"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?"

Who guards the guardians?

The famous phrase from a Roman poet, is essentially reminding us of the dangers of relying too much on anyone or anything.

Harmonia Philosophica is inherently apolitical and you can find multiple posts explaining that. We are focused on philosophy and want nothing to do with politics in any form; reasons explained in the related articles. However, the era of Trump has brought up some great questions regarding not politics but philosophy per se.

Who guards us from guardians that fail in their role? Trump has allegedly made some moves that are illegal or against the political norms. Great debates have been created on the things Trump does and says. And yet, within this turmoil, we all miss the obvious reality in front of our eyes: Despite all opposition, he DOES all those things. He actually performs all those actions that are supposedly (we do not judge them in this article) illegal or wrong. Meaning that there is whole system and an environment that ALLOWS those actions. That should be the big debate here. Not if, for example, Trump bought or sold stocks in the stock market, but why the system allowed him to do so. In other words: What are the mechanisms in place to guard USA from anything when its president goes rogue (if that is the case with Trump)? Are there any such mechanisms? Or are the ones criticizing Trump merely supporting their own interests instead of other interests, in the known everlasting battle between different political parties?

That is the question formulated in the title of this paper and the question that triggered other similar questions. Because in all fields of human endeavor, there is this question lingering...

What protects us from Logic when logic fails itself?

What protects us from science when it blinds itself?

What protects us from LLMs when they are limited by what we teach them?

And last but not least: What protects us from our own... thinking?

To put it differently: What mechanisms are there to protect us from over-relying on anything or anyone? How can we make certain that this will not happen and, if it does happen, how can we exit the cycle and break free? And what happens when there is by definition only one thing to rely upon? And with the latter I refer to our own thinking.

How can someone question him or herself?

If our way of thinking is all there is, how can we change it? How can we not be our self? The question is not a funny philosophical question, but a question with solid and very practical implications,

Science and humans in general progress by changing their way of thinking. New scientific theories replace the old ones. New assumptions kill the previous we once had. But how can this miracle happen? The guardian of our own brain is our... brain. How can it force itself to change?

The secret seems to be lurking in the shadows of our inner self.

Where we know that we actually know nothing.

(All knowledge is subjective!)

Where we know that things are not deterministic.

(I have free will!)

Where we know that things can change even though we can never explain it.

(Zeno was right, Achilles will never reach the turtle!)

Where we know the light is not something inherently good.

(Shadows are born due to the Sun!)

Where we know the cosmos is irrational!

(And that is why we fear it so much...)

There is nothing else that can help someone change other than him/herself. And this change can only be inflicted by embracing one of the core elements of the world: The irrationality that lies in its core.

Scientific theories change and completely new theories arise only because some scientists are "crazy" enough to challenge the status quo and propose completely new things. Things that are considered crazy by all other scientists.

Societies change and progress only by challenging things that are "logical" when viewed from the lens of today's common sense. Slavery was abolished by people who thought again for something that was considered 'obvious' for thousands of years before them.

USA will also change and progress only when they realize that the current system needs change. Trump is not the problem. But the system that allows one person to do anything he wants is. A superpower cannot have one man taking all decisions and promoting personal agenda as state decisions everywhere.

We have been seeing this in Hollywood movies for years.

"The president is the most powerful man in the world"

"I am the president of the United States!"

Every time I saw this, I really wondered. Can one person really do anything he wants? I really liked to believe as a child that he cannot. That there are governing bodies, committees and wise people taking the right decisions and guiding the president through everything.

But I was totally wrong.

US can be governed by executive orders.

It is a one-man show.

And this became evident from everything that he did. From demolishing buildings, to coating statues with gold to changing foreign policies that was decades old. One person changed them all. Not judging if the changes were right or wrong. But judging the way they were taken and done. Just on his own! Nothing more.

A country like that is a joke.

It can thrive under the ruling of a wise person.

Or it can deteriorate and try for months to beat a third-world nation with bombs instead.

What is needed are mechanisms to guard the country against that one person. Legislators, committees and wise men to say "No" when the time comes. These mechanisms now do not exist. Americans should be worried about that, not about replacing Trump. The next president could be better or worse. That does not matter. What should matter is the country and the foundations that keep it in place, even when the worst person comes to power.

The US should question what they take for granted. And that is the ultimate power of the president himself. A power that even the opponents of Trump do not question. They just want a different president that shares different values instead.

In the same way, each person should guard him/herself from self-inflicting pain by adding mechanisms to constantly question his thinking. From time to time we need to be irrational and ask again the simplest of questions. And then try different "crazy" answers and see what we get. Constantly question things we take for granted and see whether and how we can a better version of our self.

Despite the fact that most people see Logic as the the most difficult path to follow, the exact opposite is true: Being "logical" in a world that teach us how to think and feel is the norm. It is the easy path. We have all be trained in that. To follow the rules of today. To think the way everyone else does.

Being crazy is difficult.

Choosing a different path than the one we currently follow. Think outside the box, try assumptions we never even thought. Question the obvious is almost impossible if it means that it challenges who we are.

The case of Trump reminds us of all that.

A debate around a person while holding dear a system that allows all that. Seeing a big tree in front of us while the whole forest around us is burning in flames that we do not even see.

A democracy can never be perfect, but it is the best system we can have. And regardless of everything one person could do, or the changes that the system can undergo, one thing is certain: That we need a system to hold everything together.

Hopefully the US will soon get one too.

Even with an executive order...

Important Notes

The article does not go into all the details of the political system in the US, that is anyway too complicated to be analyzed in one book let alone one article. The gist of the meaning is the fact that the whole system as it exists now, allows for a person to do every thing he wants to do.