There is a constant to which virtually all of the destructive chaos emanating from the United States in the first two months of Donald Trump's presidency applies. It can help us understand the madness.
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The constant is that virtually all of the erratic actions in one way or another run contrary to the Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution. Those overlapping, mainly 18th-century movements, were the most transformational movements in human history. They made life better for (mostly European) humanity but also for humanity in any other part of the world that was inspired by their principles.
Because almost everything Trump and his lackeys do undermines those principles it makes the world a worse place for everyone but the rich and powerful in his orbit.
The most important and enduring element of these movements was to propound the primacy of human reason as the means of explaining the world and the place of humans within it. Established authorities did not like these movements one bit.
For example, Copernicus (in the early 16th century) applied reason to his observations to conclude the earth orbited the sun and not vice versa. Established authority (the Roman Catholic Church) responded not with reason, but with force and violence.
Against these powerful authorities, it took some time for the scientific method to take hold: you go where the facts, evidence, and observations lead you. Therein lies the truth. You do not accept unsupported assertions. More importantly you do not reject conclusions that are backed up with evidence, particularly scientific experiments which are repeatable and verifiable.
The triumph of reason and science to explain the natural world first challenged religious authority. It replaced theological explanations - divine will or revelation (as interpreted by the Church), miracles, and the like.
The logical progression from that was for humans to use their reason to question why kings and lords should have power and authority over everyone else on the basis of some unprovable divine will. That was deliciously illustrated by the exchange between King Arthur and the peasant called Dennis in Monty Python.
King Arthur: The Lady of the Lake, her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite, held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water, signifying by divine providence that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur. That is why I am your king.
Dennis: Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony. ... You can't expect to wield supreme executive power just because some watery tart threw a sword at you.
The Enlightenment thinkers (Descartes, Rousseau, Kant, Hume, Locke, Paine, Mill and so on) reasoned that humans are created equal. Humans had rights: to choose how they are governed; to consent to the way they are governed; not to be subjected to the arbitrary exercise of power; to be free to express themselves; to be able to own property; and to have fair and impartial resolution of disputes they might have with others.
In return, those humans had obligations to contribute to the common good.
In short, representative government and the rule of law, rather than one or more individuals exercising power as they please.
Ever since, good government and good leaders have applied evidence-based policy for the common good and the rule of law and liberal democracy to ensure humans live with greater prosperity, better health, maximum liberty, and freedom for fear.
They co-operate internationally with those aims because co-operation furthers human well-being. Treaties on transport, the environment, labour standards, health, and so on improve the lives of the many.
And where does Trump and his unelected power-wielders sit in this? They repudiate all of the gains and progress of the Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution.
Trump asserted that his assassination survival was evidence of divine providence. His attacks on universities and research undermine the scientific method. The man he appointed Health Secretary denies vaccination science.
His incessant lying and propagation of misinformation and his arbitrary rejection of proven knowledge with the oxymoronic assertion of "alternative facts" are the very opposite of the search for truth that underpinned the Enlightentment and the Scientific Revolution.
Trump rules by decree rather than law; instills fear; and exercises arbitrary violence.
MORE HULL:
His black-mailing attacks on the legal profession undermine the rule of law. As does his corrupt favourtism of his supporters.
They govern by themselves for themselves. They want to end government that protects and nurtures all humans so that wealthy individuals and corporations can selfishly increase their wealth and power at the cost of the greater good.
They have repudiated critical treaties that will benefit and have benefitted humankind.
They want to reverse the precepts that have underpinned more than 300 years of human progress.
That is why opposition to this regime is imperative - especially through economic boycotts. Where possible, do not buy American. Do not buy or subscribe to the products of the tech oligopoly that finances Trump. Do not buy American food or drink. Do not buy Musk's Teslas.
People in liberal, democratic, rule-of-law countries have it in their power to ensure that America's swing towards dangerous authoritarianism does not succeed. They have a moral duty to do so because it imperils the well-being of us all.
We have to make sure that the Trump wrecking ball hurts enough Americans that they realise their mistake and rectify it. We have to urge our governments to co-operate more with democratic, rule-of-law states.
Use the Made In? app. You can use it to scan barcodes to find out where products are made. If they are made in an autocracy try to find alternatives.
It would not take much to have an effect. Economists fret over a change over just 1 or 2 per cent of trade or GDP and ask what caused the change.
We can and should make authoritarians pay and fail.
- Crispin Hull is a former editor of The Canberra Times and regular columnist.
- crispinhull.com.au
Crispin Hull
regular columnist.
