A Trump-Vance monarchy?
By J.K. Baltzersen
web posted September 16, 2024
The Republican Party has nominated J.D. Vance, U.S. Senator from Ohio, to the position of Vice President of the United States.
And what happens when someone is nominated to such a high office? The media start digging. Some things are not that hard to dig up; they are known from before and may even have been published by the media previously. The task is then to make them even more well-known to the public. An example of such knowledge is the acquaintance – or maybe even personal friendship – of J.D. Vance to the neoreactionary monarchist Curtis Yarvin.
It seems there is a fear that, if elected, the Trump-Vance ticket will topple the American federal constitutional order as we know it, and install an American version of absolutism. Never mind that in the previous four Trump years in the White House, Trump didn't even come close to draining the swamp.
The story goes that America rose from the old monarchical, absolutist world as a phoenix with limited government and checks and balances. And the world followed in America's footsteps, partly through inspiration, partly through America going to war to make the world safe for democracy.
Reality is not quite as rosy. The deference towards monarchs America might have abandoned. Monarchical Europe built statues of its monarchs. But they don't come close to what America built at Mount Rushmore.
Barring a destruction directed at Mount Rushmore, such as a concerted nuclear attack or an asteroid impact, it will stand for hundred thousands of years.
The presidential election of 1828 was the first one after property requirements for voting were largely removed. Andrew Jackson was elected, and he declared he was the only one to represent the whole people.
During Jackson's first term, the Frenchman Alexis de Tocqueville came to America and observed the young democracy – in 1831 and 1832. He wrote his reflections in two volumes published in 1835 and 1840, known as the classic Democracy in America.
While favorable of democracy, de Tocqueville also saw some of its vices. He feared government based on popular sovereignty would become so strong there would be virtually no checks on its power.
In the book The Decline of Natural Law, published in 2021, legal historian Stuart Banner describes how American lawyers once applied natural law, law grown outside of government and the chambers of legislatures, but later stopped doing so.
One reason, says Banner, is constitutions have taken the place of natural law. What limits government are constitutions that, following correct procedure, can be amended by government or reinterpreted by courts appointed by political power.
Franklin D Roosevelt threatened to pack the Supreme Court if it continued to block his New Deal. He was forced to back down from his plan, but backed down too did the court. After all, in the words of Andrew Jackson, he represented the whole people.
Now, President Biden is pushing for Supreme Court reform, with term limits. Leaving aside the issue of whether such term limits require amending the Constitution, it may be easy to agree that nine justices shouldn't have that much power. However, it is worrisome when reform advocates say that the high court should better reflect values of the American people. How is this different from saying the popular majority rules with its whims and fashions without limits, instead of protecting limits on what the majority through its representatives can do?
Americans celebrate their government as an improvement over absolute governments of old. But Washington has more power than monarchs of the old world would ever dare dream of. The American federal government engages in mass surveillance and persecutes people such as Edward Snowden – and until recently – Julian Assange across the globe.
Born out of tax revolt, the U.S. Government taxes American citizens regardless of where they reside in the world. And it recently ganged up with foreign governments to establish a global minimum tax. Here we have the mighty government Alexis de Tocqueville feared.
President Biden can refer – in his passing-the-torch address – to America not being run by kings all he wants. It doesn't reduce the power concentration.
The strong, centralized government in Washington is subject to much hatred among Americans and may be an important reason for the growing polarization. The fact that Donald Trump, a political outsider, once has won over the Washington political establishment may be part of the answer to his popularity. He has proven his ability to win over the hated establishment, and besides, Americans love winners.
The American Presidency has a lot of power, and Americans tend to fear the wrong guy in the Oval Office. Perhaps now there is extra reason to fear it?
There are many threats to democracy. The centralized feature of American democracy, giving too much power in one place, and also to one man, may be its greatest threat.
What should be done?
Decentralize power in America: return power to the States and reduce the power of the presidency. Then you don't have to fear that much the wrong guy in the Oval Office. 
J.K. Baltzersen is a Norwegian political commentator and writer. His work has appeared, among other places, in The Washington Times, FEE.org, and Enter Stage Right.
