Tuesday, September 15, 2020

Dear Dave - Cult of personality and authoritarianism or democracy?

Dear Dave:

I think the key to solving our problems is working together. I'm starting to think having two parties is the problem as we've polarized in opposing teams. It would be interesting if candidates ran without party affiliation. They should campaign to the entire population.


Sincerely,

Bert


Dear Bert:


In an ideal world I agree with you. But Anne Applebaum warns in her book The Twilight of Democracy that one party systems are the fundamental basis for totalitarianism. As Francis David, the Unitarian Founder said in the 16th century, "We need not think alike to love alike."


People can share common goals but have different strategies to achieve them.. The problem we are seeing in our contemporary age are not policy differences, different ways of achieving the shared goal, but different goals. There are fundamental differences in what kind of a country we want to build and live in together? Will it be a country based on the rule of law, or a country based on loyalty and the cult of personality? I think the two major political parties have chosen their paths and they are quite clear in that the Republicans have chosen the authoritarian route of loyalty and personality and the Democrats have chosen, at least superficially, on the rule of law.


The election in 2020 is not between two Presidential candidates but between  a personality cult and democracy.


Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote the right of conscience and the use of the democrate process within our congregations and in society at large. Four hundred years ago Unitarians rejected the cult of personality and monarchy and embraced the budding flower of democracy. In 2020 we will have a clearer choice than in previous Presidential elections whether to be true to our fundamental principles or not.


Sincerely, 

Dave


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