American politics has become a paradox. To paraphrase Wikipedia, a paradox is so self-contradictory that it leads to an illogical and unacceptable conclusion. Americans are so divided on so many issues in such irrational ways that American political discussions result in very few logical conclusions about anything. That’s unacceptable.
Some people would say that the current U.S. government is also a parody – that’s a different “p” word, although quite an accurate description, too; let’s stick to the paradox idea for now.
Here are some examples.
Crime and Censorship
The U.S. criminal justice reform movement has tried to reduce America’s prison population and give released prisoners more opportunities for jobs and housing. New laws have simultaneously cracked down on store invasions and carjackings to punish property crimes at least as severely as crimes of personal harm. The result will be to send more shoplifters and car thieves to prison while releasing murderers for good behavior.
Many U.S. states have been open-minded to legalizing recreational marijuana, and some states are considering legalizing other soft drugs. Meanwhile, other places are working hard to keep Americans’ minds tightly closed by banning books. Florida even removed dictionaries from school bookshelves because dictionaries contain bad words like “gay.” Dictionaries define other naughty words, too, like “sex” and some body parts. Perhaps they also need to ban soon-to-be-obsolete words like “literacy.”
Abortion and Women’s Rights
Women’s rights to abortion have become another chaotic split in America. The U.S. Supreme Court decided to get rid of the abortion rights that women have had for fifty years. The court then left it to each state to decide about abortions, with no nationwide consensus. A few states reacted by passing laws to restore and protect women’s abortion rights, while other states are moving in the opposite direction. Missouri is working on a law to require murder charges against women who have abortions.
To further complicate things, the Supreme Court has agreed to decide soon another case that could make it illegal for doctors to get drugs for abortions by medication. This is the most common way to terminate pregnancies, but the Court will rule on whether those drugs should be declared illegal because it would require the mailing of obscene materials or for other reasons. Drug-induced abortions would then become illegal, even in states where abortions are legal, effectively erasing the Court’s professed logic that gave U.S. states the power to determine abortion rights. That would result in a complete legal paradox if that’s how it goes.
Foreigners and International Business
U.S. government programs support foreign trade and cooperation in business, especially for technology. Others seek to isolate Americans from foreign influence, especially from the threat of the evil Chinese. One state banned TikTok because of its Chinese ownership. That was overruled in court, but most U.S. states have successfully barred TikTok from government devices. Some states restrict Chinese nationals from buying property. A law in Florida does not allow them to own property within 10 miles of military bases or airports. At the same time, Florida paradoxically uses taxpayer money to support more business between China and Florida.
Middle East
Some Americans support Israel, but others support Palestine—both sides stage protests in the USA, frequently violent ones. The protesters harass people who defend the other side and sometimes attack and kill them (on American soil, not only in the Middle East). They justify their violence by claiming that their side’s people are peace-loving victims of excessive aggression.
Ukraine
Most Americans support Ukraine, while other Americans don’t see any problem with Vladimir Putin’s war, at least not enough to spend any U.S. tax dollars on it. Some of them parrot Donald Trump’s praise of Putin’s “genius” invasion while they simultaneously vow to kill Mexicans who they say are invading the USA by crossing the border illegally.
Elections
Trump continues to claim he won the last election without any evidence at all. Many of Trump’s advisors and staff while he was President now say he is dangerously unfit to get the job again. He uses rhetoric in his speeches that’s identical to Adolf Hitler’s Nazi propaganda.
He will likely be convicted of significant crimes (one or more of the 91 current criminal charges against him) and may lose other legal cases that seriously threaten his fortune. Still, he remains likely to be the Republican Party’s candidate for the U.S. Presidency.
People worldwide refuse to face that reality. They think America’s Republicans will ultimately choose another candidate. However, the U.S. Presidential election primaries and caucuses have begun, and there’s no sign of that happening. In the initial two, Iowa and New Hampshire, Trump won his party’s support by large margins.
What’s paradoxical is how he won. CNN’s polls of Trump’s supporters in both states showed that for over 85% of them, a criminal conviction of Trump does not matter in their support for him. Iowa polls showed that between 20% and 35% of them said a conviction would make them more likely to support Trump. In both states, over 85% believe that Trump, not Biden, won the prior election (other polls reported slightly lower numbers, but still nearly 70% in Iowa). Over 80% of Trump voters polled in both states revealed that they mainly want him to be their President because he “fights for people like me.”
So, who are the “people like me” that Trump fights for? He says that radical white supremacists are reasonable people and those who attacked the U.S. Capitol while trying to end American democracy are patriots. These so-called good patriots espouse the opposite of American values. Regardless of proven facts, they believe whatever Trump says and pledge their loyalty to him irrespective of what he may do. Those are the people Trump fights for. Many voters count themselves in that group of “people like me.”
This reveals the most glaring paradox in America. Most Americans are not in that obnoxious crowd and will never be. They will instead continue to believe proven facts over lies. They will remain true to American democratic principles without compromise. So, that paradox will remain unresolved. We’ll see which side of the paradox will prevail in the election later in 2024.
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Tom A. Lippo is a Finnish-speaking American lawyer. Educated at Yale, the University of Jyväskylä and Stanford Law School, he is the founder of FACT LAW, an international law firm established in 1985. FACT is the first law firm with offices in both Finland and the United States. Tom has been a lawyer in Washington, DC based on Capitol Hill for over 40 years.
