It's Not Defending Donald Trump To Point Out Certain Flaws In The Democratic Party

 

A lot of Democrats wonder why I seem to defend Republicans all the time. I don’t, I just call out the flaws of the Democrats. Democrats, like Republicans, have been conditioned to think that attacking one party means defending the other. It doesn’t.

 Let me give you an example: if I were to say dog sh*t smells bad, I am not saying cat sh*t smells good. An attack on dog sh*t is not an implicit endorsement of cat sh*t. And it’s really weird for me to see anyone defending either.

 It’s just that both parties have become so bad that the only way they can justify anyone voting for them is by pointing out the ways in which the other side is worse. Politics has become a completely negative endeavor, because there is no positive to point to. Let me be clear: demanding something be good is not supporting something bad.

 There are critiques of the Democrats that need to be made. First, because they are valid. Second, because it shows everyone involved that I am willing to step outside the whole “my side rules your side drools” mentality. Communication should be maintained so that understanding and consensus might be achieved. Third, because honest criticism can lead to improvement. Fourth, trying to defend cat sh*t is just going to make me feel and look ridiculous.

 One thing especially about the Democrats has me worried: their blind trust in authority and official narrative. Their desire to obey authority is different from that of the Republicans, who prefer a strongman to admire, a uniform to salute, a boot to lick. The authority to which Democrats bow is what Erich Fromm would refer to as “anonymous authority”. Anonymous authority is not anything one can point to but a sense that public opinion, science, and our systems are working as they were designed and providing us with the “right” answers. One need only recline into the existing environment and all will be well.

 Ask any Democrat how they arrived at their opinion on a certain subject and they will tell you that they read or watch reliable media and come to their own opinion on the matter. But the very unanimity of not only their thoughts but their arguments indicates an alarming homogeneity of opinion. It’s like they open their mouths and CNN comes out. There is certainly a danger involved in Republican’s over-willingness to accept conspiracy theories, but the Democrat’s overwhelming acceptance of official narrative is even more frightening. Especially, especially, when it comes to narratives that justify U.S. military engagement.

I suppose it springs from the fact that many more Democrats go through what they believe is an education but would be more accurately described as an indoctrination. In college, they are fed a smattering of culture which provides them a far broader view of the world than they had previously imagined. This a good thing in and of itself, but for far too many they feel they have been given all the education they will ever need outside of work. They are left with a vague notion that the university has done its job by downloading its program into them and they are now free to go about their lives. The anonymous authority of higher learning, they feel, has done its job. They will henceforth be guided by all the wisdom of the ages.

 They are then unleashed into the world and feel they have a deeper understanding of what is happening because they consume a better cut of media than the rest. The problem is, most are just taking notes from the media like they did with their teacher in college so that they can repeat what they have been told. So long as they are able to repeat in their own words what they heard the teacher/Washington Post say, they are demonstrating their intelligence. Too often, though, it is merely a repetition of what they have been given from their source. Most of them were taught that the ultimate goal was a good grade, not learning how to formulate their own opinions. 

 Democrats nowadays have an almost unimaginable faith in the system, the complete opposite of Democrats in the 60’s and 70’s. They trust the establishment media and dismiss anything that does not jibe with it as conspiracy theory. Wacky, crazy, conspiracy theory. Indeed, a lot of it is, but it should not be so immediately dismissed because the media calls it that. A media that is not questioned will soon abuse the trust given it. But it’s easier for Democrats to trust the media and let them tell them what to think. They are, after all, the authority, and Democrats have been trained to seek the approval of authority. But because the media is a less tangible and less obviously monolithic authority than, say, Fox News, they don’t see it as such.

 Another authority in which the Democrats have placed their complete and utter trust is the intelligence agencies. Again, something completely opposite of what Democrats did a half-century ago. There is literally no news article which had the line “According to unnamed intelligence sources” which Democrats did not fully believe since Donald Trump has come to power.

 The last authority democrats look to is establishment politicians and parties. Not only do they uncritically accept any establishment Democrat, they treat any Republican willing to defend the status quo in the face of Trump as the biblical father did his prodigal son. George W. Bush, John McCain, Rick Snyder, John Kasich, etc. Anyone belonging to establishment politics speaking against Trump is given status as an authority and defender of the realm. It is not the individuals themselves whom Democrats admire, because individually they would be and have been despised by Democrats. No, it is the anonymous authority they represent.

 Something happened to Democrats when Donald Trump arrived on the scene. Or, more accurately, Donald Trump revealed something in them that was already there: their unacknowledged dependence on authority. It is not always easy to spot someone who is dependent on anonymous authority, but it became impossible to deny as Democrats sought to find something they could throw in Trump’s path to impede his march to power. Their obedience to unnamed power was transferred onto more readily identifiable institutions. As establishment Republicans fled the Trump movement, they were embraced into the Democratic mainstream. With them came an admiration for concrete structures of authority. Military authority, once suspect in the eyes of the Democrats, became unquestionable. If generals say we should not withdraw from Afghanistan, then Trump is treasonous to suggest we remove troops. The CIA and FBI have long been known by the Left to engage in all kinds of undemocratic behavior, but all that seems to be forgotten. The authority of intelligence agencies was all the proof required for Democrats to believe that Russia was starting a war against the United States and that we must respond as strongly as possible. Corporate media, which most Democrats used to know was biased in favor of corporations, became the vestal virgins keeping alive the sacred flame of truth.

 Even the Democrats’ embrace of and trust in their politicians has never been so complete as it is now. While once they may have voted for the lesser of two evils, never until now were they willing to accept Joe Biden as a candidate. Their enthrallment to anonymous authority is evidenced by their unquestioning support of anyone stamped “Democrat” by unknown arbiters within the party.

 The world can be changed by a relatively small group of individuals capable of thinking for themselves. The world will not be changed by a large group of people willing to be guided by authority, be it a demagogue or the more abstract kind. In a way, the acceptance of authority by Democrats can be more insidious, because it is less recognizable. An acceptance of anonymous authority can be far more enduring than the support of any one man, because an individual will eventually be held accountable for his failures. Not so the power that hides behind the media and the government. I am not talking about some nefarious shadow group but of a power relationship between those who are willing to abuse power and those who allow themselves to be abused. This happens. It is an undeniable but often denied aspect of human nature. Those who are in abusive relationships, be it with a lover or a cult, are reluctant to admit it and are quick to explain it away. But it happens.

Democrats are now in such a relationship. They won't admit it, of course, precisely because they are in deep in such a relationship. There's nothing you nor I nor anyone can tell them until they come to realize it for themselves. All we can really do is be there for them and continue to point out what a healthy relationship is supposed to look like. As hard as it may be, that's all a good friend can do.

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