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Monday, March 28, 2011

Don't be a drag, just be born in America, or Democracy vs. Republic

First of all, Donald Trump is not actually running for president, and anyone who thinks he's serious about this is being delusional. He's just getting publicity (and more power to him for that!).

But his spokesman did say something today that is a pretty common fallacy among politicians. He's lately "discovered" (i.e., learned that he can get lots of publicity for discussing) that many people think Obama wasn't born in America. Since Trump's "campaign" is all about publicity, he has of course aligned with these crazy folks -- birtherism is a great way to get publicity. So don't take what he has to say all that seriously. Anyway, his spokesman just said that one of the reasons he is raising the birth certificate issue is that "A solid plurality of Republican primary voters AGREE with Trump [that Obama wasn't born in America]."

Now, c'mon. Living in a democracy does not mean that the people are always right. Just because a lot of Republicans think that Obama wasn't born in America doesn't in any way make this a valid point, any more than the fact that a lot of Republicans don't believe in climate change, despite the fact that 99% of scientists think it is real. We live in a republic, which means that we elect the best and most wise among us to be our leaders. Anyone who justifies a policy solely because lots of "the people" think it's true, even in the absence of any factual basis, is being disingenuous and dangerously demagogic.

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