The Chaos Theory in Life and Politics

In general, The Chaos Theory puts forth the argument that a small, seemingly minor change in a system can ultimately result in dramatically major changes for the overall system.  Tangentially connected to the Law of Unintended Consequences, I think the real life application of this Theory puts us on notice that all actions result in reactions; which are often unknown, unintended, and not always positive.  Now the terms small and minor are certainly relative and open to interpretation; what is minor to one can be major to another.  But for the purposes of this post, I will choose to place the emphasis of the discussion on Chaos rather than the more expansive meaning of the term.

My daughter is in her mid-40s and is married with two children.  She lives nearby and my wife and I are significantly involved in her life, as well as those of her ten-year old daughter and eight-old son; they are the Lord’s blessing to us and absolute joys in our lives.  Her husband being away for work quite often, she has assumed a dual-role in parenting that is so common to our society.  I constantly marvel at the challenges faced by single mothers who sacrifice so much for their kids and demand so little for themselves.  My wife and I are retired and my part-time job is managing a small cattle operation on our farm; our schedules are pretty flexible.  But being flexible does not mean that we don’t stay busy or have locked-down times for certain things.  There are doctor’s appointments, social occasions, and things on the farm that demand immediate attention.  Having said all of that, my wife and I both yield our schedules to our daughter’s when she asks, because that is what parents do.  Besides that, we are retired and she is trying to get to where we are at. 

The situation I am highlighting is likely a common one.  Grandparents in America today are, I believe, far more involved in the lives of their children and grandchildren than ever before.  But the interaction of two or perhaps three generations in the typical lifestyles of this nation is a recipe for chaos.  My wife and I are old school.  We have always been fairly deliberate with our activities and place a good deal of importance on planning.  We were raised to understand that being on time meant showing up early.  And if you can’t get there on time or have to reschedule, it is a cardinal sin not to advise the others involved of the change in plans.  My daughter’s generation goes to the beat of an entirely different drummer.  Her typical warning on a kid pickup or delivery is about twelve hours or less.  And it is very likely that there will be additional non-related kids involved and likely an additional stop or two added to the trip.  As grandparents, we love spending time with the grandkids; especially as we are approaching that time in their lives when the world is becoming more prominent and the grandparents are becoming less prominent.  But as much as we love the opportunities to help out, we have to admit that it drives us nuts to operate in her universe according to her rules.  Multi-tasking, scheduling on the fly, changing agendas at the drop of a hat, co-coordinating with other parents and kids…these are things that are normal to our daughter.  They are not normal for us. 

I have to believe that part of the madness that is President Donald Trump derives from the fact that he is not what we have come to expect from our Presidents.  Much as our daughter’s and grandchildren’s cultural concepts and lifestyles blend awkwardly but effectively with our’s, so does President Trump’s modus operandi have trouble meshing with the traditional bureaucratic nature of WDC.  I was struck by the recently leaked private messages of the United Kingdom Ambassador to America regarding his descriptions of the Trump Administration as inept and incompetent.  Whatever else one might say about President Donald Trump; he is not your typical politician.  The character flaws that drive his resistors insane no doubt exist in many other politicians.  His arrogance cannot be considered unique among WDC elites; his ego, large as it is, is in good company on Capitol Hill.  His crude behavior and rhetoric is really nothing new to government and hardly qualifies as even being the most outrageous we have ever witnessed.  The personal traits of our President that we repeatedly see criticized are simply not that rare among the political animals that prowl our nation’s Capitol.  He might very well be top tier; but he is not rare.

I tend to believe instead that the forces driving the Resist Trump movement ever closer to the suicidal cliff that they are approaching is two-pronged.  Digress and distract as they will, there is a huge chunk of the Democratic Party populace that has not yet, and likely never will, fully accepted the fact that novice candidate Trump beat the prematurely-inaugurated Hillary Clinton.  They simply cannot wrap their minds around this incomprehensible occurrence and they continue to flummox about seeking any type or semblance of bizarre rationalization that might somehow explain this anomaly.  The second part of this Trump Conundrum is the same thing that I am experiencing with my daughter and her children; it is the forced union of two entirely different concepts that must somehow find a way to co-exist and function. 

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I have waited over two years now for President Trump to mature; to somehow normalize his operations and tendencies and become a more traditional President.  I have clung to the notion that so many things might be possible if we could only pair up his policy instincts with a more effective leadership model.  It has become quite obvious to anyone who is paying attention that I was on a fool’s errand.  Trump is what Trump is and what Trump will continue to be.  Now I do not in any form or fashion intend to convey the notion that we should accord the same sort of affection towards our President as we do towards our family.  I am simply saying that it is not entirely dissimilar in how we accept the faults and incongruities of our loved ones while continuing to hold them close and how we might embrace a personally objectionable President because he happens to be pretty good at his job.  From a traditional and historical point of view, the comments of the UK Ambassador are probably spot-on.  In his conception of the world order, the Trump Administration appears disjointed, inept, confused, and perhaps incompetent.  But the UK Ambassador is not an American; and the USA is not the UK.

As uncomfortable a choice for some as it may end up being, it is hard to imagine a Democratic Presidential Candidate arising from their current pool of nominees that would be a more effective President than Donald Trump.  Furthermore, I daresay that there is no other past or present Republican Presidential Candidate that could have accomplished what Trump has accomplished thus far in his first term.  Just as I err in viewing my daughter’s lifestyle and decision processes through the prism of my life experience; so does the electorate, the media, and the global community err in viewing the Trump Administration through the lens of traditional American politics.  The circus that is Donald Trump came to WDC with a splash and a bang.  It continues to splash and bang.  Its accomplishments are likely due to its splashing and banging.  I am thinking we make a mistake in judgment if we condemn said splashing and banging simply because it is not the political fare we have become accustomed to.  With Trump, more than ever before, the verdict must be based on the results.  As long as his splashing and banging is legal, ethical, and moral…the Trumpian Circus du Jour is likely to continue in WDC.