Lock Him Up

America has been presented with two starkly different visions of America as it is and as it can be. In the aftermath of two party conventions we have seen a Democratic Party that represents all the people: white men and black women, trans Americans, Muslim veterans, rich independents, working class Hispanics, and yes even displaced Republicans. The rallying cries of each and every speech spoke not only to the challenges we’ve overcome as individuals and a nation, but the inspiring message of America that remains today an exemplary vision of opportunity. What’s more the DNC positioned itself as the party of true patriotism, dedication, service, and action to bring about a future that creates a more perfect union that is truly inclusive of all Americans. This is why one of the most repeated chants at the DNC was “USA USA US,” without any shred of cynicism or feigned patriotism.

By contrast, while the closest they came to patriotism was putting a ridiculous number of flags behind their speaker, the most clear and determined chant that came from the RNC was “Lock Her Up!” Speech after speech portrayed America as a dystopian wasteland, mere days away from being turned into an Islamic dictatorship if it had not already occurred. It felt, at times, like a scene ripped out of the pages of “A Tale of Two Cities,” complete with a show trial, whose sole purpose was to let the mob unleash their fury on supposed enemies of the state. Or else it was the 2 minutes hate from “1984,” allowing the masses to shout how much they hated the traitors of their beloved Big Brother with the tiny hands. I bring this literature up, not simply to counteract the assault on the English language that is the unfortunate verbiage of the Republican nominee, but to point out that we’ve seen these kinds of vicious and heartless assaults on the idea of justice before and it’s worth remembering as we move forward.

The Governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, lambasted Hillary Clinton as a criminal for her actions as Secretary of State. During this vapid exercise, Christie did not actually put forward a case that would lead to any actual decision of guilt, which is fitting because despite hundreds of millions of dollars to back up decades of baseless accusations, Hillary Clinton remains exonerated of the repeated attacks on her character. This is indicative of one of the real differences between Hillary Clinton and the Republican nominee. She isn’t in jail because she is proven not guilty time and again, despite a well funded effort to try like hell and come up with something, anything that might stick. He isn’t in jail because he can afford to settle out of court or pay whatever fine gets slapped on his wrist when he discriminates against black tenants, defames Native American tribes, defrauds supposed students, and reneges on countless deals with contractors and funders alike.

Yet you didn’t hear the DNC chanting “Lock Him Up,” you only heard accurate assertions that he is not as successful a businessman as he portrays himself, he’s not an honest dealer, he’s a dishonest campaigner, he’s a self-professed chauvinist, and he’s a thin skinned narcissist only capable of caring about himself without a clue on nuclear policy, foreign policy, economic policy, trade policy, military policy, etc. You didn’t hear “Lock Him Up” at the DNC because that was a meeting of adults from across the aisle who simply want America to remain in one piece at this point. You didn’t hear “Lock Him Up,” because the message of the DNC was not to debase the American people by giving into hatred but to stand with proud defiance like the Khans for all the things that have made, do make, and will make truly great.

The conventions are now long passed, but we still hear the echoes of the two narratives that were outlined in Cleveland and in Philadelphia. At every speech that the Republican candidates have made since being appointed the Presidential and Vice Presidential nominees, the crowds have invariably broke into chanting “Lock Her Up.” The Republican nominee himself has only recently stopped attacking the Khan family, just in time to kick a baby out of his rally for having the gall to cry. In contrast, Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine have been out talking with Americans about their positive vision of an America where the parents of war veterans are consoled and not chastised. In retrospect, this tragic episode was a perfect distillation of the reality that the Republican nominee is not merely a failure in political rhetoric, but that the assault on “political correctness” is merely a shorthand for an assault on basic human decency.

People who don’t want this madman to be let anywhere near the decision room breathed a sigh of relief when the polls showed a stunning lead for Hillary Clinton, showing strong leads in every swing state, winning traditionally Red states like Georgia and making other conservative strongholds like Texas and Utah competitive. Yet this respite is something of a wakeup call to those of us who’ve been asking how this was ever even close. These polls show not only that many people in America still are not willing to call out this deplorable facsimile of the Republican party for what he is, but that it takes something as dramatic as those two weeks of conventions to really get America to realize what the choice is between. Too often, this race has been painted with an utterly false equivalency, a race between two evils so similar it’s distasteful to choose between them, and that simply isn’t the case.

Most years we have the choice between two politicians who are less than ideal, but otherwise competent candidates. Most years we have to make a choice between two candidates who are just a little too conventional for their own good and so the choice seems arbitrary and unpleasant, but not this year. 2016 is a referendum on the very premise of a decent society, between the competent leadership of a longtime public servant or petulant tyranny. This should not even be a decision to anyone who enjoys waking up without seeing radioactive fallout. I fail to see how I can be hyperbolic when the nominee of the Republican Party has repeatedly shown that he not only doesn’t understand what our nuclear arsenal is or that he has no interest in learning about it, but that he is potentially willing to act on his ignorance on a whim.

This is my home and the nation I love, so irrespective of what we the people decide in November, I have every intention of helping our leadership move toward policies that make people more prosperous, more secure, freer, and more engaged with democracy itself. The trouble is that whereas I can see clearly how Hillary Clinton can steer the nation toward greater access to healthcare, toward a more competitive economy, etc; I can not imagine how the current Republican nominee for the presidency could possibly leave the world any better than a smoking crater. I wasn’t the biggest fan of President Bush, but I trusted he knew enough about government and cared about other people that he wouldn’t lead us toward armageddon. I have many disagreements with Mitt Romney over what constitutes sound policy on any number of topics, but I believe he is a devoted husband and statesman who would work toward the nation’s interest as he saw it and not simply his own interests. When faced with the choice this year, I find it unsettling that there is any state in the Union that could even consider this year’s nominee as viable, particularly when so many within his own party don’t think he is. Even someone like Rick Perry is so ill at ease with his party’s nominee that in his convention speech he uttered the name of that nominee the same number of times I’ve used it in this essay.

Unless the justice system finds him sufficiently guilty of the many real crimes he has committed, we obviously should not “Lock Him Up,” nor should we start chanting it. The rule of law doesn’t endow a mob with the power or right to decide who is guilty and who is not. But democratic government does endow the people with the right and the responsibility to choose who our leaders will be and what vision we as a nation wish to pursue. We can ill afford to fail at this basic responsibility, particularly when the choice is so ludicrously obvious.