Throughout the evolution of human societies on planet earth there have been many bold individuals who felt an urge to seek power and rule over others. Guided by their internal feelings and intuitions, they became convinced that some divine power was calling them to stand up, organize a loyal team of followers, and take charge. They were convinced that what they felt to be true was a special gift to them from a higher power.

According to award-winning Professor of History and Public Policy Nancy MacLean, in her recent book entitled, Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America, Mike Pence has been a secret leader for a long time in a movement to take down our democracy and replace it with a plutocracy.  He is financed in his covert actions by Charles Koch, who has in mind an “inspired” plan that he wants to see imposed on the majority of Americans.  Although it is based on the self-centered writings of Ayn Rand, Milton Friedman, and right-wing economics professor James Buchanan, Koch believes his own plan is a special gift that is different and better than any other previous or currently existing form of governing a society.

Some especially egregious features of the plan promoted by Koch with stealthy insider help from Pence are already known: voter suppression, gerrymandering, eliminating worker unions, and management of government affairs by an elite few, all to be instituted under a dark cloak of secrecy. These features, and no doubt many more yet to be discovered, are aimed at suppressing and controlling the majority of American citizens.

Maclean states that her research led her to conclude that Koch and Pence are firmly convinced they are embarked on a messianic cause. However, their vision of the good society and the government they are secretly working to install is one that most people would find intolerable. It is ironic that on the one hand they believe that regulations harm personal liberty but they are working to gain control by an elite few that will administer restrictive rules and limits for almost everyone else.

The unfolding story of Mike Pence is an amazing example of the kind of scenario that baseball great Yogi Berra once wryly described as, “it’s like déjà vu all over again.” However, there is not much levity in the story of a man surreptitiously committed to a scheme that belies not only the principles of Christianity, of which he claims to be a special messenger, but the oath he swore to serve and protect the democratic republic of the United States of America. For illuminating views of the messianic character and troublesome behaviors of Pence, from humble beginnings in Columbus, Indiana to his election as Vice President, see the candid article by investigative reporter Jane Mayer entitled, The Danger of President Pence, published in The New Yorker, October 23. 2017.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/10/23/the-danger-of-president-pence

By stringent design, much of what Pence has done for Koch and an exclusive group of hard right oligarchs is top secret.  However, MacLean and Mayer have documented a cluster of his statements and actions that raise important questions about his private commitments antithetical to those cited in his sworn oath of office.  For example, on the heels of near economic bankruptcy and with a faltering political career, Pence diligently cultivated close relationships with dozens of far right individuals and conservative organizations including Awareness for Prosperity, the top political organization created and supported by Koch. He successfully promoted the no climate tax legislation pledge for Koch and his oligarch friends, after which they showered him with campaign contributions. He was also invited to speak at Koch’s secretive semi-annual meetings of the most wealthy and conservative political campaign donors. After “counsel” by Koch, a vulnerable Donald Trump reluctantly agreed to accept Pence as his Vice Presidential running mate. It is no secret that Koch wants to discard our inclusive democracy and replace it with something very different.  However, it must be noted that he is not elected to any office requiring special commitments beyond his role as private citizen. Pence, on the other hand, is an elected official bound by sworn allegiance with legal commitments to our democratic republic and its constitution.

In his zeal to do God’s work and please Koch as his economic Svengali, Pence has overlooked a major problem with his stealthy actions: unwittingly committing treason by violation of the allegiance owed to one’s sovereign or state, or betrayal of one’s country. His expedient machinations are similar to what a very ambitious Benedict Arnold once did to the new American government fighting to free itself from the tyranny of the British Empire. Arnold devised a secret plan for himself that he eventually concluded would not work well in the new democracy. He betrayed his sworn loyalty to Washington and the democratic republic of America by covertly switching his allegiance back to King George and the British Empire.

Pence has somehow convinced himself that his secret actions to subvert our democracy are for a righteous cause that surmounts man-made laws. In reality he is only duplicating a pattern of behavior like the one that earned Arnold a place in American history as a dishonorable perpetrator of high treason. Pence’s story is clearly a tale of surreptitious infamy that qualifies as a classic example of déjà vu all over again.