In many ways, Donald Trump symbolizes the erosion of the principles that our Founding Fathers laid down in the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.
The American experiment in democracy has been conducted for almost 250 years. The experiment began with those two documents and a set of presupposed principles based on the behavior and attitude of the people involved in the experiment. The presupposed behavior was reasonableness and the presupposed attitude was a willingness to compromise.
Today, the predominant behavior is “I will do whatever I want and I don’t care how it affects someone else” and the predominant attitude is “me first.” These two characteristics are hallmarks of how Donald Trump lives his life and the principles that guide him.
Trump’s principles of living, unfortunately, resonate with a significant portion of our society today. The Republican Party (or should I say the “Trumplican” Party) needs to find a new leader who will guide them away from these destructive principles and restore a sorely needed political balance.
