America deserves Trump

In a democracy, the people get the government they deserve. And in America, they deserve Donald Trump.

The old adage comes from Alexis de Tocqueville, a French historian and writer who studied early American democracy. Tocqueville’s book, Democracy in America, examined how and why the political system worked so well in the U.S., whereas it tended towards corruption and abuse in much of Europe.

Tocqueville admired democracy in America, which was built upon strong traditions of individual liberty, religious freedoms and tight-knit communities.

If you landed in the U.S. in the 1830s, you would have been more impressed by the booming economy and strong civil society than merely just the voting system.

In the two centuries since, America became the global super power; the world’s largest economy, military, cultural exporter and soft power. It helped accomplish the global peace and stability we’ve enjoyed over the last 70 years.

Today, the U.S. is a deeply divided country. It’s divided by race, by class and by political affiliation. Everywhere you look, Americans are angry, and they seem determined to pit people against one another.

It’s easy to see why there is so much frustration in America. The economy has changed. The type of jobs available have changed, and will continue to change. Immigration, free trade deals and the incredible growth of new technologies has made life better for many people, especially for well-educated and middle class Americans. But these advances also left many people behind.

The people of Ferguson, Missouri or Flint, Michigan do not feel better off. They may have amazing smart phones and government health care, but they don’t have meaningful jobs or the self-respect and confidence that comes with providing for your family.

Immigration, likewise, helps grow the economy and makes our culture more diverse and interesting. It’s great for urbanites looking for new food options or a cheap nanny. But it isn’t so great for residents of Tucson, Arizona who have to deal with the disproportionate crime as the Mexican drug war spills into their community.

Rather than trying to understand these complex social problems, and working with the people of these communities to find palpable solutions, the issues were largely ignored. Worse than ignored, in many cases, the people raising these valid concerns were ridiculed.

And far from the robust communities that used to unite Americans, today, Democrats and Republicans barely interact. When they do, on cable news shows, they digress into shouting matches and name-calling.

Rather than addressing the real issues facing the country, American political discourse revolves around distractions and fake culture wars.

Rather than trying to understand voters with lower education and different cultural values, it’s become fashionable to simply call them stupid and make fun of them. But the more media elites like Jon Stewart – or his unfunny successor on the Daily Show, Trevor Noah – belittle Donald Trump and his supporters, the more divided American becomes. The angrier it becomes.

Donald Trump embodies this anger. And that’s why we shouldn’t underestimate his appeal to the American voter.

Despite drastically negative news coverage, sneering elites and fear-mongering from across the political spectrum over how bad a Trump presidency would be, Trump is still a viable contender.

If he wins in November, despite all the naysayers, it’ll be what America deserves.

Today, the U.S. is a deeply divided country. It’s divided by race, by class and by political affiliation.

Yes, but the blame for that lies 100% with the Democrats. It's not because of Trump.

Race, class, political affiliation. If you can't find an exploitable division with one of those, make one up. That's what they do.

Identity politics, which the left uses as a weapon to divide us into easily-manipulated competing factions, are their brand. That's how the democrats (a misnomer if there ever was one) operate.

They're so bold about it they even come up with cosmically stupid "issues" like whether drag queens can use the little girls' room. They are doing their best to produce a "Mondo Bizarro" society where up is down and down is up. All in the interest of kick-starting this stupid "revolution" idea they seem to cherish.

Trump is doing his best to get elected so that he can put all that divisive crap out of business.

We know liberals are truly afraid of Trump. That's one of the reasons we like him so much. I believe he will do his best to right the wrongs that have been inflicted on America under Obama.

Whether or not Americans deserve him, probably not. He's probably better than most of us. Certainly smarter and more talented than most of us. He's the kind of leader we need, but he's the first one many of us have seen in our lifetimes.

I know that Canadian Liberals don't like Trump, and I took that into consideration in responding to your statements about the American people. Thanks for sharing.

Now go on back up to Toronto, hoser. Your opinion doesn't matter. Stay in Canada if you don't like Trump.

From time to time here, the question arises as to whether this Constitution structured a “democracy” or a “republic.” Freepers generally understand the difference, but on this Constitution Day, we might explore that question again—especially for the benefit of our youth.

What if we had an answer on the “democracy/republic” question from an original source who actually lived through the Revolutionary Period? What if that source also provided the Framers’ rationale for the underlying principle and the reason for Benjamin Franklin’s purported response to the question?

John Adams’ son, John Quincy, was 9 when the Declaration of Independence was written, 20 when the Constitution was framed, and from his teen years, served in various capacities in both the Legislative and Executive branches of the government, including as President. His words on this subject should be instructive on the subject at hand.

In 1839, JQA was invited by the New York Historical Society to deliver the “Jubilee” Address honoring the 50th Anniversary of the Inauguration of George Washington. He delivered that lengthy discourse which should be read by all who love liberty, for it traced the history of the development of the ideas underlying and the actions leading to the establishment of the Constitution which structured the United States government. His 50th-year summation seems to be a better source for understanding the kind of government the Founders formed than those of recent historians and politicians. He addresses the ideas of “democracy” and “republic” throughout, but here are some of his concluding remarks:

“Every change of a President of the United States, has exhibited some variety of policy from that of his predecessor. In more than one case, the change has extended to political and even to moral principle; but the policy of the country has been fashioned far more by the influences of public opinion, and the prevailing humors in the two Houses of Congress, than by the judgment, the will, or the principles of the President of the United States. The President himself is no more than a representative of public opinion at the time of his election; and as public opinion is subject to great and frequent fluctuations, he must accommodate his policy to them; or the people will speedily give him a successor; or either House of Congress will effectually control his power. It is thus, and in no other sense that the Constitution of the United States is democratic - for the government of our country, instead of a Democracy the most simple, is the most complicated government on the face of the globe. From the immense extent of our territory, the difference of manners, habits, opinions, and above all, the clashing interests of the North, South, East, and West, public opinion formed by the combination of numerous aggregates, becomes itself a problem of compound arithmetic, which nothing but the result of the popular elections can solve.

“It has been my purpose, Fellow-Citizens, in this discourse to show:-

“1. That this Union was formed by a spontaneous movement of the people of thirteen English Colonies; all subjects of the King of Great Britain - bound to him in allegiance, and to the British empire as their country. That the first object of this Union,was united resistance against oppression, and to obtain from the government of their country redress of their wrongs.

“2. That failing in this object, their petitions having been spurned, and the oppressions of which they complained, aggravated beyond endurance, their Delegates in Congress, in their name and by their authority, issued the Declaration of Independence - proclaiming them to the world as one people, absolving them from their ties and oaths of allegiance to their king and country - renouncing that country; declared the UNITED Colonies, Independent States, and announcing that this ONE PEOPLE of thirteen united independent states, by that act, assumed among the powers of the earth, that separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitled them.

“3. That in justification of themselves for this act of transcendent power, they proclaimed the principles upon which they held all lawful government upon earth to be founded - which principles were, the natural, unalienable, imprescriptible rights of man, specifying among them, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness - that the institution of government is to secure to men in society the possession of those rights: that the institution, dissolution, and reinstitution of government, belong exclusively to THE PEOPLE under a moral responsibility to the Supreme Ruler of the universe; and that all the just powers of government are derived from the consent of the governed.

“4. That under this proclamation of principles, the dissolution of allegiance to the British king, and the compatriot connection with the people of the British empire, were accomplished; and the one people of the United States of America, became one separate sovereign independent power, assuming an equal station among the nations of the earth.

“5. That this one people did not immediately institute a government for themselves. But instead of it, their delegates in Congress, by authority from their separate state legislatures, without voice or consultation of the people, instituted a mere confederacy.

“6. That this confederacy totally departed from the principles of the Declaration of independence, and substituted instead of the constituent power of the people, an assumed sovereignty of each separate state, as the source of all its authority.

“7. That as a primitive source of power, this separate state sovereignty,was not only a departure from the principles of the Declaration of Independence, but directly contrary to, and utterly incompatible with them.

“8. That the tree was made known by its fruits. That after five years wasted in its preparation, the confederation dragged out a miserable existence of eight years more, and expired like a candle in the socket, having brought the union itself to the verge of dissolution.

“9. That the Constitution of the United States was a return to the principles of the Declaration of independence, and the exclusive constituent power of the people. That it was the work of the ONE PEOPLE of the United States; and that those United States, though doubled in numbers, still constitute as a nation, but ONE PEOPLE.

“10. That this Constitution, making due allowance for the imperfections and errors incident to all human affairs, has under all the vicissitudes and changes of war and peace, been administered upon those same principles, during a career of fifty years.

“11. That its fruits have been, still making allowance for human imperfection, a more perfect union, established justice, domestic tranquility, provision for the common defence, promotion of the general welfare, and the enjoyment of the blessings of liberty by the constituent people, and their posterity to the present day.

“And now the future is all before us, and Providence our guide.”

In an earlier paragraph, he had stated:
“But this institution was republican, and even democratic. And here not to be misunderstood, I mean by democratic, a government, the administration of which must always be rendered comfortable to that predominating public opinion . . . and by republican I mean a government reposing, not upon the virtues or the powers of any one man - not upon that honor, which Montesquieu lays down as the fundamental principle of monarchy - far less upon that fear which he pronounces the basis of despotism; but upon that virtue which he, a noble of aristocratic peerage, and the subject of an absolute monarch, boldly proclaims as a fundamental principle of republican government. The Constitution of the United States was republican and democratic - but the experience of all former ages had shown that of all human governments, democracy was the most unstable, fluctuating and short-lived; and it was obvious that if virtue - the virtue of the people, was the foundation of republican government, the stability and duration of the government must depend upon the stability and duration of the virtue by which it is sustained.”

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