The determination of the Electoral College vote, culminating in the acceptance by some senior Republicans of the result, may bring the election pantomime to a close; however, the ongoing saga of the future of American Democracy and the deep divisions within the United States are still cause for concern. The ‘Stop the Steal” crowd has not ceased to squawk, which leads me to question the matter of having an education.
Since his association with Mr Trump, he has imploded into a fantasy world, bringing upon himself allegations of corruption and profiteering, violating lobby laws and being a central figure in matters that contributed to Mr Trump’s impeachment. The numerous lawsuits maintaining false allegations, voter fraud and wild conspiracies aimed at overturning the 2020 election of Mr. Biden, are perplexing.
What on earth, you may ask, has happened to him. Is he ill? Has he suffered from some serious mental stroke? or has he been bewitched by Mr. Trump? Mr. Giuliani supported Mr Trump during the 2016 campaign for the Presidency, during which time he defended Mr Trump against allegations of racism, sexual assault, and not paying any federal income taxes for as long as two decades. The drivel he has spouted since leading the post-election legal team, and the vehemence with which he makes his pronouncements, shows him up as an embarrassing and pitiable figure advancing towards the cameras bleating “I’m ready for my closeup”. How sad is that?
Mr Giuliani’s co-advocate Ms Jenna Ellis, enrolled in 2003 at Cedarville University, then in 2004 transferred to the Colorado State University in order to study journalism. In 2011, she received a law degree from the University of Richmond School of Law . She is a former deputy district attorney in Weld County, Colorado and a former assistant professor of legal studies at Colorado Christian University . As a private lawyer, she has litigated cases in state courts. In 2015, she self-published The Legal Basis for a Moral Constitution, a book arguing that the Constitution of the United States can only be interpreted in accordance with the Bible. Ellis was a stern critic of Donald Trump in 2015 and early 2016, until he became the 2016 Republican nominee for president, after-which Ellis began voicing support, including in media appearances. Ellis was hired by Trump in November 2019 as a senior legal adviser.
In the light of Ms Ellis’s initial disapproval of Mr Trump, can one infer a touch of opportunism in her support in 2016 with Mr Trump being chosen as Republican Presidential candidate, or was it, given her deep sense of biblical studies, some damascene revelation. In any event how does her continued support square the ninth commandment “Thou shall not bear false witness against thy neighbour” (Exodus 20:16)? Perhaps her interpretation of the Bible is very strict and she defines neighbour as the people who live next door. Anybody else doesn’t matter, one can shout falsity and mendacity as much as one likes to the rest of the world.
We then have Kayleigh McEnany, an American political commentator and author who has been the White House press secretary since the 7th April 2020. A graduate of Georgetown University and Havard University, she began her media career as a producer for Huckabee on Fox News and later worked as a commentator on CNN. In 2017, she was appointed national spokesperon for the Republican National Committee . She stated, boldly, to the assembled White House Press corps that she would never lie to them, perhaps obliquely referencing a predecessor’s (Sara Huckabee Sanders) penchant for blatant economies with the truth. A surprising statement since Ms McEnany worked with Ms Sanders father at Fox News.
The important thing to note in respect of this Blog, is that she is said to be a graduate of Georgetown University with a Batchelor of Science degree, and Harvard University with a Law Degree. How does that level of education allow her to continue parroting the preferred line of rigged and stolen election? One would assume a Law Degree requires some degree of research and a relationship with the rules of evidence? Did that aspect of her studies elude her?
And then we have the put aside, but still in there fighting, Sidney Katherine Powell who was born into a working-class family in Durham, North Carolina, grew up in the city of Raleigh, and knew from an early age that she wanted to be a lawyer. She graduated from Needham Broughton High School and went on to attend the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts. At the age of 19, she was accepted into the University of North Carolina School of Law, where she graduated in 1978 with a Juris Doctor degree. She began her legal career as one of the youngest federal prosecutors in the US.
The current entry in Wikipedia reads, inter alia:
Powell has promoted numerous conspiracy theories. She has claimed that Flynn was framed by a covert "deep state" operation, and has also promoted personalities and slogans associated with the QAnon conspiracy theory. In regards to the 2020 presidential election, Powell alleges that a secret international cabal involving communists, "globalists", George Soros, Hugo Chávez, the Clinton Foundation, the CIA, and thousands of Democratic and Republican officials, including Trump ally and Georgia governor Brian Kemp, used voting machines to transfer millions of votes away from Trump to Biden. Powell has also baselessly accused other Republican and Democratic candidates of paying bribes to the Dominion Voting Systems Corporation, so as to ensure the tabulation of votes is rigged in their favour.
So how does a North Carolina School of Law Graduate, I would guess at age 22, since she enrolled at 19, come to believe such ridiculous and patent nonsense? What has happened to her in the intervening years, having showed such promise early on?
What is it about the education of these four people that gives one pause? Of course, they are not the only pillars of authority who continue to flout the Constitution and Democracy in the United States. The actual danger lurks in the great numbers of the under educated devotees, their avid listeners, who take their words as gospel, and continue to chorus, assisted by bull horns and sporting assault rifles, “Stop the Steal”.
I have been of the view that elementary education was to provide children with the fundamental tools of being able to function in todays world. Secondary education is to engage in using those tools to acquire more extended knowledge and the possibilities that might unfold as a result. In effect to begin to learn how to think and deal with becoming an independent individual. Education beyond that is to sharpen and organise thought and method in respect of a particular endeavour or a multiplicity of endeavours. Underlying all that, certain gentlemen of the Scottish Enlightenment also proposed that there is a human element which they describe as an innate sense of empathy. We are human beings and therefore we will understand human nature and empathise with other human beings. Apparently, we cannot help ourselves when it comes to compassion. Would that were the case.
One has seen precious little empathy from Mr Trump since the beginning of the pandemic and none at all since he began bleating about the ‘rigged election’. Why are so many willing to support his self-manufactured cause? His narcissism has become acute. His bullying behaviour is out of control. His grasp on reality reduced to nil. Still educated people are prepared to offer him assistance and coddle his ego.
Even Senator Mitch McConnell, in his speech professing acceptance of Mr Biden and Ms Harris as president and vice president elect, he first praised the alleged achievements of Mr Trump’s administration. One of the achievements mentioned was Mr Trump initiating Operation Warp Speed. Frankly, that’s like praising someone for phoning the fire department when it’s already on the way. I suppose that might be worth a well done.
My general question though is what has higher education done for the thought process of the “stop the steal” proselytisers. One does not know how many have converted to the current Cult of Trump as a result. Out of the 70 odd million who voted for him, some may have come to the realisation that there was no rigging or fraud, and may have accepted the values of the American Democratic process; however, the numbers of the blind faithful may be quite extensive, The one’s with guns the most entrenched. President Biden and Vice President Harris have a lot of educating to do with this rabble, like a group of pupils reflecting the worst Inner-City School one could possibly imagine. Education clearly does matter, whether it actually works at any level is something else.
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