The Blind Side of Trump’s America-First
Democracy has two traditions; one from ancient Greece, the other from the Enlightenment. America as the beacon of democracy is a fusion of these two traditions. Ancient Greek bestowed the legacy of popular sovereignty: it is never right for anyone at any time to suppress the will of the people. This is just part of the story. In fact, the beauty of democracy comes from the second tradition bestowed by the Enlightenment: it is never right for anyone at any time to suppress a minority or deny them their God-given rights because of the colour of their skin or the faith they profess. “All humans are created equal with certain inalienable rights,” Abraham Lincoln says.
Trump’s America-first thinks that to make America great again is to put aside the second tradition in favour of only the first tradition: Feed the people, especially the natives and give no care or concern to those outside your borders who are not part of it, or inside the borders who are not members of it. Call such a system crude capitalism. How is crude capitalism different from rogue regimes?
America-first is also afflicted by a lack of a sense of history. America could not have possibly become what it is today without the huge slave labour that deprived Africa of its best and brightest in the early beginnings of the modern world. Black power powered America, and indeed the West into a global hegemony. Finally, real power does not come from the index of the stock markets nor from the barrel of the gun. It comes from the beauty of the ideals in which a people live by. Crude capitalism is an anti-thesis to the American project.Johnpatrickblogaddress.blogspot.com
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