Trump threw America a lifeline: Will we grab it?

Donald Trump just won one of the most consequential elections of all time. What he does next will determine if he can fix the systemic issues that have dogged our country for the last 50 years.

A “hotwash” is the immediate “after-action” discussions and evaluations following an exercise, training session, or major event. I think this election qualifies for one!

Though we now know that Trump won, we’ll hear a thousand reasons for how it ended, individually or in the aggregate. There will be demonstrable proofs to support every conclusion. But in the end, they’ll all be wrong. The truth is, there are two Americas now, and they are not only not coming together, but drifting apart more each day. Let’s talk about the near inevitability of this division continuing unless a cure is found in time for the underlying malady.

The fundamental schism is practical self-reliance vs. cradle-to-the-grave socialism. Individuals, groups, constituencies, political parties, institutions and more gravitate to one or the other vision of how our country should be governed and whether individuals have an inherent right to the wealth they create or the government has the final say. This cannot be reconciled in a normal intellectual manner since the underlying tenets of each position are philosophically in opposition to each other:

A. An individual has free agency and the right to succeed or fail on his own – further, the individual is sovereign and superior to the State, not vice versa.

Or:

B. Individuals must subsume a variable degree of their free agency and sovereign rights in favor of the State, which is responsible for the whole population.

We see both intelligent and dumb people, young and old, native-born and immigrant, rich and poor, populating both philosophies, scratching their collective heads, wondering how the other side could be so wrong. Let’s try to understand why.

vox populi (voice of the people)

Instant communication between us is both a blessing and an apocalypse. The U.S. Constitution’s first amendment guarantees freedom of speech, the right for everyone to express themselves publicly. The Founding Fathers never thought everyone would express their thoughts constantly, publicly and without concern, whether or not they knew what they were discussing. Don’t get me wrong; that genie is out of the bottle and mainly for the good. But who do you believe? The most promoted? The loudest voice or most passionate? Without an ability or even the desire to actually understand what’s true and what’s not, you get what we have today … a new Tower of Babel. I have no solution for this, but the weakest minds are always the most persuadable, and their vote counts as much as yours and mine.

quid pro quo (this for that)

Those in government figured out early two things:

1. Being and staying in power requires the consent of the governed; and
2. People like to be given free things.

This is how the entitlement mentality came into existence. The thing about entitlements is the extremely short memory it engenders. There is a voracious appetite for ever more new entitlements as the population begins to believe that the government is holding back on the goodies. Politicians placate their supporters with more goodies using OPM (Other People’s Money).

Finis origine pendet (the end depends upon the beginning)

There is a huge gap between free people surrendering some of their freedoms for more security and free stuff vs. a totalitarian regime like China, where the government added some freedoms when the State decided it was in their interest. America’s roots are based on self-reliance, individual responsibility and freedom to make good and bad choices (and live with the consequences).

With our history so clear, it’s no wonder that many of our younger citizens’ lives are embodied by a generation of progressive doctrines that place the State over the individual and not vice versa. Confusion, anger, and frustration result.

casus belli (where the blame lies)

Humans are the most selfless and, at the same time, greediest animals on Earth. The center of our lives should be our families. It is here where we fail the most. By definition, most of us are average, not exceptional. Those in positions of responsibility above us use that averageness to their advantage. Why devote your lives to your children when Big Brother offers alternatives? The root of all evil is our propensity to blame others for our shortcomings.

If you live in the light, place your family first and produce more than you take, you are the best of us. Too few meet that standard today, and the number who do is dropping fast. Government, in and of itself, is a necessary evil that must be contained as it seeks to devour all resources in the name of helping the people. The realit is, government cares much more about itself than the people it ostensibly serves.

in fine (in the end)

God created the Earth, the stars and us. Everything else, man pretty much discovered, made, used, or too often, misused. We won’t remain a country, much less the most powerful nation on Earth, if we don’t fix what’s wrong with us. I’m afraid I have to disagree with the notion that it is a simple matter of each side giving in a bit to form common ground.

The inevitable conclusion I’ve come to is that we must reign in our government or perish. This means the government can no longer be counted on to solve every problem, put a chicken in every pot, or make life fair; it’s not. Both as a society (where the majority of people can’t come up with a thousand dollars in an emergency) or as a country that hasn’t been able to pay its bills in a generation, we have failed. Things have to change.

I promised a reader that from now on, I’d put the solution in the last paragraph of each column I write. The solution to our problem is clear. We must live within our means, and everyone must contribute. Nothing is more important than our intact nuclear families, and we need to agree on that and see the government recognize this imperative through logical public policies prioritizing families first.

We can do this. Donald Trump just gave us a lifeline.