We all need to take a principled stand. The Democrats when in power let the country slide, climate got worse, inequality expanded, there was no critical thinking, only coping. Obama, for all his excellent qualities (the right never gave him credit for good family life) seemed to dodge the key issues and failed to develop the Democratic party. The Republican party, has descended into a mess. I remember people like The Young Republicans, trained in brutality  and lying   in  60’s and  now are a major fact of political life and have no interest in good government, only in using  the game of destroying the government with their weird notion that good could come from this. I just see the outcome as us all covered in blood.

But  Trump  goes beyond just an extrapolation from the recent past.  a culmination of trends, merges a bully with a world full of weapons – and the situation is deteriorating.

Trump only understands bullies – whom he admires – and those who can be beaten, the losers in his game – whom, if not scared into supporting his plans, then are  to be marginalized.

His approach to the world now: china and Russia being characterized as enemies – is really stupid. We are witness to a total de-profressionalization of diplomacy and economics.  and most other spheres of life and government.  I don’t care how pissed off your are but we need to build better, not tear apart. It is just too dangerous.We could lose that fight, and even winning leaves a less civilized world. When Trump won the  election Russia was a minor player on the world stage His actions gave it credibility and importance it did not have. His approach to China, which in many ways is quite sane, he turned into an enemy to be squeezed. We should be looking for ways to partner with China, not compete. We share many problems and could work them together. Russia now, with the participation of Russia in the election of Trump, has become much harder, especially as Trump treats them as a world player.

His language, posture, attitude, are demeaning of the country and the presidency. He has no sense of decorum, of grace, of compassion, of interest. He seems to know very little history, nor interested in art or culture beyond glitz.

So we have the problem, how to respond. My sense is that electoral politics takes too long an we are hemmed in by checks and balances and view of government from the Constitution that no longer serves the kinds of problems we now face – and might just become irrelevant through entropy of decay.  How can we do better?