Donald Trump is the result of many other problems

Sam Smith - This is not just an election between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, although it will represent an outcome of the more quiet yet much more critical issue at stake, namely will America continue as a constitutional republic or will it turn into a deeply corrupt dictatorship? We haven't gone through anything this consequential since the Civil War. This election is a choice of whether we can follow our Constitution or will we become just another nation taken over by a self-serving few devoid of decency, wisdom and justice. We have never before had such a reasonable candidate threatened by one who has lied as many times, been involved in so much sexual misbehavior and been indicted for so many crimes.

This didn’t happen because of the genius of Donald Trump. In fact, he makes little sense of much of it. It happened because the habits, values and behavior of our leaders and institutions have deteriorated so much, ultimately making someone like Trump seem feasible.

This is my 60^th year of covering national politics and I have never seen anything like this. But I am not surprised since I often covered developments that were leading us in this direction. For example, during my time on the case:

·      The media has lost much of its interest in investigating those in power, probably because many consider themselves part of this power.

·      The academic community has largely failed to report in a serious way how our values and behavior are changing for the worse..   

·      The decline of the importance of community institutions including local newspapers and churches has occurred with little notice.

·      The rise of social media has increased the distribution of evil information  and the strength of destructive organizations.

·      Liberalism has increasingly become the cause of a better educated and higher paid elite rather than that of the working class.

I’m the son of someone who was a member of FDR’s administration and I was introduced to activism in the 1960s so I have lived through these changes and I can tell you we are facing a first.

It is, admittedly, late to be saving us from our many errors but give it the best you can.