May our land be a land of liberty, the seat of virtue, the asylum of the oppressed, a name and a praise in the whole Earth, until the last shock of time shall bury the empires of the whole world in one common undistinguished ruin!”
― Joseph Warren (1741-1775)
At the birth of our republic the question of independence was in the precarious position of failing. Along with the slavery question that like the elephant in the room was one of the biggest hurtles towards independence and the one guy who felt it was too soon to seek independence.
Out of these hurtles lead to one being a compromise and the other a stand of wills. But what we learned for this lesson of discourse was working together. The question of slavery was decided by compromise and then during the civil war. there are some who have never given up on that failed economic system.
Today we still see and live with the ghosts of the compromise that bred our gets nation. Benjamin Franklin wasn’t far from the truth when he said “Revolutions … come into this world like bastard children – half improvised and half compromised.”
Since the 1980’s when Ronald Reagan arrived in the White house and changed the political landscape for one of working together for the people to one of working for the corporations. With Ronald Reagan the Republican party took on the persona of a single focused entity who’s only mission is to feed the host.
Lost during these times was the ability of the Republican Congresspersons’ to exercise “their opinion.” To work within the compromise needed for the people rather they move in lock step. Seemly not for the good of the Republic, or even “We the People” but for some other entity. An entity that seems to believe he is an omnipotent leader.
They are enablers, through their laissez-faire approach to the impeachment was the stand out disregard to the constitution and a means to bring a runaway president back to reality.
The very existence of the ability to impeach a president was aimed at a leader whom believed to be above the law. Clay S. Jenkinson (a respected Jefferson scholar) in his missive on the impeachment of Donald Trump, felt that the Republican’s desire to survive the next election matter more than the U.S. Constitution.
“…when Bill Clinton was impeached a large number of Democrats publicly condemned his behavior, acknowledged that he had violated his oath and damaged the country, demanded that he show contrition (and he did), even contemplated the idea of a vote of Censure against him in the US Senate.” Something the Senate refused to even consider with Donald Trump
John Adams had stated that nobody in America is above the law. Yet every time Donald Trump felt exonerated by the actions of the Republicans he felt more embolden to take his omnipotence further to the point that he feels that the law doesn’t apply to him.
And by extension to the next Republican who will seek the office of president in the foreseeable future.
While no one is above the law, Since Ronald Reagan no U.S. President has been held accountable for the crimes committed by his administration. That alone continues to empower the holders of the office of the President to flaunt the law and to grab power not given to it by the constitution.
If America changes the majority of our Republic to return to a democratic form. Will there be a national reckoning with the crimes of the presidential administrations? or once again will we have to “or the good of the nation” allow the injustices stand allowing the next president a refined blueprint to end the republic. to find the truth and fix the wrong is the proper course.
Nothing less will suffice to allow us to keep our republic.
“The end of democracy and the defeat of the American Revolution will occur when government falls into the hands of lending institutions and moneyed incorporations.”
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)