By Joseph Batory

“He knows nothing; and he thinks he knows everything. That points clearly to a political career.”
― George Bernard Shaw

Our political system of course involves partisanship. Those elected with party endorsements are expected to generally support his/her party platform and its objectives. But this does not mean that each of these politicians must avoid serious thinking and analysis and throw away the dictates of his/her conscience.

Unfortunately, amoral political behavior, i.e., refusing to objectively consider the merits of any issue has disappeared and rubber-stamping only what has been dictated by party leadership has become much too common in the highest seats of our government. As a result, too many elected officials have become political lemmings. Adherence to the Constitution and the needs of the nation have been replaced by too much unflappable political party allegiance and following orders from political leaders.

Many despicable things have been happening in recent years. 

The Supreme Court has become little more than a political operative.

Manipulation by social media has become a common political tool.  It has become ordinary to have fabrications and lies flowing endlessly from many political leaders. And invented truth has become the successful strategy to indoctrinate followers.

Principle and integrity, the necessary basis for American representative democracy, have beentoo often missing in action.  Political party hardliners rule! Examining and objectively evaluating issues and ideas were forbidden.  Voting your conscience was not permitted!

And the idea of building consensus from differing perspectives and opinions to confront the important issues of our nation has been cast aside. Compromise has been outlawed.

All of this bears a striking resemblance to Frank Capra’s brilliant 1939 movie, “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” which exposed the manipulative and seedy realities of politics at its ugliest dominating government.

And then there is the issue of absolute loyalty. The German phrase, “Meine Ehre Heisst Treue,” translates roughly to “My Honor Is Loyalty.” In Nazi Germany, the Waffen SS (the military wing of the SS) used this motto to express its absolute loyalty to Adolf Hitler. Since World War II, neo-Nazis and other white supremacists around the world have used this this same phrase as a bonding slogan.

To make matters worse, acolytes in support of this amoral politics have consistently appeared in the news media and on social media using scripted and repetition propaganda to influence gullible people/groups.  Distorting, dividing, and manipulating public opinion was their strategy and it has worked well. 

Feeding disinformation to empty-headed citizens has become another tactic of our times. It is an effective strategy that is nothing new. Nazi demagogue, Hermann Göring, bragged in prison after the WW II about how easy it was to control the naïve public: To get the people in line, just tell them they are being subjected to dangerous enemies who will challenge their personal freedom and threaten their country. This Nazi strategy has been successfully utilized here in the USA to load up simplistic and fearful people onto the loyalist bandwagon of a crusade against non-existent “enemies.” Look no further than the Capitol seditionists!!!

Historians attribute the fall of the Roman Empire to the irrational behaviors of emperors …and also, to the political corruption and self-serving practices of the deteriorating Roman Senate which eventually doomed the 500-year-old Roman superpower. 

In that context, the demise of the Roman Empire offers uncomfortable parallels.  

Too many of our elected officials have ceased to be deliberative, only rubber stamping the iron-rule dictates of their own party leaders.

Elected officials must take a good look in the mirror to see if integrity and honesty and the needs of the American people have been replaced by their political subservience.  And, most importantly, they need to reassert their primary loyalty to the US Constitution rather than to any person or political party ideology.

Otherwise, our democratic republic is in danger of perishing.

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Joseph Batory is the author of three books and more than 300 published op-ed pieces on politics, history, and education.