Walk Slowly And Don't Make Any Sudden Moves
The Standard TV Criminal's Line Actually Can Be Good Advice
We’ve all heard some version of the line on television or in movies: “Okay, now walk slowly, and don’t make any sudden moves.” It’s usually after the bad guy disarms the detective/police officer/good Joe who has figured out the crime but has not yet had a chance to call for backup. Sometimes it’s the hero, who has overpowered the bad guy and is waiting for that backup to arrive.
The line is appropriate advice, too, for someone with a broken rib — who, for instance, slipped on an icy set of brick steps and fell. Someone like myself.
It’s difficult for me to slow down because there is always so much I want to accomplish. The body, however, repeats the warning in its own way, with a sharp pain that says, “You’re not listening!” So I pay attention, and slow down and try to avoid making sudden moves.
The Founding Fathers were something of a pain, too. They crafted a republic that avoided direct democracy because of their fears of what that would unleash, instead setting up a system where representatives would act on citizens’ behalf — some representatives elected by the people, others chosen by their representatives. They established three separate branches of government to create a balance of power as another safeguard to ensure that no branch wielded too much power. Concerned that they may have overlooked something, they also provided the means to amend the constitution, but made the process difficult enough that it would require the approval of not only the government’s leaders but also the people themselves for passage. The early amendments were guarantees to the citizenry that government’s power would be limited, so the nation could not enact laws or issue rulings that would erode the people’s rights.
Their first attempt at setting up a system that would work was the establishment of the Articles of Confederation that vested most power in the states, rather than in the federal government because they were fearful that the country would revert to a kingdom. The states proved to be unruly, including refusing to honor their obligations to repay new country’s war debts, which led the Founders to draft the United States Constitution we have today, vesting more power in the federal government but still leaving certain things to the states to handle. In order to get all of the states to agree to the new constitution, they had to make concessions, but it was an effort to form “a more perfect union”.
It was not perfect, but “more perfect” resulting in it taking decades and even centuries to address the inadequacies through constitutional amendments and court rulings. It still is not “perfect”.
Some citizens through the years grew impatient with the slow progress the country was making in extending the freedoms outlined in the Declaration of Independence to all citizens. Others objected to any progress at all because of fears that extending rights to others would weaken their own rights and privileges.
While Americans were generally proud of their experiment in democracy, there were other countries that believed government would be more effective with a strong ruler who would not be hampered by the constraints incorporated in the US Constitution. A king or a dictator could more rapidly bring about change, demanding that their orders be carried out. Without the “checks and balances” embedded in the United States’ government model, things happen more quickly.
For a while, that approach may seem to work, but rapid change without full consideration, debate, and analysis of the outcomes can bring devastating results. The autocrat trying to fix a problem that a new policy has created will make another quick decision — and that causes more pain.
If people are following a narcissistic leader who does not care if the decision is a good one, as long as it benefits that leader and solidifies power, they are in real trouble.
American democracy tends to be slow, with no quick moves, but that is how it gets better.
By now, you’ve guessed where this is heading: Donald Trump promises quick and decisive decisions if he can take full control, surrounded by people who will never question his decisions, and without institutions bound by laws.
Those who still appreciate American democracy want someone other than Trump, but the only Republican candidate who publicly acknowledges how toxic Trump is, Chris Christie, has dropped out. Now all eyes are on Nikki Haley as the one who will save the Republican Party from Trump and his followers. Steve Schmidt, a veteran of John McCain’s campaign, recognizes that Haley is playing a game in which she “has a rare talent for generating sympathy from fierce critics of Trump” but, far from being an alternative, or the “designated survivor” of the Republican Primary, she is “winking and dancing away from the extremism, while simultaneously fanning and supporting it.”
“Like all of her cowed colleagues, Haley would denounce Trump in private and tell anyone who would listen how crazy he was, [and m]any in the access media actually believed she meant it. They bought into the fallacy….”
With no real challengers to Trump left in the Republican Primary, and with the DNC trying to suppress and invalidate New Hampshire Democrats’ votes in the Democratic Primary, it is difficult to see a way forward. Independent Robert Kennedy Jr.? Perhaps Democrat Dean Phillips, who has taken on the establishment, acknowledging that “I don’t know how a Democratic Party could be supportive of democracy while actively suppressing voters’ candidates. And they proactively announced that there would not be a debate during the Democratic primary, no matter who’s in it. And I’m astounded.”
The Free Press interviewed Clarence Jones, who served as Martin Luther King Jr.’s speechwriter, and he observed that King’s aspirational idea of “color blindness” — that people should be judged by their character rather than their skin color — has fallen out of fashion. “The dominant voices of today’s black rights movement argue that people should be treated differently because of their skin color, to make up for the harms of the past. One of America’s most prominent black thinkers, Ibram X. Kendi, argues that past discrimination can only be remedied by present discrimination.”
So many of today’s politically active citizens are looking for that quick and sudden solution to the problems we face, when what is needed is caution: walk slowly, and don’t make any sudden moves that will come back to haunt us.