My Take: 'When you look long into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you'

Although he eventually fell victim to insanity himself, Friedrich Nietzsche once uttered a quote over a century ago that presciently describes American politics today: “In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.”

Since its inception, American democracy has been built upon feet of clay. Decades before Nietzsche was born, many of the nation’s founders were also expressing a distrust of humanity’s ability to act, and react, rationally; thus, its much-touted “check-and-balance” system was largely based on the belief that human nature is fundamentally evil.

This distrust, however, was also tainted with a strain of elitism. Alexander Hamilton, for example, once said, “The people are turbulent and changing; they seldom judge or determine right.” This sentiment helped to lead to the formation of the Electoral College, which was originally designed to prevent a gullible populace from being duped into electing a potential dictator.

Ironically, the reverse has occurred as the Electoral College has given America some of the worst presidents in its history (including two within the past 25 years) simply because the popular vote of the electorate was overridden.

This elitism also led to a naivete based upon two erroneous presumptions that now have the potential to permanently destroy American democracy. One was that the political office seeks the individual, instead of the individual seeking the office.

Even one fleeting glance at the kleptocracy, mendacity, hypocrisy, fecklessness, con-artistry, sociopathy, self-serving ambition, and other vices required to win political office in today’s America clearly shatters this myth.

The second was that the elites assigned to “check and balance” the evils of human nature would somehow be immune from the temptations that plagued “ordinary” people, even though they were placed in more advantageous positions to exploit them.

Yet, an honest glimpse at the ethical bankruptcy and corruption of many of today’s elected officials on the local, state, and federal levels, as well as numerous state and federal judges (including some members of the United States Supreme Court), shatters this myth as well.

In other words, the very "elites" once heralded as the saviors of America’s democracy are instead poised to be its destroyers.

To his credit, Hamilton recognized the difficulties America would face when he said, “History will teach us that ... of those men who have overturned the liberties of republics, the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the people; commencing demagogues, and ending tyrants.”

This is why it is easy to place the blame for America’s current milieu solely on the politicians themselves, since they have made the very nature of politics, and the mere running for political office, so repugnant that, far too frequently, only the most abhorrent and venal are willing to traverse the campaign trail.

The reality, however, is that these politicians are often reflections of those who elect them, because if voters could not be fueled by basest appeals to their hatreds, ignorance, delusions, and slavish devotion to political party, gerrymandering would not be such a potent weapon and the nation would not be plagued by the plethora of demagogues currently infecting American democracy.

If (or perhaps more accurately when) the human race meets its self-engineered demise, it will primarily be because of humankind’s disconcerting proclivity to either rationalize evil or fail to recognize it until it is too late. It cannot be stressed enough that the divisions in today’s America transcend traditional party politics. In fact, it is not hyperbolic to state that this nation is now traveling a path disturbingly similar to the rise of fascism in 1930s Europe, and it is difficult to discern which is more frightening: The fact that so many millions are oblivious to this reality or that millions more are perfectly comfortable with it.

Which leads to another quote from Nietzsche: “He who fights against monsters should see to it that he does not become a monster in the process. When you look long into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you.”

For centuries, American democracy has looked into the abyss of fascism, and fascism has looked back.

And now fascism is winning.

— David R. Hoffman, Retired Civil Rights and Constitutional Law Attorney, South Bend, Indiana.

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: My Take: 'When you look long into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you'