There is much chatter that a Trump presidency will lead directly to an Authoritarian Administration. The fact of the matter is, he will try to become a dictator or king, but he will ultimately fail. Two hundred-year-old democracies don’t die easily, especially if the institutions and authorities have made that democracy the greatest one in the world. The truth is, the freedoms afforded the citizens of that democracy are what have provided the opportunity for the authoritarian opinion that the system is broken. The freedoms lost to this administration will return, only this time, we will learn a hard lesson.
Love and joy are just as powerful a trait as toughness and brutality. There is much to be learned in our government about kindness and strength of will. A campaign for elected office that was founded on the principle of bringing back joy to politics is not a weakness, because joy is not a weakness. Joy is about understanding. Joy requires us to see the truth, that people often need understanding, and that some people need to be removed from power. There is no difference between the mean decision to remove someone from power, and the kind decision to remove someone from power.
Holding people accountable is how they learn, and it is an act of love to restrict certain people from interacting with large groups of people. This is why many celebrities and authority figures need security details. Often our authority figures are corruptable in some way, and that has lead to us believing that corruption and greed stand for some type of goodness in action.
As the media landscape changes so does our perception of good and bad. Doing the right thing is often skewed by our definition of what is acceptable as success. But large groups of people, led by an immature, often fearful, and reactive leader, will rebel. This is what is quietly happening in our country and several countries throughout the world.
Love and joy have very little to do with the often overly emotional and blind faith of our social relationships or the pursuit of happiness. Strong feelings are often built on immediate reactions to the need to fulfill lust. Joyful people often wait to engage in relationships and don’t jump right into those situations. The same happens in politics and our political reactions are often built on what will give us immediate relief, which is rare in government. Democracies are especially slow to see results to change.
Trump understands that offering immediate relief to masses of angry and disillusioned people will get him power. But our fixed-term limits are a sure thing because people are expecting them, they are built into our society. Trump will not hold onto power, and the magic of his administration will fade just as rapidly this time, as last. This power will fade, as Trump fades and passes out of reach due to being human, and mortal.
The institutions of our democracy can’t be turned off quickly enough for a dictatorship to hold power, but they can be damaged severely. It is up to us to make the transition back to a functional society as smooth as possible. More communication on a deeper level and more understanding of people’s needs is coming, and it is our job, to bring joy to hold power, rather than annihilation.
People can recognize that goodness and kindness have greater strength than any strong man. We can have joy and still protect our borders, fight invasion, and seek justice. The voices of hate are a minority with a megaphone attached, take it away, and give it to joy and love, where we can conquer the world, once more.
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