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THE VIEW FROM HERE - The title is intentionally superfluous since MAGA and Wokeism are comprised of true believers and will only read what totally endorses their prejudices. If they should begin to read my writings, they soon stop. Although a few do read enough to accuse me of being a Trump hater or a MAGA member. Polarization between the true believers in MAGA and in Wokeism poses an existential threat to the Republic’s survival.
MAGA and Wokeism Want the Same Thing: Power
Because the Constitution filled the Republic with checks and balances on power, both the Right and the Left continue to insist that we are a Democracy, ignoring the fact that the US Constitution rejected making us a democracy. The reason to avoid a democracy is that it ends in tyranny.
In drafting the US Constitution, the framers realized the need for a government which was strong enough to hold together a union without concentrating enough power for a tyranny to develop. A republic would incorporate Aristotle’s Golden Mean. A republic’s government has enough power to “provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty,” while preventing the accumulation of excessive power in any one place.
Republics Are Extraordinarily Complex
The key to our Republic is the rule of law and the supreme law of the land is the US Constitution. Unlike a democracy, in a republic the law does not change when someone wins an election or has a majority in Congress. The results of an election are subservient to the rule of law. Trump who treats America as if it were a democracy is claiming a wide mandate to do whatever he wants because he won the election. That is the reason he denies that the courts can overrule his actions. [BTW, this is the same position taken by LA Superior Court Judge Richard Fruin in December 2016, when he said that the actions of the LA City Council were de facto non-justiciable, i.e., above the law. That is, the city council could continue to operate as a criminal enterprise in violation of Penal Code, § 86. LA’s Homeless Crisis became much worse and thousands of poor people needlessly died on the streets, but none of that mattered. Developers continued to make billions of dollars by destroying poor people’s homes.
Because Republics are based upon a myriad of checks and balances, they are not easily understood. The Federalist Papers were written between 1787-1788 to educate the populace on the reasons the various checks and balances had been included in the constitution. Even then, the people demanded ten more articles to check the power of the government. Hence, we have the Bill of Rights which explicitly enumerates some of the most basis inalienable rights rather than leave them to the logical implications of the Constitution’s main text.
The Link Between the Republic and Centrist Independents
Both MAGA and Wokers seek to evade or nullify the checks and balances since their goal is unfettered power. Centrists and Independents, however, want sane and decent government as the Republic is their guidepost. There is no place for an Elon Musk running amuck. Musk is a nothing under the Republic; he exists solely by virtue of Trump’s willingness to blackmail all the GOP in The House and the Senate so that none dare defend the Constitution. Centrists and Independents evaluate facts and in order to evaluate facts, they must oppose falsehoods from the Right and from the Left.
Presently, any American who believes in inalienable rights should be outraged that Trump sent to El Salvador an innocent man who was protected by a court order not to deport him. Trump insists that he has the power to declare any person to be a member of a terrorist gang and deport them – anyone!. Trump denies that the courts may question whether someone is a terrorist and even to know who has been deported! Worse than Trump’s blatant violation of the court order, he refuses to rectify the error and have El Salvador return Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the United States. We know he was deported because his wife saw him in a photograph on the news. If Trump deports you as a terrorist, just hope to be lucky enough that ABC shows a group photo with you in it.
True Believers will follow their leaders to their death as did thirty-nine members of the Heavens Gates cult did in San Diego in order to hitch a ride on the Hale Bopp comet. Other cultists like the Rev. Jim Jones will readily murder their own followers. Other nations, who were once at the stage which America now faces, have ended up murdering tens of millions of people. Unchecked power has a way of ending in mass murder.
The Judiciary is an institution which is composed of centrists who look at the Constitution in an unbiased manner. However, the US Supreme Court is essentially a failed institution and for decades has based its decisions on politics – both right wing and left wing – so that today it is polarized to the extent that Justice Alito has resurrected the thinking of the 1854 Dred Scott Decision that some people do not have inalienable rights. A significant part of the court is openly hostile to people’s having individual rights, but rather rights rest on the whims of the voters in each state. See Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, 597 U.S. 215 (2022). Some justices lean towards the unitary Presidency where the President may do as he pleases.
Now that Trump has turned against lower court judges, he wants the Supreme Court to eviscerate the system by endorsing the notion that Presidential authority supersedes that of the judges. Why not! The Supreme Court has granted Trump immunity to engage in criminal behavior. America has gone so far down the path of polarization; it is possible that the Supreme Court will side against the rule of law and in favor of Trump’s authoritarian presidency. The US Supreme Court may be too fearful to upset Trump that the Proud Boys or the Oath Keepers will show up at the homes.
(Richard Lee Abrams has been an attorney, a Realtor and community relations consultant as well as a CityWatch contributor. You may email him at [email protected])
