Saturday, September 16, 2023

The Man Who Would Be King*

Every American schoolchild learns the story. This country was founded by brave colonialists rebelling against an evil king. After somehow defeating the king’s army, they came together to set up a system of government to prevent the rise of any more kings, and for the past 250 years, roughly speaking, that system has been pretty darned successful.

Throughout that history there have been several men who wanted to attain king-like powers, but the American form of democracy with its system of checks and balances has successfully prevented them from doing so.

That’s the story.

But the story doesn’t have an ending — yet. It keeps going. We have a man in our midst today who would be king if he could be, and millions of Americans have swallowed his claim that he embodies their sense of grievance and deserves to be returned to power.

The first time he tried to be President, helped by foreign interference, a racist reaction to the rise of the first black President, and a deep-seated fear of the emergence of a diverse, globalized society that seemed to replacing what was familiar and romanticized as a golden age, he snuck into office with a minority of the popular vote.

That was one of the lowest moments in American history. But there was worse to come.

When this man lost both the popular vote and the all-important electoral vote by a wide margin four years later, for a brief moment, it seemed that democracy had triumphed again.

Rather than skulk away in defeat, however, this would-be despot desperately tried to undermine the outcome in every way he could, ultimately inciting a mob of his supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol in an insurrection.

This was the lowest point in our history, at least since the Civil War.

The mob was repelled and democracy survived, but very badly battered.

Next year will mark this terrible man’s third attempt to seize power and by now he is both more desperate and much better prepared for the battle. The legal system is strained to the breaking point trying to hold him accountable for his crimes to date, but his fierce army of zombie followers believe that it is the system that is wrong, not him.

That’s the prelude to the present political moment. God help us and God help America. The story of democracy hangs in the balance.

* (With apologies to Rudyard Kipling for stealing his title.)

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