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Why I believe in Democracy, rebuttal to Fareed Zakaria

539 views · Published 5 April 2016 · 5:40 · Indexed 20 September 2026

Channel: CleanTVcom · 2016 · News & Politics

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Rebuttal to "The Future of Freedom" book by Fareed Zakaria: My position is that the rule of the elite few, or appointed, should be subject to the electorate.  Without laws to control, untrammeled human nature, we are barbarians.  The dispersal of power is necessary knowing who we are as human beings, and knowing what we actually may do.

I would like now to comment on certain positions taken by New York Times writers and columnists.  Mr. Brooks in the New York Times Op-ed of March 25, 2016 criticizes Mr. Trump.  He says that he has no ideas and will be the worst president if elected.  He also says that Mr. Trump is loveless.  I have no comment on these comments by Mr. Brooks; however, I do say that he states no facts, but only conclusions and criticisms.  In a column in the New York times on Sunday, March 20, 2016, Mr. Douthat states that Trump’s backers are working class and blue collar.  That may be so, but there is an implication in this statement that working class people and blue collar voters are somehow intellectually lacking.  I must remind the New York Times and its writers that Jesus Christ was a carpenter, St. Paul was a tentmaker, and a number of the disciples were fishermen.  In fact, Jesus was roundly criticized in his own time for associating with sinners and publicans.  I challenge Mr. Douthat’s assumption that working class people are intellectually lacking on the basis of what I just said.  This group of uneducated individuals, although St. Paul was highly educated, in 400 years transformed the thinking of the known world.  I note that Joseph Conrad, one of the great English novelists, was a seaman.  

I also note in one instance, in a column by Mr. Krugman in the New York Time of March 25, 2016, there is a reference to elite republicans who have denounced Mr. Trump.  In present society there is much use of the word “elite,” I am not sure what Mr. Krugman means here.  If he means well-educated, powerful, and wealthy, I part ways with this definition of elite.  Elite is based on talent, ability, and character, not wealth, power, or education.  In fact, I radically differ with this understanding of the term “elite.”  The elite is Jesus of Nazareth; the elite is St. Paul; the elite is Mother Theresa; the Elite is St. Francis; the Elite is Tolstoy; the Elite is John Milton; the Elite is Bach; and the elite is Mozart.  If Mr. Trump, for the New York Times, is not sufficiently elite, then our understandings of the essential meaning of that term are in radical distinction.  I do recall, in my daily readings of the New York Times columns, which I may add I find most interesting and most stimulating, and most informative, continuously make use of the term “elite” concerning Mr. Trump’s republican opposition.  If the New York Times thinks that the less educated voters who do manual work are intellectually lacking, then I must inform the New York Times that Jesus said the poor were blessed.  Apparently, he did not think them stupid or incapable of critical thinking.

I add to this the statement of Mr. Brooks in the New York Times of March 29, 2016 in which he states that Donald Trump’s presidential campaign is a rejection of the civility codes of the educated class.  I object to this class bound statement and note that Jesus was executed as a criminal, surrounded by two criminals, and Abraham Lincoln was educated, as far as I know, only to fourth grade, thus I find the statement of Mr. Brooks about the educated classes somewhat puzzling.  Finally, in the Sunday New York Times of April 3, 2016, there is a statement by the columnist Aaron K. Chatterji, that the chief executive of Chick-fil-A angered many progressives with public comments opposing same-sex marriage.  I am somewhat confused by the use of the word “progressive.”  I note that most of the world’s great religions and churches, including the Roman Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church, the Conservative Protestant Churches, Islam, and Orthodox Jewish community all oppose same-sex marriage.  The issue for the chief executive here is a moral issue.  Whether favoring same-sex marriage is progressive is not the issue, but the issue is a moral issue for many people.  I suggest that Mr. Chatterji redefine his analysis in ethical and moral terms rather than labeling something progressive, that for many people, that I describe, is a backward glance.

Andrew J. Schatkin is the proprietor of a law firm in Jericho, NY, a book author and a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary with an M. Div. degree in Biblical languages (Greek, Latin, Hebrew) and is a member of the Lutheran Church – Missouri, Synod.

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