The List
- Roman Catholic Church – child molesters
- Boy Scouts of America – more child molesters
- Youth Sports – still more child molesters
- Olympic Sports – molesters, and performance enhancing drugs
- National Football League – rigged by the NY office, “woke and un-American” (see NASCAR)
- Federal Court System – biased judges
- State Court Systems –really biased judges
- US Congress – bought by lobbyists
- State Legislatures – owned by lobbyists
- Public Education – Indoctrinating Children into DEI, LGBTQ, CRT, and other initialisms
- US Presidency – Joe Biden is old and demented, and brilliantly corrupt and criminal
- Elections – ALL are corrupted, unless you win (never concede)
- FBI – politically weaponized against “us”
- Centers for Disease Control – faked the pandemic
- National Institutes of Health – in the pocket of big pharma, experimenting on Americans
- FEMA – seizing land for mining, giving money to illegal migrants
- Mainstream News – political weapon supporting liberal politicians and Big Business
- Immigrants – rapists and murderers, invading our nation
- US Colleges – Liberal bastions (because they teach Liberal Arts)
- Climate Change – fake news (see Mainstream Media and US colleges)
- US Military – weakened by Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; not a “man’s” Army anymore
- Asylum –crazy criminals from other countries are sent to the US, see “served with feta beans and a nice chianti” and Hannibal Lector
- Stock Markets – ignore the fact they’re setting record highs
- Donald Trump – “Only I can fix this”.
Institutions
Who can you trust? So many of our institutions, the foundations of our society, are challenged today. And there’s just enough truth in some of the “challenges” for some to try to paint all of those institutions as failures. Look at the Church, Scouts, and youth sports. They all had a problem with adults abusing children. As someone who works with youth, I now have to pass a criminal background check, and take classes in how to avoid even the hint of impropriety to maintain my credentials. And since I still hold a teaching license as well as a sports official license, I have to do them all twice.
And lobbyists and private interests do have an outsized role in the legislative process in America. I live in Ohio, with perhaps the most corrupted state government in the Nation (whoopee, OH-IO!!). Private interests control a lot of what goes on in our state, from energy companies paying open bribes ($60 million from Direct Energy to politicians) to the subtle influence of private investors on our public retirement systems.
There’s an old saying, “Give them an inch, and they’ll take a mile”. And since there is a kernel of truth, an “inch” of veracity to some of the claims, the MAGA movement is taking “the mile” for their own political purposes. So if every government and private institution are “corrupted”, then only MAGA is still “pure”. And only they have the answer: elect Donald Trump, because, as he said, “Only I can fix it”.
Loaded Terms
There are “loaded” political science terms that describe when a single person, an “Only I” is empowered to alter government: Authoritarian, Tyranny, Fascism, Autocracy, Absolutism, Caesarism, Monocracy, One-man rule, and Shogunate (thanks Google AI!!). These are the terms that our traditional American social studies education use to describe the “bad leaders” of the past. Because of that, I won’t use them to describe MAGA and Donald Trump, but, as Dad would say; “If the shoe fits…wear it”.
But the only way a single person can “rule”, is for all of the other institutions to fail (or be seen as failing). And that’s what the Trump Campaign is doing now, describing all of our institutions as biased and corrupted. As Vice Presidential candidate JD Vance describes, they base their “facts” on the statement that “many people think” or “everybody knows” they are failing. And that vague “many or everybody” becomes their factual basis for the failure of America. It’s circular logic, MAGA tells people something, some believe it and respond, and therefore it’s true. It can be applied to false FEMA “failings” in North Carolina, mythical pets missing in Springfield, non-existent non-citizens altering the results of elections, or phantom whole cities overtaken by Mexican gangs.
8th Grade History
It’s not an accident. The only way to change the “whole world” of American government, is to make the “whole thing” rotten. It’s in the autocrat “playbook” (OK, I had to use one of those loaded terms). And, it’s in everything that Trump does, all of the crazy stories he “weaves” in his rallies, and throughout the deadly seriousness of Project 2025.
Like your eighth grade history teacher warned you: a leader that says “Give me all the power and I’ll fix it”, doesn’t work out well for democracy. It is why George Washington was a real success. He knew when it was time to walk away. And it’s why Richard Nixon was a real failure. He committed crimes and abused his powers to maintain the Presidency.
What will be the lesson for the kids born this year, the eighth grade class of 2038 – or – will teachers be allowed to discuss it at all?
We are making the choice, right now.
