The consequences of failed leadership

As America enters the fourth week of the longest U.S. government shutdown in history, any humor or levity that may have taken the edge off heretofore has long since evaporated. Those with the means to end this shutdown are, via their intransigence, beginning to do some very real harm to very many real people who depend on government not only for their livelihood but also for their personal protection not only from the very things they have been told to fear but from many things they had no idea are done on their behalf to safeguard them. The incumbent administration has been called a lot of things by a lot of people but one often used visual has certainly earned its place in the collective psyche.

Make no mistake about it, this shutdown is an ego-driven political stunt which caters directly to this *President’s base supporters. In his mind it is holding fast to an oft repeated campaign promise to build a wall and make another nation pay for it, which is a notion as ill-conceived as any idea ever was. Forget about the fact that the *President’s immigration numbers and the threat terrorists pose on our Southern Border ranges from over-inflated to outright fictitious. Forget about the fact that most of the rest of then nation is opposed to any such construction on any border, particularly those living on the Southern Border. In the eyes of his unconditional supporters he cannot possibly do any wrong, not even shutting down the government for all the wrong reasons despite the harm it may be doing even to themselves. This is a central dynamic responsible for the decline of Red State America and Red District Oklahoma where success of elected Republicans is measured by how much pain and suffering they are able to inflict on those they dislike. Simply stated, this *President’s base would rather have the house burn down around them than make any attempt to put out the fire.

In the runup to the 2016 General Election, I vividly recall more than a couple social media friends, both current and some now former, who were posting open queries in their feed as to why they should vote for Candidate Hillary Clinton. What they were really doing was attempting to compile as many reasons as they could to not vote for the only candidate on the ballot that had a service record worthy of serving in the most powerful elected office on the planet. I also recall my reply to these queries. They were along the lines of the following:

“Hillary Clinton, for all her polarizing faults, is at the end of the day a seasoned public servant. If the GOP candidate is able to shoot the moon and pull off a victory on Election Night, a year from now I will be able to show you a lot better than I can tell you.”—Route66Kid

We are now quite a bit further along than a year after Election Day 2016. The American nation has suffered from neglect and mismanagement the likes of which most of us have never seen in our lifetime. In two years time the U.S. has abdicated its role as a global leader and American influence worldwide is waning. Not only have we lost the confidence of long time traditional allies, the economy is transiting precarious waters and the national debt has increased over $2 trillion due to unnecessary tax cuts favoring a chosen few. On top of that we now have a government that is not only dysfunctional and inept, it is not even open for business. I do believe we have many things to fear, just not same fears which were stoked by this *President on the campaign trail in the runup to this past election or any of his “love me” sessions he has held for his adoring supporters since.

This *President has wailed and moaned loudly in his shifting of blame to anyone but himself for shutting down the government in an effort to get funding ($5 billion) for his wall to “keep his promise.” He has even gone so far as to threaten to declare an emergency for a non-existent crisis if the now Democratic controlled House does not comply with his demand. Funny how when the GOP had control of both ends of the Capitol over the past twenty-three months that no “emergency” was ever declared. It was apparent early on in his term that this *President was in way over his head in terms of his ability to deal with the demands of the office. An autocratic leadership style has a place and most of the time it is not appropriate for the Oval Office. It is painfully obvious that this man’s autocratic leadership style has long since maxed out on the limits of its effectiveness.

As we suffer through this crisis of inept/absent leadership, the best we can hope for is to take with us a well-learned lesson going forward. It is the eternal hope of this observer that the favorite canard of populism that has been the bane of American politics from its beginning that someone’s ignorance and inexperience is just as good as someone else’s education and proven expertise will at least for the foreseeable future be ushered to the dustbin of the nation’s history. The blatant ignorance of and contempt for the institutions of government and the conventional norms contained therein have in and of itself done as much damage as any hostile foreign power could have possibly hoped to inflict. Oh, that reminds me. We have yet to hear word one from Special Counsel Robert Mueller.