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| The true seat of real power in America. |
I have been trying to remain positive during this election season. By “remain positive” I mean try to understand how it is that Americans can ignore abject hypocrisy and dishonesty by immoral people whose strategy is to accuse their political opponents of hypocrisy, dishonesty and immorality. I do not believe it is a constructive use of time or energy to try to disavow anyone of what they believe to be true despite a mountain of actual evidence that they are not (or to prove a negative by the complete absence of evidence). I do consider directing people to the nearest Flat Earth Society meeting, where I feel they are most likely to find kindred spirits.
For my own sanity and blood pressure, I often turn to the work of
some of the early writers about our nation to find clarity. Alexis de
Tocqueville’s seminal book Democracy in America published in 1835 is
always a welcome source of wisdom and remarkable prescience. De Tocqueville
wrote after having been dispatched to the fledgling United States by the French
government to study our people, our democracy and how it all was working. Blah,
blah, blah; I get it – not exactly a ‘made for prime time’ analysis for our sound-bite
driven, short-attention-span times. Still, de Tocqueville has been on my mind
lately for another reason altogether. I’ve concluded that if good old Alexis
had experienced the phenomenon of the increasing numbers of Tesla Cybertrucks
parked in suburban strip malls while on his travels throughout the country, his
conclusions about the viability of our democracy would have been very
different.
Certainly, the Cybertruck is an interesting experiment in
consumerism. If you aren’t sure what it is, have a look around the parking lot
of the most expensive shopping areas where you live. The vehicle looks like a
cross between a giant stainless-steel doorstop and a truck of the future
designed by an eight-year-old. It’s appearance itself is really very striking,
even show stopping – the Cybertruck simply looks like nothing else on the road.
What makes it interesting as a sociological phenomenon, however, is not its
appearance – it is that the thing is very expensive, horribly engineered, challenging
to drive, not functional as a truck, not even remotely reliable, and has been
subject to at least five significant factory recalls in the past year. And it
costs more than $100,000. And it is selling; quickly.
Why on earth would anyone buy such a vehicle? Two very good
reasons: it is very, very fast; the fastest and quickest accelerating truck
ever made. And it commands lots and lots of attention wherever it goes. I
therefore believe it to be an example of two very important psychological characteristics
of Americans: (1) the dearth of available Freudian analysis for people who
really need help with their overwhelming desire to prove their, uh, similarity
with Arnold Palmer; and (2) why so many Americans vote against their
self-interest.
Snarky, sarcastic not-so-subtle partisan digs aside, one of
the truly vexing dynamics of modern American politics is that significant
numbers of Americans vote in ways that are clearly contrary to their best
interests – economic, civil liberties, physical health and wellbeing, environmental,
belief systems, etc. The differences between polling results that ask Americans
about their preferences on a policy-by-policy basis without mentioning
political party or candidates and those that do demonstrate this effect with
remarkable clarity. This certainly is not a new phenomenon though it has become
far more pronounced in recent election cycles.
I am fearful of completing any analysis of this electoral
contrariness – I am a true patriot on a deep and meaningful level and I have no
wish to denigrate my fellow Americans. I just want them to make better
decisions because, ultimately, the well-being of our Republic and ourselves is in
the mix. Hence the entertaining and yet frightening dichotomy of the Cybertruck
and Alexis De Tocqueville.
Alexis De Tocqueville spent significant portions of his
writings on the uniquely American combination of the role of individual
beliefs, the separation of church and state, the political philosophies
underlining the Constitution, and the work ethic of a people not encumbered by
institutionalized aristocracy and its constituent limits on participation in civic and economic life. The basic premise was and is that when everyone
acts and votes in their own self-interest in a democracy a society achieves a successful
and balanced consensus. That’s quite a mouthful to be sure, but it stands in stark
contrast to the success of a $100,000 jalopy sold by a thrice married
multi-billionaire with eleven children and a long list of bizarre and
destructive core beliefs that directly run counter to the original guiding egalitarian
principles of our Republic. I believe that one look at the Cybertruck and the
giddiness of those who buy them and Alexis would turn around and put his money
in Euro Bonds concluding that the American people are not what they once were
and that there is a high risk of the failure for our nation.
On good days, I do not agree with that fictional yet
plausible assertion by my buddy Alexis. On bad days, I do wonder how we moved
so quickly from the sublime to the ridiculous. On really bad days, I wonder
whether the list of the “enemies within” that one of our Presidential
candidates has vowed to prepare and pursue will have my name on it.
We’ll know how all this shakes out next week and in the two months that follow Election Day. In the meantime, thankfully, the number of Cybertrucks that I see every day in traffic on Colorado Highway 82 is far fewer than the conventional vehicles that do not send me into existential and philosophical fits. And there is snow across the peaks, which means that we can all look forward to enjoying another winter together in the mountains in a way that would provide Alexis de Tocqueville some validation that his conclusions about us all remain correct. #morethanavote #rockthevote
