Last week, I wrote about the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the hysteria it’s caused with folks on the left side of the political spectrum. While I touched on the reasons for this, I think there’s a deeper dive here – an examination of the real root of the problem that needs to be addressed and recognized by more Americans.
While RBG certainly has an impressive career with many admirable achievements, if she had never been born, another female Supreme Court Justice would have filled that seat on the bench. Instead of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, it might have been… I don’t know… Sally Ann WhatsHerNose. And the aura of the Notorious SAW would have followed this person through her career, especially as a symbol of legal resistance to Trump’s ability to shift the ideological direction of the court.
So what’s really going on? Why are people so emotionally invested in RBG (or let’s say President Trump or Barack Obama, or whichever influential political leader you can think of) that their presence or absence makes people feel as though their very lives are at stake? It’s the messianic perception that voters hold about people in power, and it’s one more reason why the decentralization of the United States is more important than ever.
It’s hard to deny that certain political figures have assumed savior status. In the minds of their supporters, they’re going to save us from the evils of the political opposition. Pick your politician – Obama, Trump, AOC and “The Squad,” etc. – the perception is that these individuals are the end-all-be-all of our existential future. Obama’s campaign slogan was “Hope and Change.” Trump’s was “Make America Great Again.” These are slogans that portend to people who will single-handedly “fix” what ails our nation.
As for Ginsburg, she was the one hero who stood in the way of the Supreme Court falling into the hands of a traditional Constitutional ideology. The fate of women’s rights was in her hands.
If that is, in fact, the reality, that’s a lot of power for any one person to hold. Furthermore, if that one individual is so powerful, then maybe that’s a problem. For as much as we’re taught about the balance of power, three branches of government, checks and balances, etc., people tend to focus on certain individuals as the main force behind the political direction of the country.
Of course, if asked, the supporters of these figures will probably tell you that they know that one person can’t do it alone, that it takes working together with Congress, the Senate, yadda, yadda, yadda. But your average voter doesn’t invest so much emotion in “Congress” or “the Senate.” They hitch their wagons to one or two people and ride out that journey as far as it takes them.
As an atheist, I can say that this reeks of evangelical religion. When it comes to politics, on both sides of the ideological spectrum, people replace the concept of God with politicians who claim to have god-like powers. They can fix your problems and set the world right, yet there are the “devils” who stand in their way of creating your perfect heaven on Earth. Washington DC and its pillared buildings are the temples from which their divine and unquestionable miracles emanate.
Of course, this is nonsense. If one person, let alone the entire institution of government, could fix our problems, we wouldn’t have any problems. Furthermore, if one person or a few people hold so much influence as to the direction of the lives of 330 million people, then of what use is democracy (or a republic)? Why not scrap the whole thing and go with monarchical rule?
Yes, I know the retort: with democracy, the common person has a say in our government’s policies. But do you really? If given the choice, would you bring the troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan? Would you continue sending aid to this country or that country? Pick a policy you oppose. How has your vote altered it?
The fact is that politicians – and more accurately, the unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats who implement policy – will do what they want regardless of “the will of the people.” If your politician or Supreme Court Justice of choice is your one hope of changing that, then there’s a problem here.
There is simply too much power in the hands of a few people. Worse, they are encouraged by a voting population that holds them up as messiahs who will deliver them from the evils of their political opponents.
This is a horrible political system that no one deserves. Rather, it’s much more to our advantage – if we want to live a more fruitful life – to separate and form nations and communities with like-minded individuals who share our goals. Maintaining the current system means further idolization of political figures and using them as a symbol in our fight against our ideological enemies. Which society sounds better for a more harmonious existence?
Recent Comments