The Republicans seem to be okay with Former President Trump saying that if he were elected president again, he wouldn’t be a dictator “other than day one”.  Some believe that this was said in jest, a joke of some type, I guess. But if we believe he would do this, what would he be on day two through day whatever?  Explicitly, there is no answer in his comment.  Implicitly, if you are dictator on day one, then you are obviously a dictator.

The ‘Britannica’ defines a dictatorship as a “form of government in which one person or a small group possesses absolute power without effective constitutional limitations.”  Over many, many years, the Republican party has been one to envision limited government.  Yet a dictatorship would bring 100 percent government control.  Quite an about face if they are okay with it.

Are we okay with giving up our freedoms?  We surely don’t have any if the government can override any local decisions.  And how about the many other costs that concern personal lives?  There will be no going back.  Not without a huge struggle and even more costs of a very personal nature that we may not want to realize.

Now let’s look at a more optimistic view.  One in which the Democracy stays intact and continues within our borders.  If this occurs, will we be done in our work?  Will this be our only accomplishment?  Let’s look at some challenges.  Take, for instance, the bill the Senate is trying to pass right now concerning the border and aid for Ukraine and Israel.  As discussed on CBS’s “Face The Nation”, this bill has a chance to get passed.  We can only bring it to a vote and see.  The biggest challenge to this bill at the moment is Former President Trump and his pressure on the Republicans to prevent a vote on this bill.  The headline out of congress on the Politico website “politico.com/news/2024/01/27 /trump-mike-johnson-border-00138223” is “Trump vows to fight border deal ‘all the way,’ praises Johnson as ‘very tough’”. 

Many in the Republican party are ready to take this bill on and see it through.  Why would Trump then fight the bill?  The only reason that comes to my mind is that it may make President Biden look good.  If that is true, why would that be a problem?  Is it because the former President has better ideas?  Pass them along to the party while they are debating the bill.  Is it because he feels voters will leave him and move to Biden?  Is Trump really worried about votes?

If we are talking about the aid to Ukraine, and Israel, then I would think we are talking more about humanitarian needs of others and not of the monetary stress to this country.  Since there has been no aid for Ukraine in some time, it appears to me that Congress is more concerned about Russia and President Putin.  As far as I see it, the only two benefits to Russia in winning against Ukraine are either more territory to expand the growth of Russia or to see the USSR reestablished.

With either of these scenarios, chances of additional conflicts rise dramatically with Ukraine’s takeover.  Do we want a larger-scale war?  At least with democracy intact, we can do some things to limit any escalation.  With Trump as a dictator, however, since he has always praised Putin and still does, we may find that he abandons Ukraine in its fight against Russia.

Yes, on the side of democracy, it seems like we can hardly get anything done.  The partisanship seems to be so preserved that there is little we can do.  Yet, as I have said in other articles, this is the voter’s fault. If we are locked in our perspectives and won’t change ourselves, this just becomes reflective in our choices when we are voting.  We wonder why we don’t see anything getting done when the people we have voted in are just like us.  Of course, some congress persons in office are there because of campaigns that led them astray.  We must try and see through questionable actions when we go to the polls.

In a democracy, we have the power of term limits with our vote.  If we feel someone is coming to the end of their “useful” service, we can vote them out.  Just because someone has done a good job for many years, doesn’t mean they have lifetime tenure.  They do, only if we want them to.

Though I have mentioned the Republican Party specifically several times in previous paragraphs, this does not mean that I feel it’s only this party that is good enough to stay unchanged or bad enough to be the only one needing change.  This, of course, is not my call.  Only you, through your votes, have the power to make this determination.  And this call must be made with the Democratic Party in mind also.   What do you believe when looking at a candidate for the Democratic Party.  Good?  Bad?  I feel it’s good to have a basic set of beliefs when it comes to politics, which will most likely lean towards one or the other Party.  But I also feel we must be willing to vote for a candidate outside the party if your set of beliefs might be compromised with an in-party candidate.

Never forget that while democracy exists, you have the power to change course, change term limits, change your mind.  America is your county.  Keep it safe.