It’s happening. It’s real. The symptoms do not lie. It may be tempting to dismiss these symptoms as the antics of a buffoon confined to the pages of George Orwell’s dystopian novel, “1984.” They may seem to be nothing but a nuisance and a distraction from more important issues in our lives such as affordable food, fuel, financial debt and a war economy. However, ignoring these symptoms may be at our peril.
Symptoms are warning signs that expose or accompany a below-the-surface problem or danger yet to be fully acknowledged. They tell us something is not right, like the fatigue before an illness, the “calm before a storm” or flattery before for the fall.
In this case, the symptoms are manifested in self-ego massaging, self-promotion, and an ever-present photo of a person watching you. The early warning of the first two manifestations was practiced by a New York businessman, who put his name on real estate, golf courses, vodka, steaks, bottled water and his own university. It should be no surprise that now, during him second term as president, he has put his name on Washington buildings, Navy warships, a visa program, a government-run prescription drug website and federal savings accounts for children. He also openly aspires to have his name chosen to win a Nobel Peace Prize.
These warning signs caution citizens to pay attention to the health of the nation’s democratic foundation. For example, The United States Institute of Peace now has the Trump name on it: “The Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace.” The Institute was originally an independent institution, established by Congress in 1985. Its mission was “to help prevent and resolve violent conflicts, promote post-conflict stability and development, and increase peacebuilding capacity, tools, and intellectual capital worldwide.” This independent institute has had its self-reliance taken away to become “The Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace.”
President Trump has taken full control of the funding, the directors, the participation from members and the agenda. Substituting his name in place of “the United States” is a symptom of the impending autocracy threatening the country. And we have witnessed the effect of his name added to the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts. It is another warning sign (symptom) of executive control demanding compliance of artistic expression with the will of the president. The good news is reports of artists resisting this limiting of freedom of expression.
However, the most onerous symptom, the one that raises either emotional ire or passionate support, is the display of President Trump’s face on banners hanging from three federal buildings: Department of Justice, Department of Agriculture and Department of Labor. The banners show a president with a stern countenance. His brow is furrowed, his eyes looking directly at the viewer. As one looks at the picture there is the feeling that no matter who you are, where you are, or what you think and believe, you are being watched and scrutinized for your loyalty to this man.
Words under one portrait are “American Workers First.” Under another are the words, “Make America Safe Again.” These banners, displaying the face of President Trump, are a warning sign of a creeping plutocracy aspiring to replace the country’s representative democracy. Accepting the display of these banners is to succumb to the abusive power of an autocratic, ego-inflated threat to all of the values that have been enumerated in the founding documents of the nation.
These self-aggrandizement displays are not just entertaining commentaries demonstrating an imaginary dystopian nightmarish society. They are the undisguised symptomatic embodiment of the plight of the nation’s political illness. The response of every citizen is to look that stern accusing portrait directly in the eye and say in the presence of all who will hear, “No more.”
No more badgering, no more self-inflicted ego-boosting, no more substituting the person of the President in place of the “United States,” no more patronizing of institutions with financial disincentives. If we must wave a banner, let it be a banner that supports diversity of thought, humility and empathy for all peoples and nations. Let the banner symptomize a more perfect union for humanity.
John Buttrick writes from his Vermont Folk Rocker in his Concord home, Minds Crossing. He can be reached at johndbuttrick@gmail.com.