Late one autumn afternoon, I watched as two grown men attempted to put together a gas barbecue grill while proudly denying that directions were necessary. As soon as they gave up, having produced a thing that would not rest solidly on its two legs and two wheels with four parts (including two bolts) left over, I calmly read to them from the manual that came with the grill. They had to take it apart, and completely re-build it correctly. They wasted two hours putting it together incorrectly, and another 30 minutes disassembling it.
I have never had the necessary self-confidence or arrogance to believe that I could make anything work properly without the aid of a guidebook. This refusal to consider necessary directions is not determined by gender, in case it appears I am picking on men unfairly. We all do it.
A very dear friend received a new Italian semi-automatic espresso machine. It was indeed a beautiful addition to her kitchen, but she had trouble with it from the very start. No matter how many times she pressed the button, no coffee came out of the spout, nor did the grinder start. This was not her first espresso machine, but it was the first one she could not work. She sent it back to the manufacturer, who could find nothing wrong with the machine but sent her another one just like it. That one didn’t work either, and she had pretty much decided that the problem was a manufacturing flaw. Until she came to visit, and watched me prepare lattes from the same model of machine. Turns out she was pressing the wrong buttons. Being Italian, it did not have English words printed next to the buttons, only images that she misinterpreted. The instructions, however, did come in English.
A new car comes with an owner’s manual that can run into the hundreds of pages and I will confess that I have not read the entire book on my car. I read the important parts: maintenance recommendations, where to find the gas tank, and how to operate the navigation system. but no one has time to plow through an entire new car manual. So it was that yesterday, while sitting in line at the car wash, I learned that my rear view mirrors could automatically retract with the push of a button. I had seen this feature on other cars but did not know that mine offered it because I had not read the damn manual. Bored while waiting at the only car wash in the middle of Maine in January, I pushed the button above the mirror adjustment buttons, not knowing what would happen (my walk on the wild side). Voilà: they folded into the side of the car. Pretty cool, and it would have helped me to reach the roadside mailbox had I known they could do this prior to yesterday.
But barbecue grills, coffeemakers, and automotive accessories are not as essential to our well-being as a nation. Our democracy and our government are essential, and they come complete with instructions that really should be mandatory reading for anyone who takes an oath to uphold them.
The Constitution of the United States of America is not a perfect document. It was never meant to be, as shown by the inclusion of Article V, which allows for amendments. It does however, lay the groundwork for how our government is supposed to function. It outlines how the different branches are supposed to balance each other and provide a check on each other’s powers. The president may be the commander in chief of the armed forces, but Congress retains the right to declare war. Or at least, that is the way it is supposed to work. The Congress can pass laws, but the Supreme Court determines their validity. And only the Executive Branch can enforce them.
But the one thing that our instruction manual lacks is an appendix with troubleshooting tips. Even those who, on principle, refuse to read instructions are generally familiar with the troubleshooting appendix. This is the place we look when the device does not work as intended. Generally, the problem is identified and steps to remedy the most common problems are provided, or an 800 number is given so the consumer can ask for additional help.
Looking at the Constitution, there are no specific instructions on how to handle a sitting president who hopes for a terrorist attack so that his unpopular political party can win a midterm election.
In private conversations, Trump has told advisers that he doesn’t think the 2018 election has to be as bad as others are predicting. He has referenced the 2002 midterms, when George W. Bush and Republicans fared better after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, these people said.
God only knows what kind of October surprise 2018 may bring, but one should be on alert in case Trump’s wish is fulfilled. After what we have seen over the last 12 months, we should not dismiss the possibility of an intentional terror attack. That may sound very Alex Jones-esque, but then again, who would have predicted a president elected with the active assistance of a foreign power?
Speaking of which, nowhere could I find steps one, two, and three to follow when Congress refuses to fill its role as a balance to, or check upon, the Executive Branch. Instead of vigorously pursuing the possibility of Russian interference in the 2016 election in order to ensure it never happens again, Congress is instead investigating the apolitical agency that is in fact investigating such interference. Senators are also recommending criminal charges against a well-respected member of the international intelligence community who uncovered connections between a certain political campaign and an unfriendly foreign power. Alarmed at what he found, he shared his information with American intelligence agencies.
There should be some simple steps that we can take to make our legislative branch do the job that we elected them for. Regardless of political party, they have a job to do. They are not doing it.
Nowhere could I find a remedy for senators who flat out lie to the American people, or the media who report it as breaking news. Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin announced to the press that, during a meeting on immigration, Trump referred to “shithole” countries who send immigrants to the United States. Two Republicans who also attended the meeting said that the president did not use that word. Later, they claimed he said “shithouse,” as if that made any difference. However, our media, protected by the constitution, reported their claims as if they were significant. They were not. Regardless of the term he used, Donald Trump revealed the vile racism that festers at the root of whatever substitutes for his soul. That is what was important, not the words he used to describe it. There is no appendix for the First Amendment, no steps to take when the media uses its protection to sell advertising instead of using it to ensure a well-informed populace.
We need that troubleshooting appendix to deal with the situation that extreme wealth has created, not only in achieving historic levels of inequality, but in controlling the media that is meant to keep us informed. When a wealthy Australian can create a news channel that serves only to lie to the public and willfully keep them misinformed, all while being protected by our Constitution, there should be some steps we could take to correct the situation.
When a sitting president continuously violates the emoluments clause of the Constitution and faces no penalty, and when an attorney general is allowed to retain financial interests in private prison corporations that will benefit from an increase in the population of petty criminals created by that same attorney general, our checks and balances are no longer working properly and need adjustment.
When Cabinet secretaries lie to Congress and perjury charges are warranted but not brought, there should be an entry in the troubleshooting guide that can tell us how to fix that. Or when the Senate refuses to consider a constitutionally-mandated nomination to the Supreme Court, there should be steps we can follow to get the Senate working properly again.
And no, the vote is no longer a remedy. Not when a vote cast in Wyoming is worth 3.6 times more than a vote cast in California. Nor can it serve as a remedy when people in certain states are forced to fufill onerous requirements to obtain a magic identification card that will allegedly protect against voter fraud through impersonation at the polls. This, in a land where only 60 percent of the eligible voters participated in the most recent presidential election. And any election fraud is more likely to be due to foreign intervention, which is completely ignored by the same party so concerned about proper identification.
Nor does the vote do much good when a state is so gerrymandered that a political party can win 48.6 percent of the vote and be rewarded with 60 out of 99 legislative seats. Our “votes” are the crumbs that are thrown to the public to keep us thinking that we are being represented. They are not a remedy.
And we badly need a remedy—a troubleshooting manual for our democracy, which is no longer functioning as intended. It is broken, and we desperately need to find the reset button.