This is more than just politics, more than a test of the limits of free speech and freedom of conscience, more that just a symptom of a bigger political, and educational, problem that now exists within the United States of America. This is a national embarrassment. I'm talking about Trump's campaign to be elected to a second, non-consecutive term as President of the United States.
Trump's Presidency exposed the Achilles Heel of American constitutional democracy The powers of the executive branch of government, when considered by the founding fathers, who feared an executive officer would develop into the kind of monarchial dictatorship that they had sacrificed to help overthrow a mere decade prior to the meeting in Philadelphia in 1787 when the Constitution was envisioned and drafted, turned out not to be so limited when the checks and balances of government is skewed by extreme partisan rancor. When Congress is rendered powerless by two thirds limitations on impeachment and removal of incompetent officeholders who are themselves bent on destruction of constitutional democracy, in favor of dictatorial autocracy, there are no checks and balances.
George Washington saw this, and, in his farewell address, issued a warning against the kind of sharp partisan politics that did not, in fact, take any time at all to develop in the United States. At the time the Constitution was written, it was difficult to imagine any kind of partisan politics that would over-ride a values system based on trust, honesty, integrity and the kind of patriotism that comes from appreciation of the freedom provided by a nation and its government. It took the Civil War to get the only criminal restrictions on holding office into the Constitution in the form of the 14th amendment. Now that they are in place, they need to be used to prevent another civil war.
There's not a specific mechanism in the 14th Amendment for prohibiting those who engage in insurrection against the United States, such as a conviction in a court, from being eligible for public office. It's initial application simply involved using the record of service to the Confederate States, whether it was in the military or in government, to restrict potential office holders. We had a Congressional investigation into the January 6th insurrection, complete with thousands of pages of documentation and evidence, which identified the former President as its instigator, with the intention of overturning the results of a legitimate election, fraudulent attempts to appoint fake electors with fake documents, and the complete subversion of the Constitution, all acts which, by definition, meet the standards of the 14th amendment.
What to do with all of that? If nothing is done, then it was a waste of time, energy and money. It does not require a justice department investigation to establish the crime, that's already been done, clearly and decisively, by the congressional committee. It does appear that there will be indictments coming from the Justice Department's investigation. But in the meantime, this national embarrassment rolls on in the form of a presidential campaign during which the rhetoric in the speeches given by this candidate is increasingly subversive, vengeful, anti-Constitutional and Nazi-esque.
So what is there preventing any federal court from also indicting him based on the congressional investigation's evidence? And, forgive me for thinking in simple terms, but doesn't Congress' investigation establish the former President as being guilty of insurrection? The constitution does not specify that a jury trial is necessary to do so. When this amendment was passed and enforced, trials were not held for former Confederates to restrict them from office, all that was necessary was proof that they had supported the Confederate States of America. We have that same proof, in the congressional investigation. Who, in government, has the authority to declare the former President guilty of insurrection, based on the congressional investigation, and therefore ineligible for office? Then let's see if Congress can come up with the two thirds vote necessary to get him off the hook.
If the Congressional investigation can't establish that fact, then what was all of that effort, time, money spent and all of the television publicity worth?
This is not his first attempt to overturn the Constitution and overthrow the government of the United States. The Russians certainly know the full complement of subversive, traitorous deeds the former President got away with because he had the power to keep his justice department from indicting him, simply by appointing a corrupt attorney general who declared, unconstitutionally and without precedent, that a sitting President could not be arrested or indicted while in office. So the evidence in the Mueller Investigation becomes worthless as far as an indictment is concerned. But it still establishes, with evidence, the former President's guilt of seditious conspiracy. There's no doubt about it, and Mueller himself didn't have to leave any hints in his report. And so, this weakness of the United States, something that should have horrified every single American, is fully known to our most powerful enemy.
This whole clown show is a national embarrassment. The fact that a sitting President got away with major criminal activity, outlined in a report published in book form and with thousands of copies distributed, outlines for anyone who reads it the exposure of an inherent weakness in the Constitution. The end result of all of the maneuvering and the false declarations about Presidential immunity just emboldened the criminal to think he could actually get away with an attempted coup. And the bottom line is, up to this point, he has gotten away with it.
This is the danger of our time. It has removed the luxury of "politics as usual." As we approach another election that is critical to the continued existence of a democratic United States of America, there is no room for playing games or thinking that we are immune to this sort of political manipulation, because of a mythical belief that our system of constitutional democracy is indestructible. "It can't happen here," is a fatal phrase. We cannot mess around with third party diversions for those who don't think they ever get their way, or think that such small groups won't make a difference.
The Green Party's campaign in 2016 turned out to be enough to keep Hillary Clinton from winning. The single most ironic fact of their misguided political adventure was that they helped the one candidate on the ballot who was diametrically and violently opposed to every point of their platform get elected, defeating the other major party candidate who would have listened to them and who was already compatible with them in more places than they knew or realized at the time. They got four years of real grief and the use of political power aimed against everything for which they stood and promoted. Did they learn their lesson? I sure hope so, and I sure fear that they didn't.
Anyone who finds themselves at any degree to the left of the current GOP, run by the MAGA faction, needs to find common cause with President Biden and the Democrats, with enough enthusiasm for their own agenda, to keep whomever the GOP nominates away from the White House, because their only aim is to vindicate the big lie, empower the big liar and set things up for them to permanently turn the United States into a theocratic dictatorship. The end result of that will be the end of both democracy and any form of true Christianity in America.
The world is watching, and what it is seeing is that its most powerful and prosperous democracy is incapable of stopping a subversive, insurrectionist, criminal from getting into a Presidential campaign and using it as a personal shield against his arrest for crimes he has committed while serving as President. That's not a good example for this country to set, and it undermines other efforts at democratic reform elsewhere in the world. It's pretty clear that no leader in the Republican party has the morals, ethics or fortitude to speak up against something in their house that is very, very wrong. That leaves it up to we, the people, to make sure that this insurrectionist demagogue never sees his name on the ballot of any state for any office ever again.
Update From July 20, 2023
NOTE: Further research and inquiry has helped determine that the only necessity in declaring the failed 45th President ineligible for elected office is an act of Congress, passed by a simple majority. Such a bill was introduced by Rhode Island Representative David Cicilline on December 15, 2022 and supported by 40 other Democrats. That was a courageous act of conviction, and they are to be commended for this. It was disheartening to hear that Representative Cicilline resigned his seat. He's the kind of congressman Democrats need.
I sometimes don't understand why Americans have such difficulty grasping the seriousness of a situation like this. Letting this orange headed buffoon bounce all over the country, holding rallies, making speeches threatening the core values of American democracy, trashing American patriotism, values, and the Constitution is the equivalent of letting a known and convicted child molester through the front door of an elementary school without supervision.
The founding fathers gave us an amendable, flexible Constitution with the understanding that, as time passed, reforms and changes which would strengthen it and make it more effective in limiting the power of government and protecting individual freedom as it expanded to include all Americans, regardless of the differences in the practices of individual conscience. That we have reached a point of crisis in handling a situation that intellect, logic and reason can easily solve, says that it is time to make some changes.
Free speech is a pillar of the Bill of Rights, but it does not extend to the protection of subversion and sedition, which is a reasonable, and essential, constitutional protection. Demagogues and charlatans cannot be allowed to seek elected office, period. The Constitution permits government this restriction. So we now need to amend it in such a way as to strengthen its ability to identify, and prevent, such people from running for office. This would include every member of Congress who participated in, publicly endorsed, or failed to condemn the January 6th Trump-led insurrection against the Capitol building.
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