Make America Small Again
A Letter From Iowan John Cain
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The belief that absolute power leads to corruption underscores the Constitution’s and Bill of Rights’ separation of powers into executive, legislative and judicial. Checks and balances are the hallmarks of a democracy. The congressional creation of agencies quasi-independent of either Congress or the president, serves to check the power of both president and Congress.
The Unitary Executive Theory would end the independence of inspectors general, administrative judges, and special prosecutors. In an expanded interpretation of the vesting clause, the president’s power over all executive agencies is considered absolute. This allows for the discretionary termination of all employees and does any with the requirement that just cause be shown.
The first chapter in Project 2025 stresses the need to have loyalists installed at all levels of government rather than civil servants with skills and experience. The president’s firing of inspector generals has put the issue of a president’s vested power to fire anyone in the executive branch without just cause before the Supreme Court.
In a democracy humility underscores the knowledge that the party in power may not stay in power. This often leads to compromises that succeeding governments honor.
The International Hydrographic Organization is the governing body that names bodies of water around the world. Trump’s needless renaming of the Gulf of Mexico exceeded his executive power, So too his renaming of Denali back to Mount McKinley was unnecessary. The U.S. Board on Geographic Names is the federal agency that maintains consistent geographic names in the United States. The BGN also receives proposals for naming new natural features. The quiet acquiesce to the President’s assumed authority to name an international body of water or the mountain does not bode well.
The less Trump is challenged, the more he will take. His renaming the Gulf of Mexico and banning the AP reporters from the oval office are in the news is sort of a political trifecta, in that with one action he has insulted Mexico, assumed the power to change the name of a international body of water, and challenged the right of free speech.
The Proud Boys pardoned by Trump and released from prison now taunt the police officers who testified against them. When the rule of law becomes discretionary there seems no end to the failures our society can descend into. The prospect of Trump having unfettered power to dismiss the watchdogs of government install who he wants powers, with the power pardon anyone who breaks the law further his politic agenda as Vladimir Putin has done in Russia, is more than very concerning.
By destroying scrutiny of executive actions the administration is testing what people will accept to insure that it not lose power by in effect creating a one party system of government.
Democracy thrives best when there are actual choices to be made when there are elections. This is true whether the party has entrenched powers like the Republicans in Texas or the Democrats in Washington. The progressive Democrats’ disregard of common sense, the Second Amendment and the budget of the working class is staggering. Democrats have not responded well to the problem of illegal entry into the United States and many have chosen to call those opposed to illegal entry bigots.
The demand for equality of transgender individuals in women’s sports appeals to many progressives but overlooks the fundamental inequality of having biological males competing in sports. The liberal disregard of the obvious physical advantages of men who have transitioned into being females is reminiscent of Soviet biologist Trofim Lysenko’s assertion that all science is class orientated in nature and that Mendelian genetics had no merit.
I would prefer a DNA test be used to determine who should could compete women’s athletics. But carving out athletics as an area of exclusion is not without some intellectual contortions. The exclusion of transgender individuals of transsexuals from other endeavors such as the military has an unsettling parallel with the treatment of to the Jews in Germany. In the 1930s Jews were progressively excluded from society and denied employment and social standing.
By disregard of the sacrifices of the Ukraine and the undermining of NATO, Trump has not made America great again. Rather, by isolationism, he is making America small again as it was before World War I. The border walls that he is wants to build to keep others out may soon prove to keep us from the alliances our country needs. Our disrespect and disregard of allies will not be soon forgotten. Breaking contracts in the business world may make a person money in the short run but in the long run trust is lost and customers shop elsewhere or make their own.
Rather than embrace the diversity of Americans, Trump and his Proud Boy followers would exclude from power and influence all those who disagree with them. I had a cousin who changed his Italian name to Dawson so he could be promoted in the Army. Reverting to those times is not the right direction to take. The hatred of DEI is, however, in some respects well earned. The overstatement of the sins of the past are tiresome but they are unreasonable to remember and do not tell the full story of America’s growth. Before the Civil War the North expanded not because of slavery but by immigration and skilled labor. To deny that there has been and is racism in America is as unreasonable to believe that racism is everywhere and always the reason for lack of a person’s advancement.
The hatred of DEI is for many simply a cover for their bigotry. By forcing others to hide who they are we do not make ourselves better. The Jews who did not emigrate from Germany in the 1930s retreated from the public view and said they were doing an internal emigration and waited in hopes that Hitler would soon pass away. As Trump retreats from the world he can focus all the more in remaking America in the image he wants.
During President William McKinley’s term, America expanded our place on the world stage by seizing the Hawaiian islands, Cuba, and the Philippines. The aim was to have more markets and eventually expand trade into China. Trump advocates reclaiming the Panama Canal, enjoys insulting Canada, and advocates acquiring Greenland by sale or force. The language is expansive yet it remains focused on the Western Hemisphere, as if he wants to reinvent the Monroe Doctrine that was announced when clipper ships ruled the waves.
By claiming he wants to make America great again, Trump is on the path to making us smaller. Trumps’s vision for America is for an America with a reduced role in the world, both in military aid and in humanitarian aid. He has quoted Napoleon, saying, “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law.” In summing up Napoleon’s influence on France, Talleyrand said, he left France smaller than when he found her. Such is what will be said of Trump when he finally passes on.
He has made America smaller in the eyes of the world and made pettiness and vindictiveness the path to advancement. His isolationism is advocacy selfishness. Hadrian’s Wall marks the northern extension of the Roman Empire into Britain. Trump’s concessions to Russia in the Ukraine will mark the extent American’s greatness and influence. As we retreat and break alliances our influence only diminishes.
John Cain
Tacoma, Washington
(formerly Eldora, Iowa)
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Thanks for speaking out, John. We pray for this country as Trump-Vance destroy it. And we certainly hope Europe can pull together quickly to keep Putin in line. Which planet does Trump want to live on? Lots of hopes.
John, thanks for your excellent commentary! I love your observation that Trump is not making America Great Again; instead his legacy will be "Make American Small Again!"