I’ve been amazed at how ignorant the general US population appears to be on what exactly the Constitution says. It’s as if, three Co-Equal branches of government were designed to disallow for exactly what is happening now in the US. In 1789, our founders set up a system that supported a counter-punch to any abuse by a Congress, an Executive, or a Judiciary that over-steps. The way that the current administration has called this into question has been to bank on a collective ignorance on this brilliant, and largely fair design. Of course, we are not perfect as a country. Lots of room for improvement.
But, our shared concern should arise when doubt becomes a point of centration in terms of a shared set of norms. Doubt arises out of an attachment to one’s individual, or collective, participation in a flood of bad information. Generating this doubt acts as fertilizer for ignorance. Ignorance leads to fear. Fear leads to hate. Welcome to our present moment; one predicated on doubt, caused by a flooding of our informational zone with falsehoods… which leads to the hate and the US v. Them mentality that MAGA is intentionally employing.
As a community, we should look at our fear with intention, and engage our bravery rather than run into the arms of fear and its emotional child, anger. This may be hard to hear, but if you’re angry, it’s understandable… but, get over your deep narcissism and do what’s right. The beaches of Normandy weren’t stormed by cowards. To wit, Naziism didn’t collapse because it wasn’t popular with Germans. It fell because regular people, like those protesting in LA and other areas are engaging what is spelled out in the First Amendment in the very Constitution that our current president took an oath to preserve, protect, and defend. The joke is on him and how incompetent (chaos is the opposite of a good economic strategy) and corrupt (he’s already earned $2.9 billion on his own Crypto scam) he and his fellow cleptocrats are, however, regular Americans, our military brass, our congressional representatives, the Republicans and their MAGA poodles, should be ashamed of their lack of spine. Every couple of decades, Americans have a chance to register more than just their quiet personal stewing in their own disappointments. Make an appropriate stand in order to inspire this fearlessness in others. Otherwise, you are complicit and part of the problem that pisses you off so much.