Alan Zendell, June 3, 2023
The fake soap opera over the debt ceiling is finally over. It might be wishful thinking, but the resounding final vote in the House of Representatives that passed the bill formed from the bipartisan compromise may have been an indication that things are going to change. Ever since Donald Trump entered politics, eight years ago, they have been dominated by extremists. First, it was the far right, egged on and enabled by Trump himself; then, it was the inevitable reactions by far-left groups.
The result has not been good for America. It further weakened our already gridlocked, dysfunctional Congress and had our country on a self-destructive path. Our allies were steadily losing confidence in America as a reliable partner, much less as a world leader. And our adversaries, seeing the disarray that extremists caused here at home, took full advantage of it. China is aggressively staking its claim for dominance in Asia and the South Pacific, building its navy at a dizzying pace, and attempting to redefine international spheres of influence. And with the damage done to NATO’s confidence in America’s support and leadership by the Trump administration, Vladimir Putin mistakenly thought he could invade and defeat Ukraine without triggering a military response from the West.
If our loss of status internationally wasn’t enough, we are approaching an election season in which the Republicans seem to be basing their entire primary campaign fighting an internal culture war instead of dealing with the country’s real problems. Its two leading contenders, Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, seem more intent on capturing the votes of racist and religious extremists and compromising our democratic principles in favor of a government that looks more like Fascism every day than addressing the needs of the majority of Americans.
Until the phony debt ceiling crisis that occupied the media’s attention throughout the Spring it appeared that, following the model that swept Trump into office in 2016, a small group of right-wing radicals had taken their entire party hostage, preventing reasonable dialogue and the kind of bipartisan cooperation that we have always taken for granted. It takes a while for major change to percolate in an open society of a third of a billion people, but maybe…just maybe…we now see the first signs that responsible people who take their oaths to support the Constitution seriously have had enough. I’m even hearing talk that the same bipartisan majority that raised the debt ceiling may now act to abolish it permanently.
Trump and his followers created the illusion that American politics no longer had a viable center. If we believed the broadcast and social media, all the centrists were gone, leaving those at the extremes who were willing to burn everything down to get their way in charge. I was taught that only corrupt, third-world nations behaved that way, yet here we were, clawing back individual rights over which Americans had become dangerously complacent, and attempting to redefine who has the right to vote.
America thrives on compromise and the assumption that the majority of us want what is best for the nation as a whole. The existence of a small, powerful group of extremist lawmakers willing to risk destroying everything to achieve their goal is anathema to our American dreams and ideals. Fortunately, that small group isn’t as powerful as some feared. Arrogant clowns like Matt Gaetz, angry, wealthy extremists like Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Trumpers like Chip Roy and Paul Gosar were allowed to vent their anger, but in the end, as most of us anticipated, cooler, saner heads in the Republican Caucus prevailed. The same was true for Progressives, but it wasn’t the followers of AOC who instigated this crisis.
The majority of Americans do not support extremist views, whether they address abortion, same-sex marriage, non-binary gender choices, education, or programs aimed at allowing lower income family to survive. Thus, the recent media furor over a minority dictating policy to the majority, which might have led to the end of our democracy. Just as we refuse to negotiate with terrorists, we must have limited tolerance for people with extreme views who are willing to bring the entire system down rather than lose. We should be grateful that our Congress seems to have reached that conclusion.
If you don’t find the threat of people willing to burn everything down to get what they want credible, I direct your attention to writer Hugh Howey’s 2012-13 Silo trilogy which was brilliantly adapted for television by Apple TV+. Without being a spoiler, I will simply say that these stories illustrate, clearly and credibly, what can happen when a small, maniacal minority has the tools and power to make decisions for the rest of us.