In assessing the public policies of a true democracy that is an oxymoronic question. It assumes that the ends are known before the means are adopted. This is of course exactly the opposite of the way democratic institutions are supposed to work. It is the rules that are supposed to govern our politics : our laws, not our conflicting whims. Ends — what various political groups want — will change from time to time as parties gain or lose ascendancy, but our democratic faith in following the rules is supposed to be our rock. They are sacred. Using them to mediate our arguments about what ends we can agree on is supposed to be how everything works.

This is not a faith currently shared in the White House, where the Orange-haired One considers the rules offensive impediments to the unfettered execution of his whims. He is sure that he, and only he, has the genius to point out the right path. Any wavering by followers from unconditional personal loyalty to the leader is unforgivable. Why would anyone want to disagree with his God-given enormous brain and superior wisdom? The answer can only be subversion : evil plotting, “a rigged system” — in short, treason. Clinical definition of paranoia.

How did we arrive at this strange situation? Through a weird mixture of a businessman’s understanding of what capitalism represents (“Tough shit, Buddy; I won, you lost”) and an undereducated and disinterested electorate’s misunderstanding of the proper function of a president. (“She doesn’t even look like a president.”) The incumbent worships only his TV rating numbers. He lies unashamedly to protect his vaunted number-one standing. His base cheers him on, believing that he is showing “muscle” in the face of disrespect — disrespect by pointy-headed intellectuals from the Ivy League that has spurned him, and them, and by a world that has forgotten to be sufficiently cowed by United States power.

If this is where we are, how can we recover? Where will we go from here? Capitalism is taking a terrific hit to its former reputation as the birthplace of innovation and improvements in everyone’s quality of life, as wealth inequality outstrips the wildest dystopian writers’ imaginations. Loyalty is taking a similar hit, as kissing the ring becomes the number-one Washington sport. Any hope of thoughtful legislation has practically vanished as thoughtful people are either fired or resign rather than play their assigned parts. The quality of new hires has already deteriorated to the point where experience is considered a disqualifier. Consistency is accorded no value in either lawmaking or judging. Truth has become fully malleable. Only ends count.

This is not a tolerable situation. Either sensible Americans will emigrate to a more welcoming country, or there will be a revolution — bloody if necessary — to restore sanity to ours.

In the event that it turns out to be revolution, please remember France’s Marianne, who waves her tricolor atop the barricades as a symbol of unity, not the logo of an individual leader. Means count. Means come before ends.

If it turns out to be emigration, there are plenty of applicants waiting at the gates to come in as replacements. Maybe they will be able to show more insight and determination than the emigrants will have shown. They have, after all, fresher experiences of what life is like when it is conducted the other way round.