2020 First Presidential Debate: What Did We Just Learn?
By Jo Lorenz
When democracy cannot be trusted, does that mean that freedom itself has been eroded?
Let’s takes a quick look at the first US Presidential Debate of 2020.
So I just watched the first US presidential debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. What. A. Shit. Show. It was like listening to a bratty eight-year-old rich kid have a public and embarrassing fight with his parents over wanting the latest PlayStation. “Shut up, MooOoom!”
Now if this display of extreme malignant deliberation tells us anything, it’s that the bloodsport of US politics is going to get even uglier over the coming weeks. Yet beyond this, it’s both demonstrative of how the concept of democracy is so deeply flawed and how leadership has become so utterly crass.
Democracy — derived from the Greek word “demos” or people — essentially means a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people. Like Abe Lincoln famously said: “Of the people, by the people, and for the people.”
Let’s be clear here: while democracy is a set of principles based on freedom, democracy itself is not freedom. Democracy is simply the institutionalisation of freedom and thus can only be effectual when the institution itself is upholding values of decency and equality.
When democracy cannot be trusted, does that mean that freedom itself has been eroded? And when a President does not uphold freedom for all the people, then how can his existence even be considered democratic?
When asked point blank to denounce white supremacy in the debate tonight, Trump refused and instead told neo-fascist group ‘Proud Boys’ to “stand by”. Yes you just read that right. The sitting President just refused to denounce white supremacy and instead instructed a violent white nationalist group to be ready for his next order.
Let’s be clear here, part 2: freedom can be stolen. Democracy can break down. And this election could easily bring about bloodthirsty dissonance and a genuine constitutional crisis.
Democracy is not about winners. Democracy is not about losers. Democracy is about creating appeased losers — voters who are satisfied that they lost fairly. So what happens when voters are not gratified with democratic decorum? What happens when a President has a real problem with accepting defeat? And lastly, what happens when the “leader of the free world” is actively working to defame democracy while openly refusing to denounce white supremacy?
What just happened was huge. We just witnessed the most meaningful abstract of political narcissism — a display of how the President thinks his democracy is exempted from critique.
PROVE HIM WRONG AMERICA. Vote Biden. Vote early.
