American Values.
The election of Donald Trump as the 47th President of the United States of America seems to indicate, in American society at least, that blatant self interest and the desire to progress is more important than ethics and matters of principle. The same can be said for any number of societies in the world today, not least of which my own. Economic privations push voters to the far ends of the political spectrum, and cause them to vote for individuals and ethoses that they might otherwise rationalise as abhorrent. The Values that make up a society seem to erode as the privations of economic hardship take hold.
There is of course a counter-argument to this, based on the principles of the nation in question. A not-so-quick internet search and it seems that the Principles of the United States Constitution are as follows: Separation of powers, Individual rights, Rule of law, Federalism, Republicanism, Equal footing, and Tiers of Scrutiny. (Note: some variance in these can be found, depending on the source used. I list mine below.)
The argument can be made that the principles have been followed in terms of Separation of Powers, Individual rights, Federalism, Equal Footing and Tiers of Scrutiny as all of these are effectively enacted under the Presidential and Federal electoral system. Can the same be said for Republicanism and the Rule of Law ?
Republicanism in the context of the constitution is a concept centred on the promotion of virtue and patriotism through a governmental structure designed to prevent (or at least limit) corruption and personal greed. This was born from the founding father’s experience of the British Monarchy and Parliament, and the injustices that they’d been subjected to. The goal of the constitution is to codify the rules for how the country was to be governed ensuring that the abuse of power was to be minimised. For many who voted for Trump, Republicanism is a core concept that they’ve voted for. Taking the premise that he is going to “drain the swamp” or remove the political power of the entrenched and corrupt establishment is, to their eyes at least, returning power and authority back where it belongs. They believe he will deliver on their desire to be “Great Again”.
Donald Trump is a convicted felon and still faces numerous ongoing criminal investigations. Regardless of this the American voters decided he was a person fit to hold the highest office possible within their nation. What message does this send to the rest of the world? Is the Rule of Law no longer a rule for the USA? To me, the impression given is that the nature of justice is subject to the perceived value of the outcome, or more simply: “the end justifies the means”. Provided Mr Trump is trusted to improve the economic prosperity of those that voted for him his actions and personal history are subsumed under self delusion and self interest.
It doesn’t take much reading of human history to understand how dangerous this ethos can be, and how much of American and indeed of human culture, is geared towards the limiting of this sort of behaviour. The Means matter, often more than the end result and our combined bodies of Law are testament to this general belief.
The Means matter, and I think they still do in the USA though perhaps less now than they used to. Perhaps this is the real threat to our societies that economic regression entails. We find ourselves caring less about the morals of conduct, both ours and our leaders simply to ensure that there is more money in our pockets and not less.
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