Worried about God’s retribution for slavery, Thomas Jefferson said that when he considered God’s justice, he trembled in his own country. Today, Donald Trump sees it as a form of punishment or a form of providential calculations against American political immorality.
The headlines and books declare “the end of liberalism” or “the end of democracy” and reveal the tendency to blend these clear concepts.
Democracy may exist without liberal values. The Liberal Party may operate outside of a democratic framework. Democracy and liberalism can form strong political alliances, but their unions are not automatically guaranteed.
Ancient Athens, the birthplace of democracy, was fundamentally different from today’s liberal democracy. The Athenians established civil rule, but lacked important liberal principles. They did not recognize universal human rights and maintained the religious authority of the state.
Liberalism was born from enlightenment in the 18th century as a moral philosophy centered around individual autonomy. This framework provides a universal human rights foundation and requires state neutrality in religious issues.
Viktor Orbán’s Hungary illustrates how democratic procedures can coexist with illegal governance. Orban himself accepts the “condemnational democracy” label for his model. His platform focuses on advocating for Christian values, national sovereignty, and traditional families against migration, a “wake-up” ideology, and acknowledging left-wing media control. Since 2010, Hungary has systematically erode liberal institutions and principles, while maintaining formal democratic mechanisms like elections. This is a governance approach that has been praised for its new conservative rights.
Without liberal protection, leaders can control without restrictions except for themselves.
Democracy alone cannot protect freedom. James Madison, the leading architect of the constitution, realized that majority rule could become tyrants without liberal protection. The dangerous appeal of authoritarianism lies in its democratic disguise. Leaders can assert general duties while dismantling the freedom that gives meaning to democracy. When the majority exercises unconfirmed authority over the minority, the outcome is suppressed with general recognition rather than a true democracy. Constitutional restrictions, separation of authority, and protected individual rights are the essential foundations of a fair democratic system.
The United States is known as “liberal democracy.” Our problem may be that we are exactly that. It’s not easy to be both. Care for general sovereignty and the will of people at once, while asserting legal rights and justice for everything, comes with endless debate. Civil rights are still a struggle, as bloody as before. Martin Luther King Jr. needed Lyndon Johnson and Congress for civil rights, not just popularity votes and state choices, but also for civil rights to become federal law in the first place. Liberal democracy is always a debate.
In a letter to Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville introduced the idea of ​​democracy as ruthless. That’s true and ridiculous. It declares “freedom”, “justice”, and individual autonomy, but at the same time puts those ideals on the ballot. Only when democracy is ruthless can it survive that it is a slut. But Melville insists that, “Truth is the most ridiculous concept. Make a living from truth and go to soup society.” Melville does not deny the truth or the value of democracy. He suggests that by traditional standards, truth often appears absurd and coexists with nonsense.
It’s more than most people can handle. It explains the rise of strong populist people who exploit electoral frustration with politics to ride the fuss over long-standing democratic norms and institutions. Diversity and unity do not hold hands. Freedom and justice do not live together easily. The ruthlessness of democracy is saying, “It’s too bad. They have to do it.”
In his latest article Atlantic Oceanpolitical thinker Jonathan Rauch describes the president’s actions over the past two months as evidence of a new system of governance that is not classical authoritarianism, dictatorship, or monarchy. It could exist within democracy, even if it hinders the protection of democracy. What Donald Trump has installed in America Father’s rules It rewards friends and punishes enemies, whilst refraining from formal processes and procedures.
Rausch insists on that corruption It’s “Patriotist Achilles heels” because the people understand it and don’t like it. If the system is equipped, you cannot win a substantial victory over healthcare, climate change, or anything else.
A popular expert who the public says doesn’t bother you, and even though Donald Trump declares that someone on Fifth Avenue can be killed with immunity, he agrees that corruption is the biggest threat today, up to three-quarters of Americans. people want More representative government. Trump is angry at the elite, so he enjoys his reputation as being by the side of ordinary people. “Breaking these perceptions will allow us to determine whether Trump’s approval rate is above 50% or below 40%, politically speaking, whether it’s all the difference in the world.”
The liberal norms of freedom and equality are means, not ends. They serve democracy: it requires liberalism in itself. Sturdy makes democracy work.
“This country has grown bloated, thick, disgusting… it’s the worst time in the country’s history.” (Network News, March 4th) We need to regain our voices. We have a positive message of ourselves. But for now, the most effective approach is to slam the home with the message that Donald Trump is corrupt. He works with us. Even the richest man in the world wearing a black hat.
“We show all our mistakes and weaknesses, but let’s talk,” Melville wrote to Hawthorne. Understood.
Notes and reading
“This is the biggest Trump Mask scandal no one has spoken about. Donald Trump and Elon Musk are in a new era of bribery, transplants and corruption towards American politics.” – Jacob Silverman, The new republic (February 27, 2025). Silverman is a freelance journalist and just released author Golden Ruth: Elon Musk and the Rapid Evolution of Silicon Valley (October 27, 2025).
“A word explains Trump” – Jonathan Rauch, Atlantic Ocean (February 24, 2025). Rauch Contributor writer for Atlantic Ocean Senior Fellow of the Governance Research Program at Brookings Institute. His latest book: Cross-Objective: The Broken Dig of Christianity with Democracy (2025).
Moby Dick – Herman Melville (1851). Oxford World Classic (1998). Edited with introductions and notes by Tony Tanner. A critic of British literature in the mid-20th century and a pioneer in the study of American literature. He was a fellow at King’s College in Cambridge. Great introduction and detailed explanation notes. Includes Melville’s letter to Hawthorn.
Herman Melville in the living room – I’ll be interested again Moby Dickread Melville’s letter to Nathaniel Hawthorne. Melville will become a great conversation companion (at least for a while). Nathaniel Hawthorne was initially a close friend, but eventually he distanced himself and found Melville’s passionate strength and intellectual demands overwhelming.
Max Weber of Trump – Jonathan Rauch examines Trump’s leadership through Weber’s lesser known “manship type” framework, particularly “anisationism,” in which the ruler occupys the position as anthropomorphism of the iconic father and state. The father’s ruler, as exemplified in Trump’s statement, asserts special authority to protect the nation beyond the law. This analysis extends beyond Weber’s well-known types of authority (traditional, legally rational, charismatic), and explores patriarchy, livestock, and bureaucracy as a distinct system of control with its own subordinate logic.
Important Sources: Weber’s Economy and Society (1978) and Julia Adams, Father’s Rule: Patriarchy and Anithology in Early Modern Europe (2003).
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With the interconnected Maga Media Ecosystem close to JD Vance, Don Jr. “President Trump has a more traditional media diet on all his Magazine influence. Don Jr. eats it all.“For a good start, of course see @donaldjtrumpjr. axios 3-6-25.
Tip Off #187-Kindred Spirits
Tip #186 – Where are you going?
Approximately 2 + 2 = 5
Source: 2 + 2 = 5 – williamgreen.substack.com
