Two Experiments

April 5th was a dreary and dank day.  Nevertheless, my friend Joe and I drove to Montpelier and stood with thousands of Vermonters to protest the illegal, immoral, and just plain stupid acts of Donald Trump.  Shutting down programs that were created and funded by Congress is illegal.  Taking meals and medical care from children who depend on it is immoral.  And putting tariffs on our friends and neighbors to the north is just plain stupid.  (We all sang the Canadian national anthem.)

There were placards and banners protesting many other actions of this sick man in the White House but the transgression that was central to all of them was the seizure of Congressional power.  Trump is exerting dictatorial authority in violation of our Constitution’s brilliant separation of legislative, judicial, and executive power.

We are clearly at an inflection point when history’s path is changing course. Where is it headed?  Respected observers of these whirlwind developments rightfully point out that our democratic form of government is in danger.  They fear that our 250-year experiment in self-governance is coming to an end.  To understand how we came to be in such peril, we might look at another experiment we’re living through right now. 

Beginning in 1981, Ronald Reagan and every ensuing presidents but one, diminished our federal government and weakened its ability to tax and regulate corporations.  They promised that by turning capitalism loose to pursue profits, without regard to social and environmental impact, so much wealth would be created that it would trickle down to the lowest rungs of the economic ladder.  Only half of that promise has been kept. 

The wealth was created but it never seeped anywhere.  Instead, it has remained in the hands of the largest corporations and their owners.  This experiment, I call it the Boomer Bust, has been a complete failure.  Our environment is deteriorating; our social fabric is unraveling; our climate is now hostile.

But understandably, those who amassed obscene wealth don’t want to give it back.  They don’t want to be regulated or taxed. And so, these billionaires are plotting to replace our messy democracy with algorithms and artificial intelligence that they control.  Donald Trump is their change agent.  

Rather than abandoning our democracy, a more intelligent option, in my opinion, is to bring that short-lived failure, called supply-side economics, to an end.    

We can reclaim our government and rebuild its muscle to regulate corporate greed.  We can accept that growth is not unlimited and stop measuring the health of our society by how much stuff we make each quarter (GDP). And we can stop buying things we don’t need with money we don’t have. 

When we do that, we will be restoring the values that uphold our democracy:  civic duty, moderation, and individual responsibility.

Will Patten is a retired business executive and author of “Rescuing Capitalism, Vermont Shows a Way”