To judge Trump, ask yourself but one question: "What is the meaning of life?" [CORRECTED]
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What, indeed, is the meaning of life?
What is the meaning of your life?
These are questions one ought to consider in a profound manner in making big political choices, such as whether to follow the path of authoritarianism, or the path of freedom, of liberty.
Democrats make a terrible mistake when they reduce politics to a matter of dollars and cents, and leave out of the equation what Viktor Frankl called “Man’s Search for Meaning”.
Small “d” democrats are mistaken when they assume that voters, even so-called “low information voters”, don’t care about the moral core of different political narratives, whether they be democracy and the rule of law, or fascism.
Most politicians today are political followers, not leaders. They hesitate to stand up for what they believe is right out of fear, either the ordinary fear of the voters or the very special fear of being “primaried” for opposing the authoritarian Leader or the leaders of their own Democratic Party.
They follow the polls instead of leading the country.
If Franklin D. Roosevelt or Winston Churchill had based their decisions on the polls instead of their own best judgments, the Nazis would probably have won World War II.
Little “d” democrats need to find a way to appeal to what is noble in the hearts of ordinary voters. They need to pass judgment on Trump and his accomplices, but also to articulate a positive and hopeful vision of the future.
They need to lead, to explain, and to persuade.
They need to always ask:
What are the respective answers of different politicians and parties to the question,
“What is the meaning of life?”
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James Rowles is a former Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School and professor of international law at other universities.
He studied the history of Nazi Germany at Stanford, and has studied and worked on human rights, judicial reform, and access to justice projects in many countries in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and in Afghanistan and Russia. At Harvard Law School, he taught a course on “Law, Human Rights, and the Struggle for Democracy in Latin America”.
At the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) of the OAS, he worked on human rights cases involving forced disappearances, executions, and torture in a number of authoritarian countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Recent Books by the Author
James P. Rowles, The Rape of American Democracy: Republican Actions and Democratic Failures, 2016-2021 (2024). Available on Amazon, and from IngramSpark by clicking on a link here.
James P. Rowles, Don’t Be Stupid. Pay Attention, Damn It! Advice for Undecided Voters and Voters Leaning Toward Trump (2024). Available on Amazon,and from IngramSpark by clicking on a link here.
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