I tend to believe that things happen for a reason, and that even the most difficult times can have silver linings if we’re open to seeing them.
And while I admit that current events in this country present a real challenge to my philosophy, I still believe that we can emerge from the surreality of the Trump administration with even stronger social and democratic institutions. I have no doubt that the arrogant, defiant and at times perverse behavior of our current president and many of his appointees has been self-serving.
But an unintended benefit of that behavior — for example, defying subpoenas, repeated violations of existing laws, the chronic outright lying, building alliances with repressive dictators while alienating longtime world allies, attempts to bypass Congress when it don’t go along with the president’s wishes — is that it clearly demonstrates an important weakness in our democracy. And that’s how the substantial power and authority of the presidency can be wielded in an unintended and destructive manner in the hands of a person who puts personal interests ahead of the country’s.
Unfortunately, given the current state of hyper-partisanship in Congress, the checks and balances put in place by our founding fathers appear inadequate for countering such abuses of power.
So, where’s the silver lining? Actually, I’m hopeful there are two: First, an understanding on the part of Congress that the powers of the presidency need to be clarified, if not tweaked. Hopefully, this can happen before another Trump-like candidate comes along.
Second, I’m hopeful that the Trump presidency has woken up the citizenry to the need to be vigilant and actively engaged in our democracy — primarily by voting — but also by speaking out, holding our elected officials accountable, and ultimately, by wrestling our democracy away from the undo influence of big money and self-serving politicians and returning it to “we the people,” where it belongs.
Paul Lyons
Shutesbury