Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

It is a phrase that makes you think.

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? is a Latin phrase found in the work of the Roman poet Juvenal from his Satires (Satire VI, lines 347–348). It is literally translated as "Who will guard the guards themselves?", though it is also known by variant translations, such as "Who watches the watchers?" and "Who will watch the watchmen?". (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quis_custodiet_ipsos_custodes%3F)

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Contrasting Two Political Approaches

With the recent news of Mitt Romney voting to convict Donald Trump on one count in the impeachment, I have noticed some differences Romney and Rand Paul.

Rand Paul is not shy about his opposition to quite a few of Trump's policies. He seems to have figured out a way to dance with Trump such that he can get the best he can from Trump. He works with him where they agree. Rand is often outspoken when he disagrees.

Mitt Romney seems to have a different approach.

The Two Parties are more Alike than Different

This graph shows where I fall in a four quadrant system. Most people think of only being Democrat or Republican, left or right. In reality there is a much bigger difference between the authoritarians and libertarians. Democrats want to spend money from the rich to give it to the poor. Republicans want to spend money on military. They both, in practice do not want to live within our means. They want us to spend more than we collect in taxes.

I believe that we need less power in our government and have its powers separated.

Income Inequality is Good if it is the Result of a Free Market

https://youtu.be/1e35Vf-9n8E

"What if everything you've heard about income inequality is wrong? What if it's actually a good thing for there to be people who are rich and people who aren't? John Tamny, editor of RealClearMarkets, clarifies one of the big misunderstandings of our time."

Understanding Trump's Behavior

This is a good list of things to keep in mind when trying to understand Trump.
"Understanding Trump’s behavior", Geoff B 15 Jul 2018

I agree with the ending
" I disagree with Trump on many things — the increase in government spending is absolutely scandalous, and I don’t agree with his trade or immigration policies. But the economy is doing quite well overall, people are working, and government regulations are being taken from the books. Trump is appointing excellent federal judges, and he got tax reform passed."

This paragraph stood out to me when a friend mentioned how unacceptable his behavior is.

Isn’t Trump a bad, immoral man? Yes and no. As I said above, Trump is a New York real estate developer. Of course he has done and said very, very bad things during his life. But, strangely, he is a teetotaler, and his kids all love him. Even his ex-wives appear to like him. I happen to think almost all politicians, and certainly all U.S. presidents, are both good and bad. If you don’t like the way Trump talks, you should read a biography of LBJ and check out how he talked all of his life. If you don’t like Trump’s many affairs, you should learn a bit more about the private lives of FDR, Ike and JFK. I find the “Trump is a bad man” claims to be insufferable, to be quite frank. If you are expecting a politician to be moral all of the time, you will always, and I mean always, be disappointed — if you are honest with yourself. By all accounts, Obama was a good family man, but he had a personal kill list and he ordered the death of a U.S. citizen by drone. I could go on and on about the literally hundreds of horrible things Obama did as president, but if you are a partisan Obama supporter and Trump hater it would be a waste of time, and, again, life is too short. If you are interested in my opinion on the subject, I would encourage you to read this post titled “The inevitable hypocrisy of the political morality police.”
https://www.millennialstar.org/the-inevitable-hypocrisy-of-the-political-morality-police/

Is Trump more blatant about his rudeness, his immorality? Yes. Is he worse than a list of previous Presidents? Maybe.

His bull in a china shop approach may be why he got elected and why he has been so politically effective. People are attracted to that.  It evidently has been effective.

It makes sense to me to analyze what the fruits are of the political things he has done. I disagree with his tariffs and his reckless spending though it may be better than the spending of any Democrat that would have been elected. I agree with his appointments to the courts of Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch.

I am concerned with his "strong man" approach to politics. I think it is a dangerous trend. The doctrine of infallibility is a regress to ideas before the enlightenment., "notions like the divine right of kings, the Roman imperial cults, or the Chinese mandate of heaven" ("Trump’s Defenders Have Adopted a Doctrine of Infallibility", Jonah Goldberg, October 4, 2019 6:30 AM)

It is better to seek out what principles we are to defend and promote. Focus on them and not on concentrating power in any one human or human system. We must weigh the options we are presented with. We must do our best to encourage better options while balancing those efforts with our personal priorities.