Bonnie and Clyde and Trump and Putin
Hope dies last. It's true.
Yes, I'll admit it. I hoped that our president would do something to save us from the Russia coup. But I see that he is bound by rules that do not constrain the criminals like Trump and Putin. We are all bound by rules. And those rules---which are supposed to help us all get along---make us like lambs to the slaughter when we are targeted by sociopaths like Trump and nationalists like Russia's Putin.
The rules I am talking about are not rules of law. They are social rules unique to the United States---and maybe Australia. The rules go "The status quo exists to keep us down. Therefore, we are free to ignore the rules whenever we want in our own self interest. And anyone who successfully ignores the rules and makes money doing so is a national hero, because he gives hope to the rest of us."
I honestly thought that fascism would never gain hold in the United States, because our rugged individualism would make us reject orders to march in step. I forgot that our idolization of criminals makes us weak when it comes to a criminal conspiracy coup.
Blame our Calvinist ancestors. God’s anointed are those who succeed in this life—this material life---and these successful criminals must be blessed, otherwise God would not allow them to succeed. Their methods do not matter. If the result is a net gain in money, power, prestige, then they are the chosen we were put upon this earth to worship at their feet of clay—and lies, and hacks, and blackmail and criminal conspiracies.
Putin’s coup was diabolical. He correctly read our nation’s fascination with---no, our worship of successful criminals---and launched a more or less open criminal conspiracy, knowing that the very bravado of it, the flash, the I-Dare-You-To-Object would make it irresistible to a core constituency. And that same hard core, outlaw loving sector of our society will only love Trump more as more details of the criminal conspiracy emerge.
And those who live by the rule of law will shake their heads and wonder how we got into this situation and what could have been done differently and what warnings were missed and what laws can be enacted to keep it from happening again-—
We thought we knew our enemies, but we forgot that we did not know ourselves.
Good luck, America. Bonnie and Clyde are now in charge.
P.S. Now is a good time to read one of the most important political documents of the 20th century, Max Weber’s The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Know yourself.
