Wanted: a few good men

US example shows countries need good leaders more than the strong ones

Alok Tiwari

“…however good a constitution may be, it is sure to turn out bad because those who are called to work it happen to be a bad lot. However bad a constitution may be, it may turn out to be good if those who are called to work it happen to be a good lot,” said Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar in his final speech to the Indian Constituent Assembly on November 25, 1949. In the over seven decades since then his words have turned out to be prophetic, not just for India but for many countries around the world. The architect of Indian Constitution was emphasising the importance of human spirit in everything that we do.

Dr Ambedkar’s words ring truer than ever today for the birthplace of modern democracy, the United States. This column already noted how Donald Trump managed to degrade the American democracy in an astonishingly short time since his assumption of office. Today, as his actions bring unprecedented turmoil in the world, it is worth examining how the world’s oldest democracy and its richest nation that fancied itself as leader of the free world suddenly finds democracy slipping away from it. In it lie lessons for the rest of the world as well.

The American people have well and truly let a bull into their china shop. And the bull is doing exactly what it is supposed to. We are experiencing the tremors of Trumpquake in the US economically. His ill-thought out tariffs have rattled the stock markets globally and raised prospects of a prolonged recession. The rule-based global trade order supervised by World Trade Organization, ironically crafted under the leadership of the US, has been blown to smithereens by the US itself. Trump is imperiously threatening other nations and brazenly using America’s pivotal position in the world economy to make them do his bidding. Some are hitting back with their own tariffs while others are trying to appease him.

However, what is happening within the US is much beyond the economy, Trump administration has undone decades of progress made in diverse areas that had helped US consolidate its position as the leading nation of the world. By its shameless attack on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programme across all branches of US government, it has strengthened the stranglehold of white majority. These programmes were designed to make workplaces and educational institutions a better reflection of American population at large. Trump has made premier Universities of the world fall in line by threatening to withhold their funding. He has sought to snatch away the hard-won rights and recognition of LGBTQI community.

This may please the hard right MAGA crowd that gets Trump and his cohorts elected, but it has left American image worldwide in tatters. He has virtually made the US give up the high ideals that had made the country a beacon of freedom and liberty worldwide. He has abandoned the noble idea that a powerful majority can and should work to uplift the marginalized instead of using phony grievances to cement its privilege.

How did this come about, that too in US whose constitution is known for its checks and balances? Where the framers were afraid of just such a scenario and built in safeguards so that no branch of government grows so powerful as to trample upon the basic ideals of the Constitution? For an explanation, let us return to the words of Dr Ambedkar.

Constitution of any country, by its very nature, is a complex document. It is also meant to last a long time. While the framers may seek to cover all aspects of the polity, it will inevitably have gaps. There will be circumstances in the journey of the country when there is no constitutional prescription. At such times and in such circumstances, when letter of the law is silent, it inevitably falls to the persons working it to go ahead in the spirit of the document. Great men, those who can rise above themselves and needs of their party then take steps that benefit the generations. Lesser men, those concerned with narrow interests and agendas, can turn the best of constitution into dust.

Trump managed to do precisely that. A demagogue and a populist, he made it impossible for anyone not totally aligned with his agenda to survive in the Republican Party. The hardliners among the party used him in the first term to get their own people installed in key institutions, most notably the Supreme Court, where he got to appoint three judges who have often returned the favour to him. By his second term, Trump had managed to rid the party of almost all of the old guard that might have stood for some values. He valued personal loyalty above all else. Thus, the party that once stood strong on crime got elected a convicted felon and an adjudicated rapist as its president.

With the party controlling the Congress too today there is virtually no check on the president running amok. So emboldened Trump feels that he is already talking about a third term that the US Constitution expressly forbids. The way things are going he may pull it off too, driving the last nail into the coffin of American democracy and its ideals.

This is a cautionary tale for everyone. The biggest lesson is to be wary of strong, populist leaders. No electorate is ever happy about everything, and accumulation of petty grievances makes its look towards demagogues who promise to solve all the problems. But they only use the opportunity to amass power for themselves. Almost everywhere and almost every time, strong charismatic leaders have ended up restricting freedom and liberties of their people. We do not need strong leaders; we need good leaders. The example of US shows how easy it is to squander the gains made over decades with one or two wrong decisions at the polling booth.

This column appeared in Lokmat Times on Apr 9, 2025