Author Govert SchullerPosted on Categories Politics About a year ago I thought it very probable that Trump would vacate his position before 18 months of his presidency would have elapsed. I did not make a big announcement of that combined prediction and hope, but still shared it with a few friends. Many times I thought it was getting close but then republicans decided to stay passive and the moment passed. Today is that milestone of 18 months and Trump is still in office. Too bad.
If there is still a silver lining around the gathering dark clouds of US falterings in so many areas induced by a vengeful Trump, his corrupt cabinet and his republican enablers, it is that last week’s performance of Trump at the NATO gathering, in the UK, at Helsinki, and back home, was of such a jaw-dropping, insensible, counter-productive and self- & Russia-serving nature that even his most ardent defenders will have to take notice and seriously engage the idea that they were betting on the wrong horse all along.
As far as I am concerned, Trump crossed the Rubicon and will have to be dealt with accordingly otherwise you can wave goodbye to the republic. So far one could see him merely as a politically incompetent and psychologically damaged man, and entertain the hypothesis, as I did, that he is the expression of an emerging pathocracy, i.e. a “pathological human system run by conscience-deficient people”[1]. Last week’s performance refutes the idea that it’s merely incompetence and narcissism and I would venture now that the ‘pathocracy hypothesis’ is receiving daily confirmations, though there are some stirrings of conscience in the GOP and even at FOX.
This assessment leads me to the idea that the upcoming mid-term elections will be of existential importance to this country. Will these crucial elections be sufficiently protected from ongoing Russian interference? Will the republicans and democrats sufficiently refrain from dirty tricks, and most importantly, will the US electorate be able to make up its own mind? If the republicans keep their hold on congress this year with the help of Putin, corrupt republicans, voter suppression and deceived voters, well, then the new pathocracy will have firmly entrenched itself and can then easily grab the 2020 elections, pack the supreme court with reactionaries, gut the welfare state and let greedy corporations take over federal departments and agencies.
On the other hand, because the civilizational process of people attaining more empathy and self-control is a jagged one–and we’re obviously in a down-ward phase with Miller and Trump leading the way–the next up-ward phase might actually be a very good one with the US catching up on creating a political and economic infrastructure which will serve the people and not the 1%. A pink-blue, anti-gun, millennial wave is on the rise and hopefully will be able to recapture the House and start rectifying the enormous damage done so far by the Trump administration and their lackeys in congress six months from now.
One very important idea for reform, to end on an upbeat note, is to radically change the money and banking system through nationalizing the money supply and taking away from the banks their unconstitutionally gotten prerogative to create and allocate most of the current money stock. A group of academic economists, independent researchers and business journalists have now the evidence that this ill-gotten bankers’ privilege is wrecking the economy, creating inequality and pushing the federal, state and local governments ever closer to bankruptcy.
It does not have to be that way and actually the Swiss electorate had the opportunity last June to switch from a bank credit money system to a sovereign money system. Even though they lost, the opposition was well organized and used deception and fear tactics to win. I’m sure the Swiss will try a reform referendum again. Meanwhile other countries are pressing for reform and new organizations are popping up to make the case for a sovereign money system. One new organization is here in the US and will go by the name of the Alliance for Just Money. Stay tuned.
[1]. Mika, Elizabeth. 2017. “National Character Counts Week: Welcome to Pathocracy“. Medium. 19 Oct 2017.
See also: Mika, Elizabeth. 2017. ” ‘Now More Than Ever:’ On Straitjacketing Trump“. Medium. 23 Aug 2017.