Dear F and Jimbo,
Tonight F, you referred -- with considerable surprise -- to "a normal Republican." (I forget who it was... Dan Quayle?)
Although I have always felt that George Will was very smart -- and a singularly adept wordsmith -- I also felt that he often ended up being ridiculously hidebound.
However, ever since George became an adamant anti-Trumper, I have paid closer attention to him.
Ol' George is starting to look like a "normal Republican" - eccentric, fussy-to-a-fault over his (perhaps) too precious principles, but somebody who actually has principles... unlike most other Republicans who remind us of Bill Maher's essential truth (and quintessential conundrum):
In the following Amanpour interview, I noticed by observing Will's bedrock principles -- or "acts of faith" (which is how bedrock principles play out in the lives of many -- that I came to see that his principles (particularly his constitutional principles) don't just incline him - but oblige him as a matter of morality - to take unpopular positions (at least "unpopular" from the liberal-left point of view) not because he is unprincipled, but because he is sooooo principled.
"The terrible thing about our time is precisely the ease with which theories can be put into practice. The more perfect, the more idealistic the theories, the more dreadful is their realization. We are at last beginning to rediscover what perhaps men knew better in very ancient times, in primitive times before utopias were thought of: that liberty is bound up with imperfection, and that limitations, imperfections, errors are not only unavoidable but also salutary. The best is not the ideal. Where what is theoretically best is imposed on everyone as the norm, then there is no longer any room even to be good. The best, imposed as a norm, becomes evil.”
"Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander,” by Trappist monk, Father Thomas Merton
From one vantage, it's as if George really believes in The Rule of Constitutional Law, and feels obligated to "obey the law."
Clearly, everyone is entitled to their own "spin" on constitutional law, but "universal agreement" -- as much as it might appeal to us -- is a serviceable definition of fascism.
Consider the QAnon motto: "Where we go one, we go all."
And where they ALL go is down the rabbit hole. (What do they do there? What a ridiculous question! Why, they paint the roses red.)
Ultimately, people who "fall in line" lack the imagination to get "out of line," and so they frequently default to the lockstep rhythms of goose-stepping fascism.
But back to the main event....
Trumpism illustrates the horror that happens when people set themselves "above the law," or what happens when they collapse "the rule of law" --- when there is nothing but the titillating tyranny of the moment - the enveloping tyranny of Now. (Recall the incandescent thrill and swaying enthusiasm of the Nuremberg rallies.)
If something feels good enough, The Law be damned -- including the laws of intellectual rigor.
Don't like a particular truth? Send it packing under aegis of "fake news" or "The Deep State" or a contradictory "Q-drop."
Or trot out The Gospel According To Donald.
Last night I found myself thinking about "scofflaws," usually defined as people who ignore minor rules and regulations.
scoff·law
noun
INFORMAL•NORTH AMERICAN
- a person who flouts the law, especially by failing to comply with a law that is difficult to enforce effectively."scofflaws who have accumulated large debts in unpaid parking tickets"
Then it occurred to me that Trump -- and his lockstep cultists -- are felonious and often traitorous scofflaws.
It is not coincidental that the essentially tribal spirit of the Nuremberg RALLIES bubbles up in what this generation of tribalists call Trump's RALLIES - delirious gatherings of angry, cruel people who support torture, police brutality, Dick Cheney's embrace of "The Dark Side" and ripping children - forevermore - from the arms of their mothers.
And why?
To feel --- not just "righteous" --- but divinely-ordained to do God's work, work predicated on the exhilarating damnation of anyone who does not clearly state their central intention to "make America great again" like a brand across their forehead.
Earlier Today, I Heard A Trump Supporter Say: "You Don't Know What To Believe." Once Trump Gets You To Throw Up Your Hands, You Won't Be Able To Determine What's True. Instead, You'll Be More Willing To Accept Lies As Truth. This Is Why Trump Lies So Much And Says "Who Knows? We'll See" So Often. Hannah Arendt Has The Details
As Boston College History Professor Heather Cox Richardson recently said:
Not playing by the rules of the game is cheek-by-jowl with scoffing at The Rule of Law.
In any event, I wonder what you'll think of the following George Will interview.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iof73lUDtnE
Pat Buchanan, The Republican Presidential Candidate And Living American Who Has Served Longest As Senior White House Official, Says Republicans Are In It For "Power Only" And "To Hell With Principles"
Love
Alan
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