Little Big Men

[TOC: all blog posts]

Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela claims to have won an election that he didn't.

Venezuela was a reasonably stable democracy at a time when military dictatorships were common in South America. Now it lives under an autocrat. A fair percentage of the country, though not a majority, seems to appreciate the so-called strength of a dictator. Enough at least to keep one in power for now.

Maduro is sending the military to arrest opposition leaders and protesters. People who fail to fall in line signal to autocrats that they fail the test of true leadership—attracting followers. Coercion follows.

Coercion is the antithesis of freedom. It is a sure sign of authoritarianism. Sometimes it is brutal. Often it is more subtle. If you don't join the party, your job options are limited. If you don't support our candidate, your own candidacy is in jeopardy. If you don't tailor the news to fit a certain narrative, your news agency is shuttered.

At one time, I thought this sort of thing, common in poorer nations, would not happen here. Now I know better. A whole party (or what once was one) clamors for a big man.

In a wealthy democracy we are currently enduring a campaign based on the lie that our last one was stolen, while in a country beset by problems and poverty, a sitting president has graciously conceded a close election. 

When Nixon's demands for loyalty were exposed, as a nation we were disgusted. We haven't lost that disgust, but the forces that counteract it are stronger now. The Supreme Court, once a venerated institution, has decided that it alone can arbitrarily decide who can get away with what. Republican politicians fear for their families and their jobs if they voice an opinion based on conscience. Excessively wealthy people have publicly declared their allegiance to ending democracy in favor of the "freedom" to take advantage of the rest of us.

From a distance, we could always view tyrants with disdain. Look how they oppress! Look how they cheat! Look how they purge their own ranks! All because they can't get sufficient grassroots support for their policies. Without public support, which might actually make them great, they reduce themselves to schemers and thugs.

I spent time in Africa, where this substitute for leadership is common. But I don't recall any of those heads of state standing by and cheering as a mob tried to murder their own hand-picked vice president.

That is about as small as it gets.

Day One

You’re not going to be a dictator, are you?  No, no, no. Other than Day One.

It's a clever response.

"Day one" is a means of expressing one's highest priority. Politicians like to say: On day one, I'll do this. On day one, I'll do that. Same here: top priority.

And yet, grammatically, the sentence means only for one day. The first day, mind you, but just that one.

Actually, the first paragraph above is Trump's rephrasing of the question and answer. The original question was, "You are promising America tonight you would never abuse power as retribution against anybody?"

"Except for Day One."

Trump is being evasive, a particular skill of his. It ensures that he can avoid responsibility. You can't pin blame when there are multiple interpretations. Mafia dons talk this way. 

So let's not try to interpret exactly what he meant or how he meant it. Consider instead what happened on Day One, inauguration day, January 20, 2017.

It began with a promise to listen to the people: "Everyone is listening to you now." It ended with a refusal to listen to the people.

It began with raging about a minority in charge and a promise to return power to the people: "January 20th 2017 will be remembered as the day the people became the rulers of this nation again." It ended with insisting that a majority vote of those people did not count.

Immediately after the inaugural speech, the lies escalated. The new president forced his press secretary to claim the largest crowd ever. This was clearly not true, and vanity was not the point. It was an assertion that this president could disregard any semblance of truth. By the end of his term, the number of documented falsehoods stood at 30,573. Self-proclaimed defenders of Truth swooned.

Authoritarians will look you in the eye and tell you something you and they know is not true. You are not in a position to contradict, so the lie stands and you are put in your place. The rules are established: I am more important than you. What I say is more important than truth. If anyone disagrees, there will be consequences.

If the main character on Day One in 2025 is the same as for inauguration day 2017, a new lie will set the tone. A flood of lies will follow. Revenge against anyone who disagrees with those lies will begin.

"Great America" will be a whopper. Fail to swallow it, and expect abuse of power as retribution. No one abandons their first priority after Day One.