"Trump as Authoritarian?"

 Tomorrow we should learn who will control the U.S. Senate. For all our sakes, I hope Republicans remain in charge. The room for damage, with Democrats in control of both branches of Congress, would be dispiriting at best and potentially dangerous to our democracy of a free and liberty-loving people.

 

The attached essay is short – less than 600 words – but is one on which I have written in the past and, in my opinion, has great currency at the moment.

 

Sydney M. Williams

30 Bokum Road – Apartment 314

Essex, CT 06426

www.swtotd.blogspot.com

 

Thought of the Day

“Trump as Authoritarian?”

January 5, 2021

 

“Even the striving for equality by means of a directed economy can

result only in an officially enforced inequality – an authoritarian

determination of the status of each individual in the new hierarchical order.”

                                                                                                                                         Friedrich Hayek (1899-1992)

 

It is acceptable to criticize President Trump for policy decisions with which one disagrees. For example, one may prefer a nuclear treaty with Iran and a home state for Palestinians, rather than the Abraham Accords. Or one might see China as a mutually beneficial trading partner, rather than as a geo-political and military threat. One might see our government as a means of achieving equality of outcomes, as opposed to those who believe government should serve as a referee in a free-market society. It is okay to be upset with Mr. Trump’s personal behavior, his egocentrism and his butchering of the English language. One might argue that Mr. Trump’s post-election behavior has been damaging to the Republican Party and the democratic process. These are all factors and policies about which we can disagree, discuss and debate.

 

But those who claim Mr. Trump is a man with authoritarian instincts are simply wrong. Tuesday’s headline in my local paper, The New London Day, referring to last weekend’s hour-long call with Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and others, read: “Call Reflects Trump Power Grab.” The headline is presumptuous and misleading. While snippets, taken out of context, have been posted on social media and used for political purposes, I read the transcript and found it unexceptional, repetitive and, frankly, boring. It did not reflect a power grab. If President Trump were truly an authoritarian wannabe, why didn’t he issue federal mask-wearing mandates, impose lockdowns on places of gatherings and close schools when COVID-10 appeared? Why did he, instead, give authority to states? Democrats faulted him for not exerting more federal control. When lethal riots broke out in cities across the country after the death of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis, why did Mr. Trump not declare martial law? 

 

Politicians who want to seize power do not de-regulate the economy and provide school choice to students and parents. They do not reduce taxes, which give more financial clout to corporations and individuals. They do not encourage free-market capitalism, allow gun ownership, nor appoint judges who rely on the original intent of those who wrote the Constitution and earlier precedents, rather than on personal interpretations of current societal norms. 

 

The truth is that authoritarianism can come from extremists on both the right and the left. In my opinion, with the media so focused on the right, the greater risk comes from the left. The individual for whom we should all be wary is the one who desires to make the state a greater factor in our lives. That individual is more interested in dividing people, by gender and sex. They desire to re-write history and curb opposing opinions in schools and universities. Which Party is the author of such proposals? The best recent example of authoritarian instinct was President Obama’s 2012 video “Life of Julia,” where the government is portrayed as providing cradle to grave care of Julia. But as for Donald Trump, while he speaks intemperately his actions do not suggest an authoritarian figure.