves of Harris, do we go after Pelosi? After all the description fits her to a tee as well. Who’s next? Schumer? Schiff? Waters?
I am impressed with the vitriol being expressed by some commenters. Apparently they failed to listen to Mr. Biden’s call to unify the country, or perhaps, as we suspect, that was never their intention. The will to power is pervasive and strong among our democrat fellow citizens.
If you’re impressed by the vitriol you see by some of these commenters, you’d be astounded by the ones I filtered out for crudeness and obscenity. Seems some people are just addicted to their hate and anger.
The oldest literary type for someone addicted to his own rage is Achilles in The Iliad, whose hatred of Agamemnon led him to wish for the defeat of his own countrymen, resulting in the death of his most loyal colleague, Patroclus. This is where Trump-haters are willing to take us — to the death of America itself.
As for the concept of addiction, that’s a social science explanation, which doesn’t acknowledge the innate depravity of our species, redeemable only by The Divine Redeemer. My own explanation is theological — these people are demonic, spewing forth the product of their disordered spirits. The modern, post-Christian world offers no cure for their condition, which doesn’t bode well for the continuance of our civilization.
All of the comments here from individuals who seem overflowing with hate for Trump are rather ironic. All the things they blame Trump for being or doing have very little credibility outside of an indoctrinated hive. What would be interesting to see is their faces when Biden, or rather Harris opens the borders completely. Tens of millions will stream in, no vetting, just handed welfare, free healthcare, free education, free housing. Then, the hateful hive will have reality hit them. Guess whose taxes are going thru the roof to pay for all these new citizens? Yes, I know old Joe said only tax increases if you make over $400,000. Fat chance! Those are his donors. Plus, the rich have tax shelters. Middle class, you are going to get screwed by Uncle Joe.
Generally agree…I believe Romney lost when he let himself get bushwhacked by Candi Crowley..in the debate..most people then rightly assumed he was a Bain Capital wimp…as you have observed..most of the comments by the Trump opponents have no specifics, not about policy or accomplishments…always about his personal traits..real or imagined. I just wish they would embrace their platforms on a personal level..ie..no more use of fossil fuels….invite some illegals to take up their spare bedrooms, start paying more in taxes, enroll their kids or grandkids into inner city, crappy schools run by the NEA…be the ball…
Dr Beaton, from one of your friends, Dr. Steven Hayward, at Powerline: “Gridlock is the next best thing to constitutional government.”
Well this is a positive outlook on Biden and his controllers. Have you forgotten the compromising situation Biden is in with Russia, Ukraine, and last but not least China?? If China is allowed to resume their agenda it only means we will be overtaken by them; their economy, their warfare machine, their Communism. We already face large corporate support for China in our Universities, athletic Corporations, the social and media giants. Trump put up our wall to suppress their illegal actions. Even if Biden wants to shadow your expectations he will not be allowed to. His willingness to commit money laundering, treason etc with a healthy mind in recent years does not mean he will have our best interest in the near or distant future. Our corrupt NSA,FBI, and CIA will no doubt protect him as they have Hilary and her cohorts. No guarantee they will prevent those who push his buttons from doing the extreme Left’s goals to make our once free society into another subverted member of the globalist agenda. This would be far easier a goal of the Dems than maintaining the status quo. If they acted to steal away this ellection they will do anything! There is striking proof they did! Courts will not want to get involved. The coup has been successful finally!
No, I didn’t say that our moral obligation was to get rid of Trump. In fact, I voted for him, for the second time. I simply offered some explanation for why he lost.
Joe Biden is mediocrity (at best) personifie and he is passed his prime and passed his prime – and even in his “prime” he was basically a nonentity. Biden will be Woodrow Wilson in Wilson’s second term while his wife Jill will try to play the role of Edith Bolling Galt Wilson and Kamala Harris will be Colonel Edward M. House.
I meant he is passed his prime and passed his time.
In the late 60s, as assistant chaplain, on an intern year from seminary, at a private university in SoCal, I had occasion to attend a conference at The Riverside Inn in Riverside, CA, one of my favorite locations (I love Colonial Spanish architecture). I met there a Benedictine from Valyermo. I liked him and he acquiesced to engage in conversation. Strolling slowly around a raised fish pond in an interior courtyards, I asked him, “Father Meehan, where does authority lie.” He replied, as we walked slowly, “If you ask any Catholic Theologian where authority lies, and you show that you are sincere, any Catholic Theologian will answer that authority lies in the heart of the believer.” He emphasized the word any.
I think we as citizens and as a nation are asking that question with increasing vigor and even panic. I think Father Meehan’s answer to the question remains accurate. I think the Indweller in every heart, even the non-believer’s, is the answer that, when kept firmly in mind, satisfies and can quieten the panic. Lawlessness that Indweller abominates and does not long tolerate. There, I think, in the heart of each of us is the answer to the question of authority. It is the same answer and the same authority in each heart, which is what makes each of us personally sacred. We are different clothes on the same body.
Correction: Mission Inn, Riverside, CA.
In February 2012, Wang Lijun came to the US Consulate in Chengdu and sought political asylum. He had a treasure trove of documents and intelligence to share about corruption and collusion. He was the highest ranking Chinese official to ever defect to the US. The Obama administration through Vice-President Biden’s office overruled State and Justice Department officials and denied the asylum request. This came days before Xi Jinping’s visit in the US hosted by Vice-President Biden as heir apparent to Hu Jintao, China’s President. This violated the 1980 US Refuge Act. Many US officials argued for asylum, but to no avail. This was consistent with a decades long policy of appeasement (GW Bush administration is also called out for its policy of appeasement); and consistent with US policy makers and intelligence officials who insisted China was not a threat to the US and would never become one. In her book Hard Choices, Hillary Clinton revealed her rationalization for denying asylum by saying falsely “we had no idea how explosive his story would prove” and said we agreed to say nothing about the matter and the Chinese were grateful for our discretion.” Of course.
From Deceiving the Sky: Inside Communist China’s Drive for Global Supremacy by Bill Gertz, 2019, 239 pages. The author has written 6 other books related to our national security, 2 specific to China before this latest book.