"Let’s encourage rational thought in our politics and value education over charisma"
When the malignancy is finally driven from the White House and the next administration struggles to scrub away the stain of four years of misrule, we will be able to take a few moments to consider what we have all learned from one of the most despicable administrations to take power in the United States. These are not lessons exclusive to Americans—they are applicable to all people who live in a nominal democracy.
Perhaps the most important lesson is that there are serious consequences to voting. The leaders we choose during elections will absolutely have a life-and-death impact on our lives. In the United States, an overly political response to the COVID-19 pandemic has led to more than 210,000 deaths and counting, most of them unnecessary. The current occupant of the White House says he’s done a terrific job on COVID-19 and that millions more would have died had he not done what he did. The evidence says otherwise. With only 4 percent of the world’s population, the United States accounts for 20 percent of its COVID-19 deaths. India, which has four times the population of the United States, has fewer than half of its COVID-19 fatalities. Clearly, the current US administration has not done a “terrific” job; it has done a horrendous one.
Just as important a lesson is that there are consequences to not voting. One of the reasons that a racist demagogue is in the White House is that more than 4 million voters for his opponent grew complacent and did not make their voices heard on Election Day. Again, we see the dire consequences of that inaction.
Another lesson is that checks and balances are critical. On the chance that we elect an anti-democratic leader into office, the other institutions of government must be strong enough to oppose any dictatorial tendencies. In the United States, a rubber-stamp Senate became the enabler for the corrupt occupant of the White House. We need to do all we can to make sure checks and balances remain strong.
Finally, we need to encourage rational thought in our politics and value education over charisma. The rabid supporters of the current occupant of the White House demonstrate a lack of knowledge and a disdain for science that is simply breathtaking, representing the worst possible nexus of ignorance and arrogance. They recall the mobs during China’s Cultural Revolution, and the disdain for education of the bloody Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. We must never fall into that trap.