Do you want some good news? About the rude health of Irish democracy? No? I didn’t think so. Being human, you privilege bad news. That is why you can’t take your eyes off Donald Trump.
Reader, you are in a dysfunctional long-distance relationship with an orange clown. Unfortunately, he is in a dysfunctional long-distance relationship with the truth. Every time he opens his mouth, some poor fact expires. But what a mouth! It speaks to, and for, the little guy, even when Trump is licking the boots of the big guy. Such peculiar behaviour is reminiscent of the time when a European leader launched a trade war by presenting his opponent with a warm handshake and a bowl of shamrock.
Your addiction to the drama of Trump 2.0 is not your fault alone. Doom-scrolling is a feature of late-stage capitalism. In the 1980s, media theorist Neil Postman warned that humans might amuse ourselves to death. “When a people become an audience, and their public business a vaudeville act, then a nation finds itself at risk; culture-death is a clear possibility.”
Forty years later, we have reached “a fork in the road”. That’s how Elon Musk announces bad news. It was the subject line in his notorious email to Twitter staff, and, more recently, to two million civil servants, when he revealed that the US government was about to get a whole lot smaller.
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For most Obama-era liberals – like, say, Elon Musk 10 years ago – such antics are troubling. We fear that the climate is indifferent to megalomania, and we hope the Tesla dude will return to flogging cars. Still, he’s right about that fork in the road. It is between freedom and autocracy, or, if you will, between liberal and illiberal forms of democracy.
Trump and Musk are giving the world a masterclass in how to lose friends and irritate people. That lesson is free, unless you count the lives destroyed, the lost sleep and the car-crash horror of watching a man-child double act. But what can we do? How should Irish people respond to what experts have called a constitutional crisis in the United States?
That depends. Many of our corporate bigwigs have already made their peace with Trump 2.0. The “masculine energy” crowd are not too worried about the demise of the international rules-based order. Last week, it was all about the trip to DC and a glimpse of the famous orange face. Imagine what they would do for one of his tiny handshakes. (Actually, don’t.)
Let’s create a society that reflects the compassion of our citizens, not the cynicism of consumerism
Enough. Mocking Trump is ineffective. After all, he was a figure of fun in New York for decades. Neither is despair an appropriate response. Rather, it is time to fight like hell for democracy. In Ireland, that means holding our leaders to account, and demanding more from our system of government.
To be fair, we are doing comparatively well. According to the Economist, this is the seventh most democratic nation on earth. The Institute for Economics and Peace rates Ireland as the world’s second most peaceful country. Only Iceland is ahead of us, but apparently they are a fierce peaceful bunch of lads – ruled, I note, by a woman.
[ Burning question for Europe now is how to deal with an elected American tyrantOpens in new window ]
We can be proud of the fact that Ireland is one of the world’s oldest continuous parliamentary democracies. But there is no room for smugness. Democracy, like friendship, must be kept in good repair. That includes renewing our efforts to improve the lives of people throughout this country. Because freedom is not just the right to buy lots of stuff. It also means freedom from stuff – like tyranny, poverty and discrimination.
One in four Irish children suffer material deprivation. Many of them live in the scab of intergenerational trauma. Let’s stand up for the poor and the marginalised and call out the hypocrisy of leaders who present themselves as champions of the people yet use their power to enrich elites. Let’s speak up for our planet. Regulate social media. Demand a system of local government that is fit for purpose. (After decades of delay, your Government will merely “consider” a plebiscite to give your capital city a directly elected mayor.) Let’s create a society that reflects the compassion of our citizens, not the cynicism of consumerism.
Income inequality is relatively low in Ireland, but there is a vast gulf between homeowners and the rest. Wealth taxes would address some of the grotesque inequalities. However, we also have a democratic deficit. So let’s talk about compulsory voting. The usual grumble – that it violates individual freedom – is answered by spoiling your vote. In a mature republic it is reasonable to expect citizens to play a part in picking their leaders.
We also have a “good news” problem. Free and fair elections, an independent judiciary, human rights and a free press are all great things, yet none have the sticky appeal of bad news. To make noble ideas popular in a world addicted to outrage, it is vital that democracy is promoted in the school curriculum, information campaigns and media. At a time when freedom is in retreat, that work deserves more funding.
Culture plays a part in this conversation. Our world-class writers, artists, musicians, comedians, film- and theatre-makers are biographers of the Irish soul. The freedom to speak their minds is a perk of liberal democracy, even when the result is pungent critique of the state. You won’t find much of that in China.
As we celebrate our national holiday today, we can toast the fact that our democracy is in rude health. But good governance is no guarantee of its own survival. Culture-death can occur before your eyes. If, like me, you find it hard to look away, perhaps it is time to do something useful instead of just shaking our heads in dismay.
Let’s make democracy great again.
Trevor White is a writer and founder of the Little Museum of Dublin
