Way back when, during my high school years, our English class read “Lord of the Flies.” And though too young to grasp the power of the story then, it’s bothered me plenty in recent years.

Permit me a refresher on the plot. During World War Two a group of English school boys are evacuated from England by air, and the plane crashes over water. The pilot is killed, leaving only the boys alive. Finding themselves on a deserted island, the kids try to organize into a functioning unit.

The wheels come off almost as once, as two groups emerge. One faction agrees to cooperate, while the other descends into depravity.  Those favoring cooperation seek (through logic and science) a way to be rescued. Those choosing muscle undermine that effort, reveling in bloodsport, killing wild pigs, and intimidating weaker boys. 

The novel reads as an allegory of disintegrating humanity, pitting good order against savagery. Though published in 1954, William Golding’s book has taken on a prophetic urgency made evident by the lawlessness of both Trump administrations.

In a haunting parallel to the breakdown of order on the island, Trump’s mob attacking the Capitol came as an inevitable outcome of law breaking. Riffing irrational diatribes, this flawed man chooses to incite violence to maintain power. That his misinformed followers eagerly climbed on the bandwagon proves how fragile democracy can be when infected by evil. The physical fury of that day seemed an aphrodisiac for his private thugs as they stormed America’s Altar of Reason. 

And it’s no wonder the mob chose to vandalize our sanctuary of law. This guy disdains law,  indifferent to the sacrifices made by generations before to preserve it.

Good government rests on an educated, committed electorate. Mindless violence is the tool of the lazy and weak minded. Blind fury only destroys, and in truth that savagery lives in all of us. It is up to each one of us to make that choice, to awaken the “better angels of our nature” for the good of us all. It is well past time for America’s trial by mob to end.

Unlike the school boys in “Lord” no one is coming to our rescue. And that reality leaves no alternative but to discipline ourselves to preserve the gift of democracy.

Update 2025

He is back and this time it is blitzkrieg against the rule of law. He had a plan equal to any conqueror, compliant judges, and a servile, opportunistic majority in Congress.

The result? A fog of war has blanketed the country as we rush from here to there to challenge the ongoing damage.

As in Lord of the Flies a childish bully has acquired power which he uses to terrorize all. He will not stop until the adults step in.

Friends, we are those adults.

Gail Chumbley is the author of “River of January,” and “River of January : Figure Eight,” a two-part memoir. Both titles are available on Kindle. Gail has also written stage plays, “Clay,” “Wolf By The Ears,” exploring antebellum America, and “Peer Review,” a look at Trump’s first presidency through the eyes of four former presidents.