Are We Really Worse Than In The Past
" Be Careful what you wish for, lest it may come true."
Aesop's Fables
By Christopher C.L. Custer, MD
There are two ways to look at Mr. Trump's actions either the premeditated attacks on our democracy or:
did his unstoppable assault on civic institutions and governing norms succeed in highlighting the system's fragility while also tempering its resilience?(1)
I can a good argument for the former. While the attacks of Jan. 6th, 2021 were not deliberate acts he made, he gave the rioters a good reason to go to the capital. If anything he was criminally negligent in his duty to sway the rioters away from rioting and breaking the law.
He challenged many values which many of us and democracies in general hold dear to our hearts. His attack on the separation of the executive, judicial, and legislature is shown by his need for more power, ie. executive privilege.(2) It is not unusual for presidents to want more power. He knew full well that money buys influence, but only up to a certain point. What I take issue with is how he tried to achieve this power. His bold- faced aggressive and assertive want for power. He was so blatant about it, lying, ignoring subpoenas, and thinking he was above the law. He gave executive privilege a whole new meaning. He broke the law when stepping down from office, he didn't hand over all administrative documents to the National Archives.(3) His actions were inconsistent with presidents stepping down peacefully. Trump giving a speech just blocks away from the capital telling the would be rioters that he supported them and to march on the Capital building, and his frantic efforts to remain in office.(4) His speech did everything but actually tell the mob to riot. He had the power to stop the rioter's violence, but he didn't. Isn't that criminal negligence-where the fault lies in the failure to foresee and so allow otherwise avoidable dangers to manifest. We must remember this totally is in his character, for he is known to bitterly dislike to be wrong. But if it wasn't for the seriousness of the issue in question, it would have been included in a comic stand up routine. He is now ignoring subpoenas for this.(5) Mr. Trump( I disliked it when I called him president but from the phrase, saluting the uniform, not the person then I swallowed my pride and called him President) is a consummate liar, lying thousands of time during his administration. He was a very quick study for leaning how to give or say what his audience( often manipulated) what they wanted to see.
His breaking a law is to rationalize why he broke a law is using faulty logic. The personality traits he has are reprehensible. His egocentric and narcisstic ways, to say the least is not my cup of tea.
REFERENCES
1)https://www.thefulcrum.us/big-picture/trump-threat-to-democracy
2)https://www.thefulcrum.us/big-picture/trump-threat-to-democracy
3)https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/03/trump-documents-national-archives-release-records-about-recovery-effort.html
4)https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/01/12/us/capitol-mob-timeline.html
5)https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/trump-s-use-executive-privilege-will-test-congressional-power-enforce-n1281317
Despite the situation society finds itself today, we should use some perspective on history to see to see how bad off we really are. While times seem bleak today, have we seen worse? g today's society's problems in perspective, I see how much worse off in the '70s we were or at least similar circumstances. To date myself the '70s are almost 50 years from my adolescence. True to form for many of my friends, my priorities were elsewhere. So now, I hope with more wisdom, I can and want to use my experience to compare my experiences in the '70s to today's. As Charles Dickens said, " it was the best of times, it was the worst of times." Looking back the 1970's, a very tumultuous time, to say the least, may have been worse than today. The increase of racial tension, today is in part due to the increased exposure created by social media platforms, cameras on cell phones, and the internet in general and progress has been painfully in slow in eliminating racism. However, based on most objective accounts blacks are at least marginally better off. The COVID-19 the impact was much less pronounced than the 1918 Influenza Epidemic.The 1918 business closures were shorter and less sweeping, in part because the US was at war and the Wilson administration was unwilling to let public safety jeopardize the WW l.(1) Despite this, COVID-19 death rate compared to the total population was half the Influenza death rate of 1918- COVID-19's .3% compared to the influenza's 0.6% . Let's not forget the impact AIDS had on U.S. society which first diagnosed in the U.S. in 1981. So here also our past was much worse. " The stress caused by differing opinions on the LGBTQIA issues were no different, many citizens reactions to this issue in the '70s were much more intolerant, intolerance today is somewhat subdued. With social and mass media are forces to be reckoned with, the the perception that the LGBTQIA is a new phenomena. This novelty buries the differences from the '70s. The stress caused by the rich against the rest of us has always been with us since time immemorial. As for the Vietnam War compared to the war on terror, there are important differences- downsides in the 1970's They include the differences such as the impact of the Vietnam War on our society tearing it asunder. You can't say that about the war on terror. While some missteps have occurred, generally the war on terrorism has united us. However, similarities were also are present. Both were enormously expensive and undeclared. The gas lines of the '70s are similar to today's interruption of our supply chains. Both were enormously expensive and undeclared. But by analysing the '70s on balance was worse. Another example is gasoline prices. The inflation adjusted gas prices of today are not the highest price the American people have ever seen. That distinction belongs to 1979, 1981, 2008, and 2012.(2)Unemployment now runs at under 4%, while in 1979 the rate was over 4 times that figure at 16%. We have seen much worse inflation in the '70s- 11% in 1974, 9% in 1975, and 11% in 1979 compared to today's rate of 8.6%.(3)
I am not saying we should bemoan today and wish for the 1970's, for as I said the 70's often were worse. I'm saying, to echo George Santanyana's words, " if we don't learn from history, we are condemned to repeat it." We appear to be poor studies, for we have sown the seed of our own demise by continuing down this path. So this is no time to despair, nothing is written in stone, but we must act to improve our society least we repeat our past. We have seen worst but that doesn't mean we have to repeat it.
REFERENCES
1)https://www.nber.org/papers/w27495#:~:text=The%201918%20closures%20were%20shorter,shutdown%20voluntarily%3B%20others%20operated%20shorthanded.
2)https://www.google.com/1665174544505&q=Gas+price+inflation+chart+2022
3)https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/inflation/historical-inflation-rates/