What the GOP and the Dems Have in Common

A republic restrains the accumulating of too much power in one place. Aside from a monarchy, in the late 1700's the form of government where power was most likely to destroy a nation was a democracy, which would turn into a mobocracy dominated by tiny faction of powerful men.  Today’s GOP and the DEM have one goal – to seize power.  No lie is too big or too small for either side to enlist in its drive to be king of the mountain. 

The GOP’s hatred of the republic is highlighted by Trump’s response to the question about Qanon, which he liked because he heard that they liked him.  “I heard they like me” is the core of Trump’s life. His motto is: “Me, Me, Me and screw everyone else.”  Trump suffers from a serious mental illness, aptly described as narcissistic Histrionic Personality Disorder with paranoid features [Histrionic]. Two keys aspects of Histrionics are (1) They must always be the center of attention and (2) a neurological inability to process ideas which is reflected in a speech pattern that does not use sentences.  All his pea brain cares about is Trump.  Trump’s standard for right or wrong is whether he believes something helps him. 

Simply put, Trump lacks the intellectual capacity to comprehend how a Republic functions.  He does, however, instinctively realize that a republic distributes power among different branches of government.  For Trump, limitation on his power is evil. As he is the center of the universe, all power should rest with him. 

Obama Trashes the Republic 

Obama’s speech at the DNC’s remote convention drove another nail into the Republic’s coffin.  Obama began his speech by ignoring the Declaration of Independence which declared that each person had inalienable rights including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  The Declaration is our founding document, and from it flowed the US Constitution which set up a Republic as the best form of government to secure and protect each individual’s inalienable rights. 

Almost immediately, Obama threw away the Republic and with it the concept of inalienable rights, in favor of a democracy.  Obama said: 

“[The Constitution] . . . wasn't a perfect document. It allowed for the inhumanity of slavery and failed to guarantee women -- and even men who didn't own property -- the right to participate in the political process. But embedded in this document was a North Star that would guide future generations; a system of representative government -- a democracy . . .” 

President Obama taught constitutional law; yet, he acts as if he knows as little about the constitution as Sarah Plain!  Does anyone not know that when asked what form of government the Constitutional Convention had given us, Benjamin Franklin replied, “A Republic if you can keep it”? 

The Founding Fathers loathed democracies as they turned into mobocracies which would extinguish the inalienable rights of whoever was out of power.  Yet, eighteen times Obama falsely stated that America is a democracy and never once referred to the Republic or to individual inalienable rights.   Unlike Trump, Obama is not a moron.  Thus, his re-writing of the US Constitution with his eradication of our core values of inalienable rights had to be intentional.  Like Trump, Obama is set on his party’s seizing of power which is why his speech had zero concern about saving the Republic. 

For those who have forgotten, we are a Federated Democratic Republic. The noun is “Republic” while “Federated” (federal) and “Democratic” are merely adjectives.  Federated means several states have come together to form one nation but each retains some sovereignty and “democratic” describes the main way most leaders assume their positions.   Federal judges are not elected; initially US Senators were not directly elected, and today the President is still officially elected by the Electoral College. (Although most Americans are clueless why we need an Electoral College.) 

After World War II, Americans have increasingly succumbed to the false notion that the nation is democracy.  At the same time, society has become increasingly crimogenic.  We went from the Savings & Loans Scandals of the 1980's where some efforts were made to hold some of the Wall Street criminals accountable to the Crash of 2008 where the Obama administration held none accountable and gave $15 TRILLION to the bankers. Please, do not be so naive as to believe that we did not know that the collusion of big government and Wall Street would devastate the economy.  Rather than reign in white collar crime after the S&L Scandals, the DEM and GOP parties made America safe for corruptionism with the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act and the legitimization of Credit Default Swaps in 2000. 

The post 2000 collusion of Wall Street and government destroyed Keynesian economics, replacing it with corruptionism.  The November 2020 election is over one thing – who will control USA, Inc. – the Dems or Trump.   Both parties would gladly do away with Congress.  Trump would probably dissolve Dem Congress (a power he does not have. Whatzyagonnadoabutit?)  Did someone say “civil war”? 

While the nation adopted corruptionism in 2000, we had a chance to rescue ourselves in January 2009 by re-adopting Keynesian economics which places strict controls on Wall Street. Instead, Obama appointed Timmy Geithner to be Secretary of the Treasury and instituted regressive economic polices reminiscent of the pre Panic of 1907 days.  Only by the blind luck of continuing George Bush’s bailout of the auto industry did we avert the Grand Depression.  The nation did not finally recovery due to wise Obama policies.  Rather, his economics gave us the Tea Bagger take over of Congress in 2010 and lay the foundation of the Trump Presidency.  The business cycle always recovers – which is why it is called a cycle.  Ups and downs are its nature.  

If we still had a Keynesian economic system, Covid-19's economic impact would have been far less serious.  Instead, Corruptionism has held sway in both political parties. 

Whether the Dems or Trump win in November 2020, a functioning Republic is doomed.  Trump favors One Man Rule where the nation is run as his private business somewhat similar to Russia under Putin.  The Dems will establish a system beholden to Wall Street but where minorities may also participate in the criminal enterprise, but the 1% will have total control.

(Richard Lee Abrams is a Los Angeles attorney and a CityWatch contributor. He can be reached at: [email protected]. Abrams views are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of CityWatch.)

-cw