By Chris Trotter*
Howard Dean knows what it’s like to be at the sharp end of an adverse public reaction. He was doing surprisingly well in the 2004 Democratic Party presidential primaries until his infamous “Dean scream” caused voters to turn away abruptly. As he watched the debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump unfold on 27 June 2024, most Americans old enough to recall Dean’s downfall would have assumed that the former Vermont Governor new exactly what he was looking at – an unprecedented political train-wreck.
Interviewed by CNN barely 48 hours after the event, however, Dean was curiously unperturbed. Indeed, he affected a lofty disdain for the whole event. Give it ten days, he admonished his interviewer, reminding her that the attention-span of the American voter was very short. Contemptuous of both his panicking Democratic Party colleagues, and a click-hungry news media, Dean was at pains to tell the American people that there was nothing to see here. So, please folks, just move along. Joe’s fine.
Dean’s arrogant lack of concern epitomises the deep-seated dysfunction at the summit of the Democratic Party. Because, in spite of his spectacular crash-and-burn exit from the 2004 presidential race, Dean would spend the next 20 years steadily climbing his party’s greasy pole – to the point where he must now be counted among what MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow calls the “muckety-mucks” of America’s political elite.
Dean’s CNN interview revealed the corruption of that elite almost as unequivocally as the debate revealed Biden’s infirmity. Dean made it very clear that the Democratic Party leadership’s response to the demonstrable weakness of their candidate will be, simply, to invite the American people to disbelieve the evidence of their own eyes.
The Biden-Trump debate did a lot more, however, than showcase the unacceptability of both candidates. On display, albeit in different costuming, was the fear and contempt of the American people that permeates the American Constitution. In spite of the first three words of that august document, its content is devoted to ensuring that the decisions of ordinary American voters cannot be translated into unmediated political action. More bluntly: the framers of the Constitution saw no good reason why the popular will should prevail over the interests of wealthy and well-educated Americans like themselves.
If Joe Biden had the slightest respect for the working-class Americans who have supported the Democratic Party consistently since Franklin Roosevelt’s “New Deal” of the 1930s; if he was genuinely concerned about the upholding the equality of Black and Hispanic Americans; if he truly cared about the reproductive freedom of American women; then, having defeated Trump in 2020, he would have cleared the way for the younger, more vigorous, men and women of his party, by announcing early that he would not be seeking a second term.
If Donald Trump was not convinced that a good half of the American people were, at one and the same moment, as thick as bricks, and as malleable as clay, then he would not dare to affront their morals, and lie to their faces, with such breathtaking consistency.
Some historians argue that successful demagogues love their audiences, caressing and delighting them like a lover. Others, however, insist that the successful demagogue, like the successful con-man, has nothing but contempt for his “marks”. In the estimation of these “friends of the people”, anyone stupid and/or greedy enough to be taken in by the grifter’s pitch, deserves to be – and will be – grifted good and hard.
The leaders of the Democratic and Republican parties, were they genuine democrats, would long ago have modernised the American Constitution. It is a scandal that the Electoral College made it even as far as the Twentieth Century. The President of the United States should be directly elected by the American people. The idea that a candidate can win the popular vote, but not the presidency, is a democratic outrage. That it has persisted well into the Twenty-First Century confirms that the ruling elites’ contempt for “We the People” remains every bit as strong as it was in the Eighteenth.
The Supreme Court of the United States offers additional proof of how little faith the dominant factions of both parties are prepared to repose in the judgement of the people. That nine men and women, appointed for life, have the power to strike down any and every legislative initiative deemed inimical to the elite interests responsible for their appointment, cannot be deemed acceptable by any democracy worthy of the name. Unelected judges should never be empowered to strike down the laws of elected legislators. Constitutional principles are far too important to be left to the judiciary.
The endurance of these and many other anti-democratic features of the US Constitution raises the possibility that Howard Dean’s arrogant response to the Biden-Trump debate, while outrageous, may not, in fact, be ill-judged. If the Constitution’s glaring affronts to democratic principles have yet to engender a nationwide movement for its revision, then perhaps Dean’s faith in the public’s willingness to disbelieve the evidence of their own eyes is not as cynical as it appears.
For more than 200 years the American people have been encouraged to look upon their republic as “a shining city set upon a hill” – the exemplar from which all the other peoples of the world can draw inspiration. America’s Founding Fathers, far from being the landed gentlemen, slave-owners, soldiers, merchants, and lawyers which history confirms them to have been; men inspired by high ideals, but also heavily constrained by the exigencies of practical politics; are instead presented to posterity as intellectual and moral titans. They have become the USA’s tutelary deities: impervious to error; incapable of sin.
The horrors perpetrated by these heroes and their successors may be acknowledged, albeit reluctantly, by educated Americans, but only if presented to them as unconnected aberrations. All attempts to present such crimes as a feature, not a bug, of the USA’s historical evolution are fiercely resisted. Columbia, America’s symbolic colossus, her liberating lamp held high, strides resolutely to meet America’s future. Only the most impious attempt to direct the world’s attention to the blood and bone and gore besmearing the soles of the gigantic goddess’s feet.
Truly, it is easier to believe in the comforting myth than the disturbing reality. What Americans saw on 27 June was their President, a frail old man, alone on stage, unsupported by notes and advisers, made suddenly aware that he could not gather together enough of his wits to contradict the greatest charlatan ever to occupy the White House.
“This cannot be real life!”, protested The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart, his voice overloading with incredulous anger and grief. “It can’t! Fuck! This is America!”
It was by far the best comment of an overwhelming night. America was staring, horror-struck, at its very own picture of Dorian Grey.
By the morning after the morning after, however, America had turned away. “Joe” was back, socking it to ‘em in North Caolina. Teleprompter firmly in place, supplying the President with the words, facts and ideas that had been so evidently AWOL 48 hours earlier. God knows who’s actually running America: Biden’s speechwriters? Democratic Party muckety-mucks? The First Lady?
Howard Dean’s great insight, shared with CNN, is that while God may know who’s running the show, America doesn’t want to. Confronted with the choice of recommitting themselves to the myth of Joe Biden, or believing the evidence of their own eyes, those Americans not already committed to Donald Trump will reach out instinctively for the President they wish they had – blind to the President they have got.
*Chris Trotter has been writing and commenting professionally about New Zealand politics for more than 30 years. He writes a weekly column for interest.co.nz. His work may also be found at http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com.
117 Comments
Joe has to let go first. After all the trying finally succeeded to the presidency now can’t let go. The whole scene is a parody even Hollywood would be hard pressed to sell. The next few months when the Republicans get their dirt machine fired up will destroy Biden and his legacy. Imagine endless loops on TV etc, of just the one fumbling sentence in answer to the billionaire question captioned ‘ you wanna have this bumbleweed leading your country.’ The Republicans know an energetic and charismatic contender such as Newsom will likely beat Trump which is why they are now swinging around saying Biden is a good president, needs another go. You can read it like a book.
The debate was a tactical victory for the Republicans yet maybe a strategic loss - win the battle but lose the war - especially if the Democrats replace Biden. As I'm sure many print inches will be written and have been written the two current contenders for the presidency show how dire the political landscape is in America. and how a lack of critical thinking by the American population has resulted in America not being the greatest country in the world.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJh9t9h6Wn0
I would argue that there is no leadership - only self interest (and this applies to all politicians). While America has always been about self interest there was at least some sort of spine.
The post truth world is failing, the noise that passes as news is failing.
I struggle to see how it is a strategic loss even if Biden is replaced and Dems win the election. Democratic party & MSM credibility has been utterly obliterated by this event. They have spent at least a year insisting Biden is 100% fine and then had to have voters discover with their own eyes he is very clearly not. Even the most diehard democratic party supporters can't look past this and it looks shocking to independents and more neutral observers.
Dems are in a real bind now because their options are either:
1. Replace Biden and confirm that they had been lying to the public (with the MSM) for at least a year.
2. Don't replace Biden and almost certainly lose to Trump barring some massive upset (definitely possible with Trump).
Even worse if they replace Biden with someone else and it isn't Kamala Harris. Because it functionally means the President and VP were non-functional for the last year.
Scumbag? Possibly, but he took it very easy on Biden. He could have really gone after him and he didn't. God knows the Democrats deserved it.
Pray tell, who are the good Democrats you refer to, Kamala, Newsome? That the Democrats have tried to conceal just how bad Biden is from the American public should rule them out for the next two elections. I think it was RFK who said that the US is run by faceless men and women wearing lanyards.
If you're remotely capable of assessing human behaviour, critical reasoning should place a giant blinking neon sign above Trump saying "giant diddlebag".
There's theories suggesting most people seeking office are going to be cluster b personality types though, so perhaps they're all just as bad.
I didn't say he wasn't a scumbag.
Classic lefty playbook, the old ad hominem. I find Biden more offensive than Trump though. At least Trumps kids aren't crack heads and sleeping with their brother's widow. Oh I forgot, Hunter was on the board of Ukraines largest oil and gas firm, I overlooked his deep financial and governance experience!
Potentially it's worse on the left.
Be Kind!
You don't agree with me? Well, we established I'm pro kind, so if you don't agree, you're obviously not a nice person.
Then again Trump's bringing back abortion debate. Anyone against him, clearly wants to kill babies. Doesn't get much worse than wanting to kill babies.
Trump is a scumbag. That should be extremely clear to anybody without a personality disorder. So your assessment of me, based on the above, really is reaching.
How sad for all of the patients I’ve cared for over the years. My intolerance and lack of critical reasoning really must’ve impacted their care.
Settle down folk. You are reflecting the serious divisiveness that we are all witnessing in the States. We lived and worked there, in a great and happy community, twenty or so years ago. Visited last year and couldn’t believe the change to society. To the point we were not at all comfortable. No one reason for that, but the edginess and discontent that erupted with the storming of the Capitol is no longer latent.
But what has caused the discontent ? This is a genuine question (and I don't think there is a simple answer (nor a simple solution)). There is so much noise people give up and soon certain narratives take a life of their own completely divorced from reality. This I believe is not unique to America. Reality eventually catches up
Talking to the people we knew there would identify three accelerants. Covid and aftermath. Trump’s administration, starkly one side or the other, friend or enemy. Crime never good, now drug fuelled crazy. All that brewing on top of embedded and escalating racial & religious divide and tension,
I don’t like Biden either, nor anybody who actively supports a genocide, which is both candidates. They are both extremely flawed in many regards outside of this.
People who have personality disorders have personality disorders. Plenty of people disagree on things where evidence is patchy. Thinking that Trump is a reasonable person (you think he possibly isn’t) when there are dozens of examples over decades that he is not, is outside the realms of critical assessment.
I’m not a ‘lefty’, I’m simply a rational person who uses the available evidence to make decisions.
I agree Crispy - I don’t think either Trump nor Biden are fit to be President. Both extremely floored personalities.
Was reading (can find link) that 70% of Americans don’t want to vote for Trump or Biden, but will do so because they don’t think anyone outside the Dem/Rep nomination can win. What a mess the US has found itself in! When the vast majority of the people are going to be left unhappy with who is elected.
RFK certainly isn't the perfect candidate but the response to his run by D+R makes American posturing over the lack of democracy overseas look unbelievably hypocritical. Western democracy in general is less democratic than it pretends (there's a strong element of bureaucracy that - for good or bad - suppresses the more radical impulses of democracy) but at least in most of the west the democratic side of the system is still fair and free. Here in NZ, I don't like the high MMP threshold that limits new entrants - but when you compare that to the US oligocracy, it's a very small problem to have.
New Entrants in a country of 5 million with only 1 legislative body is a small hurdle to jump whereas in New York over $20 million in media spend is what it took for a radical 1 term Congressman to be rolled by his own party. You can't begin to comprehend what a hurdle it is to mount a campaign on the National Stage to get gain votes in 50 individual States composed of 3000 counties. For that reason 3rd parties like the "Greens" do not exist--instead they exhibit their force within branches of the two major parites--like the "Squad".
Heck, I even agree with you TK. Never thought that would happen.
I put aside my dislike for the individual, and ask 'who will do the least damage if they are President?' Trump could (and probably is), racist, misogynistic, arrogant and self-conceited. BUT I think he'll do less damage than Biden.
Crispy Kahawai-as a Dr you may be interested in the writings of a retired neurologist who thought Biden may have had normal pressure hydrocephalus secondary to his SA. He's now revised this based on watching his gait and speech. Best bet for a lazy $20 is early onset dementia (wordpress luysii).
*I abhor his stance on abortion
Early onset? - he is 81.
It is very clear he is not with it at all, the gaffs in the debate were one thing but watching his wife almost carry him off the debate stage was the final sign.
I don't understand why Jill doesn't formally assume the role. A bit House of Cards nepotism, but sounds like she has been running the show for the last 3 years anyways.
Have a look at Audaxes post attachment here. Even worse. The lady must be either blind or in some fantasy . Precedent of course. Woodrow Wilson, a democrat, was ga ga for much of his second term and the wife was said to run the show. Can’t do that these days Jill. Not with telly and on line streaming.
As if the only qualification needed to be the President is to be an ex-President's housewife. At least Hilary Clinton was a Senator and served as Secretary of State.
What next? They pick some unemployed single mother up at the local PTA meeting and say "hey, want to be President"?
Pray tell, who are the good Democrats you refer to, Kamala, Newsome?
From a US media editorial:
“Anyone competing with Harris for the nomination, particularly a white male, would risk being selected as the enemy of progress.”
This sums up everything that is wrong with the Democrats & liberal left. They think people should be defined by their race, gender & identification and not what they have to say and offer.
As in, it doesn’t even matter what people want & “democracy.” Kamala is unpopular. The people don’t want her. Full stop. What does her gender and race have anything to do with progress?
Te Kooti
You are right and irrespective of those who view Trump as a scumbag the Amrican people will vote which President and party in the House and Senate will best mirror their views and produce their desired results. The economy and the US status on the world stage was good under Trump and continues to decline dramatically under Biden and barring a Biden replacement or independent Trump will serve a second term, you only get to vote for those who put themselves up for election. I watch congressional hearing on Bidens proposed Judges to the federal bench and thanks to Senator Kennedy and Josh Hawley many if not most are exposed as incompetent or activist with views most Americans oppose.
Infrastructure act, Inflation reduction act, Pact act
Chips and science act.
USA falling apart under trump. His touted foxconn development in Wisconsin didnt materialise so Biden had the site done. He managed to achieve fewer people employed, from that perspective was the worst president ever.
Trump said. "no more stupid wars" Which was brilliant.
Only achieved some of that. The system would not let even the president challenge that. So he only got so far.
But a glimmer of light in a ancient, clogged up system, which can't now learn.
The USA is the oldest government system in the world. And it shows.
How did Biden manage the development by Microsoft then vs trump giving excessive tax breaks to a foreign entity. Trump is an failed businessman now failed and soon to be jailed politician
Its only clogged and falling apart because of trump. 4 times indicted, 2 x impeached convicted felon. Trumps playbook delay delay delay.
Count his business successes on one hand, squandered the 100s millions inheritance his father handed him
What? He just made Billions in a Media Tech Venture he set up. Show me a Property Developer who hasn't hit the wall a few times. It comes with the territory. What do you make of the Investors in US Commercial Office Buildings who are now losing Hundreds and Hundreds of Millions all over the country because unlike 2018 Office Buildings are now half empty. Did these people all squander their fortunes?
"The USA is the oldest government system in the world."
"San Marino claims to be the oldest constitutional republic in the world, founded on 3 September 301, by Marinus, a Christian stonemason fleeing the religious persecution of Roman Emperor Diocletian. San Marino's constitution, dating back to 1600, is the world's oldest written constitution still in effect.[2]"
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outline_of_San_Marino
Good catch Kiwikids. Thanks.
The longer explanation of this is that the USA regards itself as young. And the new world etc. And for example sees Europe as old and crusty.
But given that say Europe has destroyed itself several times in wars with completely new systems and government setups, it is not that old and crusty.
But the USA has had the same constitution about 250 years now. And become ossified. One of the definitions of that is excessive legalisms. And we can see that.
So who is the stuck one really ?
Trump also said if there was a shark in the water and his boat was going down, he would electrocute himself with the battery. And how he likes to grab women. And that most Mexicans were rapists and murderers.
Taking one quote and blowing it into showing 'brilliance' is not really taking the man as a whole.
LOL, what? From the perspective of the American electorate how is any of this progress? If you signed something marketed as preventing things from going backwards and they still go backwards does it count?
I know this a stereotype but do any of those acts matter at all when this happening:
Americans are choking on surging fast-food prices. "I can't justify the expense," one customer says
Infrastructure act, Inflation reduction act, Pact act
Chips and science act.
Typical Big Government Leftist; if they passed huge amounts of spending bills then it's all good and who cares about the results. I'll bet you cheered to the echo Labour's similar stupidities here that saw billions spent with no improvements to show for it.
So let's check the list:
Inflation Reduction Act - nice piece of Nineteen Eighty Four there as the stupid thing pumped trillions into an economy that was already overheating as it recovered from all the Covid lockdowns. Unneeded and actually created inflation - as people watching the money supply blow out knew it would, just like here.
Infrastructure Act - the WSJ showed at the time that most of it wasn't directed at infrastructure as normies think of it (bridges, roads, etc) but pork to help Dem politicians. And in any case it's turning out just like Labour's plans: 7 EV chargers instead of 500,000 for several billion dollars; ZERO broadband rural connections for $42 billion. They'll be more fail from it in the future and people will ask where the money went.
Chips and science act - Companies have bluntly told the US government that as much as they love the subsidies they're building chip factories elsewhere because the stupid act was so loaded with DEI crap that it's not worth the candle. Genius own goal.
Stopped Putin from taking Ukraine.
Dude, even Zelenski upbraided Biden for yammering about how a "small incursion" might not be a big deal. Not a surprise Putin decided to invade after that comment after not daring during Trump's presidency. BTW, the Ukrainian Army was able to stop Putin's tanks in the first few weeks because Trump had sold them things like Javelin missiles that Obama had withheld.
If an 81 year old were to apply for the top job of ANY company, they almost certainly wouldn’t even be interviewed.
LVMH boss Bernard Arnault raised his job's retirement age to 80. Warren Buffett told him that age limit was too low.
https://www.businessinsider.com/lvmh-bernard-arnault-warren-buffett-ber…
Trump : Millions are coming over the border, Apocalypse is coming.
Biden : The whole idea of the idea is ridiculous.
#debatebomb
The thing that matters most are the swing States and the swing voters. Historically those votes have far greater inclination to vote in the negative. That is an unfavourable perception of a candidate and particularly weakness and particularly in the incumbent. Past examples are, Ford, Carter & Bush senior. Here Biden, by this display, has already broadcast such a position and defeated himself. The Republicans will hammer and hammer clips & soundbites of Biden’s downfall and the voters will readily respond by voting for what they don’t want and that is a weak embarrassment of a President. In reality the perception undoubtedly has gone beyond the swing voters to the wide electorate and Biden could well end up being. in modern times, the most heavily defeated President since Hoover.
Agree - I watched the alternative debate that included RFK Jr on X (after he was excluded by CNN from the main debate).
You can’t even compare the mental abilities of Trump/Biden with RFK Jr - they are on a completely different spectrum. RFK Jr came across as extremely well prepared with an understanding of the issues facing America and with plans to resolve them. Watching Trump/Biden was like watching a primary school class leader debate in comparison (ie between two 8 year old boys that have never grow up).
How America has found itself in this position is quite mind boggling.
" Unelected judges should never be empowered to strike down the laws of elected legislators. Constitutional principles are far too important to be left to the judiciary."
Yep. We need to talk about the NZ Supreme Court & judiciary
On Judicial Imperialism - by Gary Judd KC (substack.com)
How to rein in an activist Supreme Court | The New Zealand Initiative (nzinitiative.org.nz)
The fact that the debate was held so early this year, unlike other elections smacks of a set up. The fact that all the Left Wing media have so neatly fallen into line overnight with the "Joe Must Go" message also smacks of a set up. This is how the "men in suits" get rid of Biden and replace him with their sock puppet of choice so they can stay in power for another 4 years instead of losing to Trump.
It is sad but regardless of his competence, Biden no longer has sufficient public impact to lead the USA. The Democrats need to urgently decide this because the public certainly will.
In the annual 2024 predictions I posited that Liz Cheney could hold the key to the election. While it is highly unlikely given the entrenched nature of their political landscape, I would like to see her as the next president, because she is a decent honest person and one of the only Republicans with sufficient spine and principals to stand up to Trump. She is also highly respected by high level Democrats who worked very constructively with them in assembling the legal case against the Jan 6 Trump insurrection. I believe that she is the best person to bridge the polarized nation and push aside the Trump extremists and make room for a more reasonable Republican Party. With her leadership Trump would go to jail for a long time.
How to get there? Either the Democrats put her up as their candidate, or they decline to put a candidate up in favor of her standing as an independent. Think of the candidate that Trump would be most afraid of? I think it is Liz Cheney.
Who ever people vote in as president, the crucial thing is to ensure that Congress and the Senate have Democrat majorities
The whole American system so gatekept by special interests to the point only candidates who are too compromised to make a difference are put up as candidates. Stop worrying about it the result does not make a real difference. At the very most you can delay some stuff for a bit.
"They" make you effectively sell your soul before your allowed anywhere near the seats of power and if you have anything left they will grind you down or get rid of you before you achieve anything.
Who cares about popular votes and electoral colleges when you have no one decent running. MMP is the only thing that partially prevents this from happening here.
He might have skipped the early gatekeeping but they still did not let him in without having his executive picked for him. He was stopped from doing anything significant and what he did achieve was undone quickly once he left.
He was able to run the economy pretty hot and that was good in the short term I guess.
Remember when Americans were worried that Reagan was too old for re-election when he was early-mid 70’s and this was his response:
https://youtu.be/fJhCjMfRndk?si=F8r4PWPhmEWly9xp
Can we bring back this level of intellect and class to debates?
About bloody time someone in the msm called out Joe and his dementia. We need some new leadership and Donald has the gumption to show the rest of the world (looking at you Europe) that America needs to put America first! No more feeding the poor who won't try to feed themselves.
USA is on track to have open boarders like the EU and the American Empire will fall apart... Unless Donald wins and fixes the cracks in the Wall and keeps American values American!
Yes we know Trump lies but a least you know what you get, have lived in America and married to one for along time and now back in NZ I'm not sure which is better, go to the small towns of America and see the real people like NZ, normal people. The democrats [left] have destroyed the place, Newsom has destroyed California ,Obama talked a great story like Ardern and did nothing for the country, sound familiar. Go and live there before you before you make comment as I would expect a lot of people who are on this site haven't. If you think America is bad and think here is better the why are so many of us leaving here.Dont look through rose tinted glasses to long in this country you might not like what you see
Can't the constitution be changed (amended)?
What if the sitting president doesn't agree with the way the voting process happened, and his supporters try to physically overthrow the government?
Their legislative system of checks and balances should work, but we live in unprecedented times. Handing power to a candidate who shows no respect for democracy or the truth seems like playing with fire to me.
The most charitable view of the man is he is just milking outrage from his supporters to keep his coffers full. The ultimate grifter.
I'm sure there are plenty already. The Electoral Commission has been banging incessantly for years for lowering the threshold and abolishing coat-tailing.
But in the end politicians, by definition, play politics and tailor their campaigns to the system - whatever that may be. In the US if the electoral college was abandoned then presidential candidates would just spend all their campaigning efforts - time, advertising money, vote-buying subsidies etc. - in California, Texas, New York and Florida, and no other states would ever get a look-in. Which is precisely why the electoral college was set up that way in the first place.
He was past it in the last election.
They have a lower age limit of 35, maybe time for an upper one of 70. Also apply age limits to Congress and the Senate.
The USA has all the hallmarks of a bunch of dictators refusing to give up power. https://fiscalnote.com/blog/how-old-118th-congress.
Interestingly for a bunch of so called "prgoressives" the Dems are even older on average than the Republicans.
its content is devoted to ensuring that the decisions of ordinary American voters cannot be translated into unmediated political action.
The Founders were all well-educated men and knew about the failures of Greek democracy, where "The People" could condemn to death their own Admirals even after the poor bastards won a battle. Political action most certainly unmediated by courts, Bills of Rights, or general civil liberties: you lose the vote, you died. They were also well aware of the failures they saw in the Roman republic and what they'd experienced themselves with British democracy. Which leads to...
It is a scandal that the Electoral College made it even as far as the Twentieth Century. The President of the United States should be directly elected by the American people.
The Founders - although they could not have foreseen how being Commander In Chief would become so formidable with military tech, as well as the head of huge bureaucracies - did not want the President to be an Emperor. Hence they hedged in the position with the Constitution via splitting the power with Congress and the Supreme Court and the individual States, which are like small nations themselves.
Thus it didn't matter about the people not electing the President directly when they did that for the Congress (House and Senate) which is the only place where laws are made, including what money will be spent and on what. Outside of war the President wasn't so powerful that he had to be directly elected, and in any case the real complaint of the Left is that the Electoral College means the minorities of the small states and cities don't get crushed by the big cities and big states. The Founders had a real fear of The Tyranny of The Majority - but I wouldn't expect collectivist supremacists to care about that.
The real answer now would be to strip back a lot of the President's power. And speaking of SCOTUS...
That nine men and women, appointed for life, have the power to strike down any and every legislative initiative deemed inimical to the elite interests responsible for their appointment, cannot be deemed acceptable by any democracy worthy of the name.
Just a few months ago every Leftist I know was cheering on the failure of the Israeli government to curtail the right of the Israeli Supreme Court to overthrow any law passed by the Knesset and effectively select its own future members. Doesn't get more "elite" than that.
They have become the USA’s tutelary deities: impervious to error; incapable of sin.
You’re a bit behind the times. That might have been true even up to the 1990’s but it sure isn’t now. Read my post, Woking The Dead, about how both Madison and Jefferson get trashed by official US government aides nowadays in their original homes:
“People on my tour seemed sad and demoralized,” Jeffrey Tucker, founder of the libertarian Brownstone Institute, told The Post. His guide was “surly and dismissive” about Jefferson’s accomplishments.
Nice read, thanks. That forethought and intent to bridle executive power was first really put to the test by Lincoln when he summoned up his interpretation of the power of his office to fight the civil war and that included the sedition act to suppress criticism of his administration by the press and the suspension of habeas corpus to enable imprisonment of perceived opposition activists without any trial. Even then Lincoln was hard pressed to enforce such measures without the fact of the very large federal army camped nearby. Even so, and admittedly I haven’t researched as much as I would like, it seems to me that Trump, as an individual president was able to enact policy legislation, sweeping tariffs and compensatory subsidies for instance, without either hesitation or impediment, more than any other. In other words what he said went, full stop. Without wishing to over dramatise, he came to exist not unlike the caesar, feared and assassinated on those same ancient steps of democracy you mention. Of course there is one other, but unlikely, option the electorate could achieve. Republican President Trump. Democrat Congress and Senate.
Is there anything Costco cannot do?
Have you ever loved a store so much that you wanted to live in it? Well, bulk wholesaler Costco is making that dream a reality for the citizens of Los Angeles. Last year, the company announced in a press release that they were going to build a new warehouse in the City of Angels with 800 apartments and a myriad of amenities stacked on top of it. 184 of those units will be set aside for affordable housing to help combat L.A.'s affordable housing crisis.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/costco-plans-build-800-prefab-170900174…
I strongly urge all of you to watch this video of a bunch of Liberal commentators talking about the Biden disaster and the YouTube clip I'm putting here starts at 13m45s so you can see Megan McCain (John McCain's daughter) talk with anger about the situation and what the Biden family is doing even as she refers to Trump as a "complete bastard".
Mr Trotter, All your essay proved is how British Parliamentary thinking warps your understanding of what the American Republic is all about. At its core only the Liberals who control 270 of the US's 3000 counties wish for the type of Parliamentary Power which you endorse as the antidote to the present collision of opposing forces which has been building for 50 years. Until FDR's New Deal in 1932 the Federal Government was designed to play only a supportive role to the States Rights. That was by design in the Constitution and still the way the "geographic majority" of America prefers. NZ or UK could little expect-much less tolerate- the decentralization of allowing each of the 50 States to enact their own Abortion laws based on the culture of the majority of the citizens of that State. And to have the State bowl over municipal governments and force amalgamation would be another example of how different the US is. In my home of Minnesota the Twin Cities 3,300,000 population is still composed of nearly 120 individual cities and 7 separate Counties. Some of those cities have only 1000 people yet have a Mayor, and city council plus their own public works dept, and where you get your Resource Consent by going before the Planning Council on a Tuesday night twice a month.
The US Constitution with its legislative powers divided between the Executive and 2 Houses of Congress was designed to be a "brake" on legislation--not a fast track like the Parliamentary system that the Founders all had experienced under British rule.
And as for this statement: . Others, however, insist that the successful demagogue, like the successful con-man, has nothing but contempt for his “marks”. In the estimation of these “friends of the people”, anyone stupid and/or greedy enough to be taken in by the grifter’s pitch, deserves to be – and will be – grifted good and hard. Well, my answer to that is obviously that statement doesn't apply to the Ex President because the voters backing him had 4 years to experience the "Con-Man" and were not Conned. He delivered on what he was elected to deliver on . Even the first Elected Leader of the Free World to expose the Chinese for who and what they were--and took action against them--unlike Obama, Bush, or Clinton. Over $80 Billion in Chinese Duties are now collected and the US Steel industry and car industry still exists-unlike the UK.
If anyone is a Con Man that would be the current President who took on Obama's team to run his administration instead of being "Scranton Joe" we got a stealth 3rd term of Obama. Opening the gates and flooding America's urban centres with 5 to 10 million "Asylum Seekers"--truthfully called "Que Jumpers" by the more truthful Aussie politicians will be the downfall of Obama's 3rd term. No wonder he was the first one out of the gate on Friday Morning to defend his apprentice by simply declaring " I had bad debate nights myself".
No Chris, the last thing the people residing in the 30 Red States would allow is to change the Constitution and then loose all the decentralized control that the framers of the Constitution deliberately set out to insure could not be "rolled" by the big States. 2/3's of Federal Congress would first have to vote for a Constitutional Change to the Electoral Vote system, and then 2/3rds of the 50 States Legislative bodies casting 2/3rds majorities as well would be needed to change the Constitution, as well as their respective Governors voting in favour as well .
What can't happen-won't happen.
In my home of Minnesota the Twin Cities...
I'm guessing family ties but really..... you need to GTF out of that place and head to one of the Red States. I can't see the Twin's coming back from this, although I'll grant you that St Paul might be ok!
And in case you think I'm being harsh.... former Chicago resident here and I am never going back there. In the 90's we used to discuss at gatherings whether we could join Detroit and the consensus was that we had more going for us.
Oh well!
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