If we take Trump-Kavanaugh as a slice of American culture that is peculiar to the United States at this particular time, we are forced to ask, “What brought Trump-Kavanaugh into existence?”
The question begs us to ask if there are any original causes for the appearance of Trump-Kavanaugh, a line of inquiry that would probably take us to an earlier time, perhaps one hundred years ago or more. If Trump-Kavanaugh is the evidence of distancing and separation between two very large groups of America’s population, then that separation probably would have begun in the mid-to-late 1800s when “the titans of industry and finance” came into existence.
That line of inquiry would also guide us to examine the “design” of public education that was meant to provide minimally educated workers for the burgeoning industrial might of the United States. Those minimal expectations are still imprinted on American public education.
The product of those early influences has resulted in the division of the American public into two groups, the educated and informed and the less educated and informed. Tagging these two groups as “elitist” and “ignorant,” both of which I have heard in private conversations, exaggerates the situation and aggravates the political antagonism that already exists between them.
[Here, “ignorant” is defined as a state of being of not knowing. Ignorance is evidence of a blind spot, a gap, or assumption that has not come into awareness to be clarified, examined, informed, and given education.]
As for the intention and design of public education, it was never programed to socialize and enculturate new generations of children to become adult citizens as an integral part of the flourishing American culture. Public education was never programed to prepare pupils and students to become active members of society who would one day ask themselves how they were going to transcend the shortcomings of their democratic nation.
Those who participated in private educational settings did receive that program, and who went on to become actively engaged citizens in positions of authority, power, and control. The evidence of this is clear when we look at the demographics of state and federal governments, particularly of state legislatures, Congress, and the judges of the Federal court system. Without counting, I doubt there are any individuals with an 8th grade education or any who are illiterate.
The second line of reasoning is that both groups are ignorant. Has any person of either group had the insight to asked, “What are our blind spots and our blind assumptions?” Have the elites assumed that they know all that they need to know? If so, their hubris reflects that of Roman Caesars and French nobles — the cause of great societal failures, as Jared Diamond might suggest. The way of wisdom for rectifying the separation between the more educated and informed and the less educated and informed begins with the humble question that each group must ask, “Is it possible that we aren’t even aware of the possibility that we do not know that we do not know what we need to know?” “Do we know that we do not know what has caused the lesser educated and lesser informed to become separated from us who are more educated and more informed?” And, “Do we know that we do not know what has caused the more educated and more informed to become separated from us who are less educated and less informed?”
Until we begin poking around in our mutual ignorance to discover what the informed and educated, and the lesser informed and educated do not know about the causes of Trump-Kavanaugh, then we shall never have an integrated and cohesive society and culture. It is essential to the good functioning of any democratic nation that it cohere these two bodies of the public for their mutual benefit, but more so for their children and great-great grandchildren – all future generations of both groups. With neither group knowing that they do not know the causes of Trump-Kavanaugh their antagonism and animosity toward each other is obvious.
It appears that with Trump-Kavanaugh the lesser educated and informed have the potential to become radicalized. For well over 100 years, they have known that they were not a part of policy formation and decision-making at any level of government, until now. The election of Trump is a triumph for them. It is no mystery why they have such a sincere and touching kinship for Trump. He exudes a oneness with the lesser educated and lesser informed. The successful confirmation of Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court bench is also a confirmation of the lesser informed and the lesser educated as being as politically powerful as the more informed and educated.
The more educated and informed look down at the lesser informed and educated with disgust at them for electing one of their kind to the highest office of the land, and who then confirmed his and their position with the successful confirmation of Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.
The pity of all this is that the whole of the American public is unaware of the problem of not knowing that they do not know what they need to know in order to rectify this historic tragedy. The situation reminds me of the developments that preceded the French Revolution in 1789, and of the slow dilution of Roman power due to its high proportions of slaves to citizens.
Of great fortune, there exists the Design Team Process with its components of the Team, Member roles, Social Sustainability Design and Validation Schematic, Seven Values, Priorities of Decision-Making, and a proactive morality and ethic that are based on the seven values as described earlier in the text. 42 With these assets, local community citizens of both groups can begin the process of rectifying the causes of this egregious tragedy, and begin restoring this and other democratic nations to their original greatness.
The wisdom that is inherent in Trump-Kavanaugh is clear evidence of the great divide between the more educated and informed and the less educated and informed. These two groups have become separated, a tragedy of national proportions for the good functioning of any democratic nation and society. Social separation between national populations is evidence of dysfunctional social, economic, political, and democratic processes.43 Ongoing, perpetuating separation as this is the seedbed for rebellion, revolt, revolution, and the death of democracy.
The survival of the American form of democracy is dependent on the evolution of our democratic processes. That (R)evolution will be most effective when it begins with redesigning the seven social institutions that are described in earlier in this book. There is more than sufficient intelligence and wisdom in the great body of all American citizens to provide the necessary ingredients to achieve the transformation that is needed.
“If People cannot write well, they cannot
think well, and if they cannot think well,
others will do their thinking for them.”
George Orwell
42 - Ibid. Ch 14, “The Design Team Process,” and Ch 15, “About the Schematic,” p 133-188.
43 - Ibid. Part 2, “Designing Socially Sustainable Social Institutions,” provides the social sustainability standards for the seven major social institutions of democratic societies.