His name is Geoffrey Norman and he's a perceptive writer with an historical perspective who lives far away from the daily hustle-and-bustle. He writes from frozen-over territory, namely Vermont. And it was up to him to point out the sweep of Donald Trump's victory in this year's presidential election in terms any driver would appreciate:
"You could drive from Key West to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, and never cross a state carried by Hillary Clinton. Thirty-two hundred miles, from the subtropics to the high north, from the Gulf Stream to glacier country. So much country and almost all of it is colored red on the political map." Or as they said when Franklin Roosevelt swept to an even more one-sided victory over a sacrificial Republican nominee named Alf Landon in 1936, "As Maine goes, so goes Vermont."
Lest we forget, this country is supposed to believe in the rule of law, not men. Especially charismatic men like Donald Trump, the man of the hour--or at least this fleeting hour. Wasn't 1936 also the year that Adolf Hitler staged the Berlin Olympics? He was supposed to be some kind of savior of the German people but proved only its curse. And the rest of the world's, too. Being head of state shouldn't mean a government official, no matter how high up, whether president or Reichschancellor, is some sort of god come to earth who can accomplish all kinds of miracles. On the contrary, without all the restraints imposed on him by the due processes or law and custom, he may bring only ruination. Which is why the Founders, in their wisdom for the ages, provided checks and balances here, there and everywhere when they set up their then new government, which has far outlasted their lifespans.
Whether it's Donald Trump or Barack Obama who mounts his party's stage at its national convention to the blare of bugles and trumpets or the ear-shattering strains of rock music, he's only a politician. He's neither a wonder-worker nor evil incarnate. Just another government employee. A public servant, as people used to say when the term meant something.
Sometimes a president is popular, sometimes he's not. Sometimes he's credited with all the nation's accomplishments, and at other times blamed for all the nation's shortcomings. But he's not morally responsible for either, but just another officeholder--even if the office is high. Conservatism should not confuse the voice of the people with the voice of God, or even the voice of the whole nation. For a part of the country, and sometimes a sizable part, may dissent from the majority or even the plurality of voters that elects a president. A president, for example, like Abraham Lincoln. And yet "loser" has become a bad word in the American vocabulary when it is only a transient condition. Today's losers could be tomorrow's winners. Now it is the losers' responsibility to form a loyal opposition and get ready for the next quadrennial presidential election, circus and general hullabaloo.
Conservatism is not a political platform that can be recited point by point, and shouldn't be. It is more of a disposition, an attitude, a temperament, an approach to politics and indeed to life in general that prefers experience to theory. It has no crystal ball to gaze into, no burning bush to speak from. It sees things through the rear-view window as the present hurtles past us on its way to becoming the future.
But conservatism knows that a lot depends on the angle of that mirror--and on who sets it. Conservatism knows enough to withhold judgment, which can be the best way to exercise it. Just as not exercising power may be the best way to preserve it. The conservative in the best sense of the world does not seek power but lets power seek him out. History brought judges such as Richard Arnold and governors like Winthrop Rockefeller to power in this state. Only history may tell whether a United States senator like Tom Cotton or a governor like Asa Hutchinson will turn out to be worthy of the hopes they now inspire. And even then, historians of the future may differ over whether those men fulfilled their promise--or only confirmed the fears they aroused. A fickle muse is Clio, who's the one given charge of history.
Now it's Donald Trump who's going to work wonders. Some of us can remember when it was Barack Obama--or as Geoffrey Norman says of our current but fast receding lame-duck of a president: "He was going to heal the divide and bring us all together. No red or blue, just the one America and so on. And he would do it through the sheer wonderful force of his own personality and life history. He would halt the rise of the oceans and then walk upon them."
And now Donald Trump is going to Make America Great Again. How? Through the power of his will or the savvy of his businessman's ways? Such assumptions raise the true conservative's deepest suspicions. Or most certainly should.
Behind all the pomp and ceremony, there's just a man, if one whose office should be respected. By all means, stand up when he enters the room, play "Hail to the Chief" when he gets up to speak to the party faithful, be sure he gets 'round-the-clock protection no matter how much he may try to get around it, watch him even if he's only playing golf if you must, but let's not deify him or, for that matter, his office. No, let's demystify both. Do we really want a chief executive or a whole executive branch that'll fix our local schools (or promise to), and who can decide which kids can use which bathrooms and why?
Conclusion: Let's all calm down--from Key West to Coeur d'Alene and points between, betwixt and beyond.
Editorial on 12/13/2016