Mainstream American citizens, only recently released from the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic, find themselves at the mercy of a new, albeit long-festering, toxicity of singular nature and etiology. Such toxic presentment may effectively be identified as the hazardous onset of “Populist Polity,” topically manifesting a morass of undesirable societal symptoms.
The thematic national epidemic presents the classic symptoms of calamitous and counterfactual ideation impactfully leading to the widespread support of patently inappropriate political leadership, demagogically hawking tactically attractive, but bogus pollyannaish representations. Worrisomely, the extent of the outbreak of this disease has attained a veritable pandemic level. Its cause appears to manifest the debilitating absence of the salubrious benefits of empirical and scholastic enlightenment and informed human experience. Its chronic toxicity is observable by a shameless dearth of knowledge based upon eschewing the human capacity to learn, and consequently acquiring useful, and salubrious rationality. Its identified symptoms include preternatural ignorance and ubiquitous bigotry, notably causative of sophomoric and reductive judgment, and an overriding sense of grievance; the latter trait manifested by generalized, defensive hostility. A symptomology is identified by its trademark vulnerability to pernicious demagoguery urging purported panaceas for ubiquitously felt grievance.
Recent developments have exhibited the deleterious impact of this toxic malady on a catastrophic national level, We specifically refer to the re-election of the empirically proven disastrous and ill-fated Presidency of Donald Trump, accompanied by his announced menagerie of morally flawed and incompetent choices for his impactful Presidential Cabinet.
It would seem relevantly appropriate to once more, refer to the admonition of “Founder” (and later President), Thomas Jefferson, to the effect that a democracy can survive only if it has an educated and informed population. The latter declaration has proven to be prescient and disturbingly relevant to our described contemporaneous human pandemic
It is b beyond cavil that the election and re-election of a proven execrable person such as Donald J. Trump ), is symptomatically demonstrative of the present day, thematic “pandemic” evincing inadequately educated and poorly informed populist citizens, In a Democratic-Republicgovernment, definitionally and constitutionally reflective of the democratic standard of “one man, one vote,” the existence of a substantial population of such citizens portends great danger. It is disappointing, but existentially necessary to accept the sad fact that our National population is inclusive of a large, often determinative, population of such populist citizens. To ensure the traditional values and historical record of our American Nation, while simultaneously, manifesting the constitutional standard of equity, a cure needs to be devised, which, like a relevantly effective vaccine against the pandemic outbreak of a virus, will be an effective deterrent to disaster.
In earlier writings, we have suggested a pragmatic cure; one that would permanently prevent populist demagogues and other species of inappropriate miscreants from attaining America’s highest office. We have been mystified by its absence throughout our Nation’s history. The method would make impossible the ultimate election of highly undesirable candidates for Presidential office. Simply expressed, our proposed solution would be to officially, and fairly, vet all proposed candidates for the American Presidency, thus filtering out the empirical possibility of a malefactor, or otherwise, categorically objectionable aspirant for the “finger on the nuclear trigger” position. The approved and presented choices for election, despite diverse political beliefs, would not fail to represent, at the least, the universally acceptable societal and professional standards, appropriate to the high office.
This basic conception would ethically require the creative selection of an examining committee of diverse-minded people, perhaps, academics, political bi-partisan members, and other capable people; but such a task is far less troublesome than suffering a President who is an existential menace to democracy and to the Nation. The pragmatic elimination of patently objectionable aspirants for the Oval Office is identifiable as a responsible and fiduciary obligation.
We have long been puzzled why an applicant for mundane employment, such as a department store salesman or a bank clerk is required to undergo a prior employment interview, but not the august and historically impactful job of American President.
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