Don't let it take too long for you to wrap your mind around the fact that we came dangerously close to seeing the American Republic dissolve into chaos during the final months of the Trump administration. How in the world can it be that there are some people, including some Democratic party leaders in Washington, who did not see this coming, or who just wrote it off and didn't think it would actually materialize? The only thing about Trump's temperament and lifestyle that wasn't known by the time he got around to winning the GOP nomination was his finances.
It was extremely frustrating, as an "ordinary citizen," to see this coming and feel completely helpless to do anything to stop it. I had my vote. I invested both time and money in efforts to get people's attention and to support the opposition because that appeared to be the only way to stop the disaster from coming. I volunteered to knock on doors, make phone calls and do far more than what I had ever done before to help get one candidate elected in order to prevent the election of another. The single most frustration came from calling elected officials and campaign officials to tell them why I felt that we were facing impending political disaster. They agreed, but no one seemed to be able to offer a solution or have a plan in place beyond standard politics. Because of a quirky system, and because it didn't seem like anyone really took things seriously enough to matter, we predictably arrived at January 6. Thank God it turned out well, at least, this time it did.
I've read the history of the Second Continental Congress and the writing of the Declaration of Independence like everyone else, as a historical fact on which hangs the existence of our country. But the first time I ever visited Independence Hall, I realized how close we came to not having a country and how, in spite of those words, not all Americans came together to support them. In fact, not only were the men who gathered for the Congress in danger even as they gathered there, but there was no certainty of the outcome of what was then a war that had just barely begun. There were many moments when defeat loomed, when it would have been easy just to quit, when there were doubts about what they were fighting for. It took five long years and it could have gone either way.
Then it took another seven years for Americans to realize that they needed to do more in order to unite and preserve the nation they had created, including to turn it into a Republic, a form of democracy which would enable them to defend themselves against foreign enemies and to resist internal tyranny. The end result of their efforts was to create what they called an "experiment," testing the limits to see if it worked and making it possible to make adjustments and changes necessary to be a government of, by and for the people, free from tyranny.
It could have gone either way at the Capitol Building in Washington on January 6. The fact that it went the way it did was yet another example of God watching over and protecting this country.
Hopefully, it will not take seven years for Americans to come to the conclusions that they need to exercise the power to make some changes that will work now. Seven years is way too long. We could lose everything that has been gained in just a couple of years, if things are not done to make sure that doesn't happen. And yes, of course, I have some ideas about what we can do, both short term and long term, to preserve our Democratic Republic and secure the future.
Hold Donald Trump Accountable
The second impeachment was, at least as far as I see it, an attempt to put an end to a miserable presidency that became intensely more miserable, uncertain and unstable after the results of the November election were confirmed and certified. Trump's last days in the White House were a testament to his insane paranoia and his pathological lying. As long as he was President, testing limits of presidential power that had never been tested before, the country was in danger. January 6 was a major warning about just how far he would go, so impeachment was the logical response.
And while the process did not get him removed from office prior to January 20, it did succeed in sending a strong enough warning that the shenanigans had to stop. Surrounded by extremists who kept pushing for him to test the limits of power, the impeachment took the steam out of any further efforts on his behalf for him to cling to power. In reality, what his nutcase advisors were trying to get him to do would have led not to his remaining in office, but more than likely to his own arrest and imprisonment. He knew it.
Trump made it very clear long before the November election that he wouldn't accept any result except his own victory. He laid that out to his supporters all through his term in office so that it would be easy for them to believe the lie when the time came. If he, or his lawyers, really believed that the election was stolen, and believe the "evidence" they have laid out on extremist right wing media to prove it was accurate, then why didn't they present that evidence to the courts where they filed charges? Nothing proves fraud like evidence. Giuliani and Powell have shown all of their "stuff" to Trump supporters on Newsmax and Breitbart, mainly to raise money, so why didn't they show it to the judges in the courts? Yeah, that's a rhetorical question. Because everything they've got is phony. There is no evidence of massive voter fraud, nor any proof that Trump really won. That's the big lie.
The impeachment and senate trial perfectly laid out Trump's guilt in inciting an insurrection aimed at the overthrow of the government, overturning of a legitimate election and keeping him in power. It's not the end of efforts to hold him accountable, it is just the beginning. He's out of office now, no longer protected by a corrupt justice department and the house managers laid out an irrefutable case for his guilt. It will go to the justice department now, and to the courts and he will be held accountable. Nothing should deter this effort because it must happen in order to limit Presidential power in any future attempt of a sitting president to hold on to power against the will of the people.
Push Forward With Biden's Agenda, Bi-Partisan Support ot Not
Bi-partisan cooperation or not, the Biden administration needs to push forward full steam ahead, using every tool at their disposal including having the VP break tie votes in the senate. Let's see how high the Democrats can rise to an occasion. That's how the GOP does business when it is in power, let them get a good taste in their mouth of what obstructionist politics feel like when it comes back the other way and they are the ones being shut down and out.
Getting things done wins votes. The Biden Administration has focused on resolving pressing issues and that has clearly resonated with voters. With a house majority and the tie-breaking vote in the senate, the Democrats need to push through everything they want to accomplish, not only to insure the unity of their own party, but to bulldoze through the cotton-padded stone walls that Mitch McConnell has used to create government gridlock. That includes killing the filibuster.
Biden has appointed a whole bunch of highly successful, "get things done" people to his cabinet. He's put out legislation, planned in advance, to deal with the problems that concern Americans the most, like COVID-19 and the economy and he's getting some of the highest job approval ratings any President has received in decades. Regardless of whether any Republicans go with them or not, the agenda needs to move forward. The GOP is broken. The 2022 midterms are going to produce unprecedented gains for Democrats in terms of state legislative seats, governorships, house and senate seats and getting things done in Washington will only add to their vote totals and affirm their leadership.
Approve Statehood for the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico
That there are still Americans who are not represented in Congress is anti-American. This is a necessary step that should have been taken a long time ago.
Weaknesses Which Need to be Corrected
Trump's lame duck status as President was one of the most dangerous times in our history. The man is an unstable, insane (my opinion but I think his behavior warrants consideration of the use of the term) pathological liar, and a narcissistic egomaniac who was intoxicated by the power of the office. Once it became clear that he had lost the election (and there's no argument about it) he quit performing the duties of his office and focused on figuring out how to subvert the Constitution and stay in.
Though he is the first President to have resisted the constitutional mandate for peaceful transition of power, he might not be the last. We are at a point in our history where Presidential power needs to be redefined and taken back to a more "originalist" perspective anyway. It has become clear that a peaceful transition of power needs to be enforced, and some Constitutional amending needs to take place to ensure that the next demagogue, and there will be one, doesn't have the ability to change the results of an election or burn the country down on the way out.
Here's what I would change:
- The President's finger gets taken off the nuclear trigger. The "football" goes elsewhere, to the Speaker of the House or the Chief Justice, or even to the President-elect, but the lame duck is done with it.
- The Presidential transition takes place on January 20 at noon in spite of any declaration of martial law by the previous President. (I think this is the way it is now, in spite of what we may have heard, but let's make sure.)
- All the President's appointive powers end the day the election results are certified. No judicial or cabinet appointments can be made by a sitting President after a President-elect is declared.
- Concession is mandated by law at the moment the last state certifies its election results. The transition starts the next day and doesn't require an invitation from the sitting President. Access to all of the administrative areas of the White House is required for the President Elect and all staff members.
- A lame duck President cannot issue executive orders.
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