Tytler, Tucker, Kahn and a 720 pound roman candle

Wife is disgusted by Republicans who moan about tax-and-spend Democrats and campaigned on a promise to rein in spending, then passed a bloated budget that makes Obama look like Scrooge. She asked me to do an editorial. I told her this column quit politics. The last one so dedicated was in November of 2016. In it was stated my inclination to cast a presidential ballot for Tucker, a 12-pound bichon who waited in the car yapping and making nose marks on the windshield while wife and I went into the polling place.

Not a joke, the vote was one I’d considered for some time. The only person on the ballot I favored was Lynn Sandra Khan, who couldn’t get into the debates and was pretty much unnoticed. She was running, she said, because our two-party system is so morally bankrupt and financially corrupt as to be incapable of solving problems. Her platform held that divisive partisanship is so deeply entrenched that neither a Republican nor a Democrat can successfully lead, and the only chance is a third-party.

I doubt a third-party president could do it either, and Kahn’s bleak outlook on the current state of the union brought to mind a Scottish historian named Alexander Tytler. Tytler (1745-1813) is credited with a theory that democracy cannot endure; that it would flourish only until voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on the majority votes for candidates that promise them the most benefits; the democracy begins to flounder and finally collapses due to fiscal irresponsibility and overwhelming debt. (Tytler scholars point out that—while he doubted democracy could succeed and cited individual greed—the so-called “Tytler Cycle” does not appear in any of his writings. No matter the source, the thought is worth considering.)

Kahn had positions I support, but if the Tytler theory is correct there isn’t much she could do.

When it came time to pull the lever it was either Kahn or a write-in for Tucker. Neither was going to be elected, I was ambivalent about Kahn, so why not a neutered little white guy who has a cheerful disposition, does his business outside and is genuinely sorry when he makes a mistake?

Kahn, who received 5,780 votes, was right about a lot of things. Had Hillary won, Republicans would have spent four years making her look worse and obstructing everything she tried to do. Trump won, so Democrats are devoted to making him look worse and obstructing everything he wants to do. Without doubt they’d join forces and pile onto any third-party president. Governing is a lower priority than getting re-elected, and the way to remain an incumbent is to give away someone else’s money while painting your opponent as a sleaze. Our national media is equal to the system; all in for one side or the other, and we have a voting majority that does exactly what the Tytler theory said they would.

But pondering Tytler, Tucker and Kahn does not produce contemporary, insightful political columns. Better prepared are those who write letters to the editor, and I’m glad they do. I read and respect them all. My space is intended to stir pleasant memories and explore unusual things some of us find interesting; things like anvil firing, alien abductions and one we’ll delve into next week—a Roman candle that weighed 720 pounds.

Roy Marshall is a local historian and columnist for the Red Oak Express. He can be contacted at news@redoakexpress.com.