FROM “IN DEFENSE OF RURAL AMERICA”
by Ron Ewart, ©2015, President, NARLO
(Dec. 20, 2015) — Conflict and unrest in America is hardly a new phenomenon. Put two human beings in a room and you have conflict and unrest due to competing interests, desires and wants. From the day the ink was dry on the Constitution and well before, conflicts, unrest and turmoil were raging. Even during the drafting of the Constitution, serious disagreement was in evidence.
In one of the first unconstitutional moves by a president, John Adams signed into law the Alien and Sedition Act in 1798 in an attempt to suppress voters who voted in opposition to the Federalist Party. From the War of 1812, to the banking crisis under Andrew Jackson, to the Civil War, to the passing of the 16th Amendment and beyond, America has been and will continue to be in a state of crisis. That is the human condition. If it isn’t war, it is social unrest, racial tensions, labor disputes, or warring special interests looking to government to arbitrate their disputes.
For every era of unrest or crisis in the history of America, individuals have risen to meet the challenges of the times. Sometimes those individuals aided in the resolution of the crisis and sometimes they exacerbated the crisis, as Obama has done during his presidency.
Each individual who rises to the fore to become a leader of a small group, corporation, union, or even a country comes with a wide possibility of character types, personas and experience. Political leaders tend to derive from those individuals already in political positions of power, such as previous presidents, governors, mayors, senators and congressmen and women. But on very rare occasions leaders will pop up out of nowhere from non-political pursuits.
One of the sad weaknesses of man is his desire to find and elect a leader who will lead that person personally out of a negative condition, or save him or her from a disaster. As America grew in population, the number of people within the population who possessed that weakness has grown, almost exponentially, aided and abetted by a government all too willing to provide the salvation, but at a price. The price was the person’s vote. The salvation came, unconstitutionally, out of the public treasury.
America now has more people looking for a leader (savior) to save them personally from the ravages of nature or man-made disasters (such as government tyranny, foreign threats, economic collapse, income inequality, climate change, or the one-world-order) than ever before.
America was originally founded on the hardy, self-reliant, strong individual looking to themselves to solve their own problems because there was no government assistance available, as there shouldn’t have been. Since the time of FDR and thanks to FDR, people now look to government or government leaders to solve their personal problems. That includes individuals from both sides of the political spectrum expecting that the next president, senator, or congressman would listen to their plight and hand them a silver dollar, or go get the bad guys with a vengeance.
For many decades the American people have become more and more isolated from government and the government executive, legislative and judicial system, at every level. Government “of the people, by the people and for the people” has become abusive, tyrannical and corrupt. The “Consent of the Governed” has become virtually meaningless. The “System” is in control, not the people. (See: “The System _ Impenetrable, Inflexible and Un-Yielding”)
The people see the isolation and separation happening but don’t know how to fix it. Since the people are divided themselves and won’t come together in unity to fix the real problems, they look to their leaders to solve those problems even though those very same leaders are the leaders from whom they feel isolated and who they believe are hopelessly corrupt.
Along comes Trump. No matter what the reader thinks of Trump, positive or negative, he is colorful, brash, bold, forceful, larger than life and hugely financially successful. Yes, he repeats himself constantly, but Trump is his own man and he doesn’t care what other people think or say. He appears not to be one of those dreaded corrupt establishment politicians and he owes his soul to no one, so he says. He says things that resonate with those who feel isolated from government and want to see government returned to the true vision of the Founding Fathers, whatever their perception is of that vision. Who can blame them for seeing a “savior” in Trump?
To those individuals who resonate with his words, they don’t care that what Trump says may be impossible to implement. It just sounds good because of their anger and frustration at both parties which, from all appearances, collude with each other against American citizens.
But Trump is an enigma. He doesn’t fit the mold of the usual politician, much less the average American. The people like that. But Trump has a huge ego, nor would he be seeking the presidency if he didn’t have one. Is he a narcissist? There is no doubt.
His ego and narcissism become manifest in a recent article written by Michael D’Antonio that appeared in the Los Angeles Times and was re-printed in the Seattle Times entitled, “Understanding Donald Trump.” D’Antonio personally interviewed Trump for several hours.
Trump told D’Antonio in the interview that “I’m a big believer in natural ability. I’m convinced it is DNA, (blood line) not life’s experiences, that makes a successful man.” Trump’s second wife, Marla Maples, called Trump a king. She is reported to have said, “He’s a King. I mean truly. He is. He is a king. He really is ruler of the world, as he sees it.” (Ruler of the World? Really?)
In the article D’Antonio tells us that Trump’s mother was so enamored with royalty she spent hours watching the TV broadcast of Queen Elizabeth’s coronation. Trump’s father raised the young Donald to become “a killer” and told Donald he was a King. Donald Trump truly believes he is royalty and entitled to king status. Trump’s sense of entitlement and royalty has been with him throughout his entire life, fostered, pampered and promoted by his parents. He even tried to date Princess Di (royalty) after her divorce but was rebuffed. We believe he was in between wives at the time.
His choice of women throughout his life has been to pick a mate with exceptional qualities in status, good looks and physical prowess, mostly from European stock. When he finally picked a mate and married her, he immediately started looking for another mate and his divorces came from his reckless infidelity. This is just another window into Trump’s soul and personality.
Nevertheless, whether king in his own mind or just a very successful businessman, Trump is a man of his times, rising to meet the apparent challenges of the times in which he lives. It remains to be seen whether he is just power-hungry or truly believes he can make a difference in America for purely altruistic reasons.
Perhaps in these troubled times of domestic and foreign crises, maybe America needs a king-like persona to solve the problems of these times. That is, of course, if he can convince a majority of the electorate in the general election that they want a king to preside over America at this time. After insulting half the population of the United States in one form or another with his seemingly uncontrolled outbursts, his election to the presidency is in serious question. When the votes start trickling in from the early 2016 state primaries we will soon learn whether Trump can go the distance.
The fact is, Trump is a symptom of his time, not a king, much less a god. He is a mortal man subject to all the frailties and flaws of mortal man. If anyone with normal intellect has observed Trump for any length of time, his frailties and flaws are readily apparent. The question is, do these troubled times in America require a king to solve all the domestic and foreign problems we all face and will his king-like flaws get in the way of accomplishing what he seems to want for America? Remember: He is up against an “impenetrable, inflexible and unyielding system” that won’t break easy, even under the strong personality of a Donald Trump!
But remember, ladies and gentlemen. We have already tried a king in America. FDR acted like a king and FDR did more to change the character and the people of America from self-reliance to socialist dependency than any other president before him. Will Trump’s king-like persona return America to self-reliance and the principles of liberty, or just make Americans more dependent on government? Or, is the whole subject of a Trump presidency moot because there is no way he can win the general election? We will know soon enough.
To learn more about Donald Trump and the information we have assembled about him, his past and his run for the presidency, log onto our TRUMP website at http://www.trumperman.com.
If you are a rural landowner, don’t forget to check out our rural landowner website at http://www.narlo.org/. We are celebrating our 10th year as national advocates for the American rural landowner.
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This will be our last weekly column for 2015. We will commence our column in early 2016. We wish all of our readers a very Merry Christmas and a New Year that will begin to show signs of once again returning America to truly be the land of the free and the home of the brave. Because a free America, under strong, dedicated and honorable leaders, is the only hope that Americans and the rest of the world have, if the world is ever to rise above national and international war, conflict, unrest, barbarism and turmoil.
Be well, stay safe, learn all you can about where America is today and above all, be armed with knowledge and adequate personal protection. The wise man or woman always prepares for every possible contingency, even if that contingency is war.
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NOTE: The foregoing article represents the opinion of the author and is not necessarily shared by the owners, employees, representatives, or agents of the publisher.
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Ron Ewart, a nationally known author and speaker on freedom and property rights issues and author of this weekly column, “In Defense of Rural America,” is the president of the National Association of Rural Landowners (NARLO) (http://www.narlo.org/), a non-profit corporation headquartered in Washington State, an advocate and consultant for urban and rural landowners. He can be reached for comment at mailto:info@narlo.org.