The titular question has been running through my head a lot lately. I’ve begun to consider the US a failed state or at least very close to being a failed state. I don’t want to say that the Trump regime has done irreparable damage to the US and its institutions, but it’s come pretty close. If we want to fix it, it will take decades to do so. That leads us to the question: Is the US worth saving? Is it worth putting in decades of work to put things right with no guarantee that it will be successful? No, I don’t think it is. Now I have some explaining to do.
That simple “no” is a big statement. I’m saying that we shouldn’t bother trying to fix this state. It’s not fear or laziness that makes me say it’s not worth saving. The US is a deeply flawed institution. It always has been. In and of itself, that’s not enough, though. Nothing’s perfect. If we scrapped every flawed institution, we’d have to scrap everything. I don’t want to do that. We’re just talking about the United States here.
It’s the unique flaws of the US that make it not worth saving. An easy example is that chattel slavery was enshrined in the Constitution. A more subtle example is that Trump is an inevitable result of our system. (I never thought I’d use subtle and Trump in the same sentence.)
I used the word enshrined referring to slavery on purpose. Many Americans have a religious-like reverence for the Constitution, especially the original Constitution and the Bill of Rights, the things written by the Founders. All of the amendments that came after the first ten are of secondary importance for these people. This means that the 13th and 14th amendments, which supposedly ended slavery and ensured equal protection under the law for everyone, are less important for these people than things like guns and the electoral college. Slavery, and the insidious racism that goes with it, were baked in. That’s why all attempts to legislate racism away have failed.
This racism has created a permanent underclass in the US. An underclass is incompatible with a just society. In our case, there is no fixing the underclass without getting rid of the Constitution. And without the Constitution, there is no United States. Self-sacrifice is the only way to redeem our original sin.
If the inherent racism in our society isn’t enough reason not to save the United States, Trump’s inevitability should be. When I say Trump’s inevitability, of course I’m not talking about Donald J. Trump specifically. I’m talking about a person who fills that role. Someone who comes into office with the desire, and seemingly the means, to turn our republic into a dictatorship.
The march towards Trump started, sadly, shortly after George Washington declined a third term. He recognized that too much power in the executive branch was dangerous. But almost every president after him has claimed more and more power for the executive. And once someone or something has power, they are loath to give it up.
Things really got rolling in the 1930s with FDR. He had two huge crises to deal with, the Great Depression and the rise of fascism. To combat them, he used all the power at his disposal and then some. He set a precedent and almost all the presidents since have used various crises to expand the executive even more.
Fast forward to the present and we have an extremely powerful executive with relatively weak legislative and judicial branches. It’s a recipe for disaster in the wrong hands. And it’s in the wrong hands. The hands couldn’t be wronger. People are talking about the fact that Trump’s administration is unprecedented. What they are missing is that we’ve been slowly building towards this for almost 250 years.
I know that was a very high-level, undetailed trip through US history, but hopefully you’ll take my point. This current situation not only could have been predicted, it should have been predicted. As heartbreaking and terrifying as things are, they are not a surprise. It was the flaws in the basic system that led to this.
So, the United States is not worth saving. What does that mean? Certainly, we still have to fight against Trump and Trumpism. However, once Trump is defeated, we can’t go back to the way things were. Otherwise, this is going to happen all over again. Whoever takes over has to have the courage to start something new.
This is important because, if we’re going to fight Trump, we need to have a goal. We can’t just resist in order to resist. If I have a vote, I’m voting for something brand new.
