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THE VIEW FROM HERE –
(1) People Do Not Want to Govern Themselves; They Want to Govern Others
Self-government is based on the premise that people will limit their own desires in order to benefit others; that’s a prerequisite for self-government. While people scream and holler about their rights, they do not know that the core of self-government is restraining oneself for the benefit of society. MAGA folks think that this idea is communist treason being totally unaware that it is the basis of the Declaration of Independence and of the US Constitution.
“That to secure these [inalienable] rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
No one’s inalienable rights can be secure unless the government can stop others from violating them, which means, Holy Cow hold on to your MAGA hat, everyone has to control their passions, or the government will do it to protect others. Since the government cannot be everyone’s nanny everywhere all the time to force everyone to behave, everyone has to self-govern their own desires, leaving the government to protect us from the few crazies and scofflaws. When the Declaration says, “consent of the governed,” it means the powers of the government must be based on legal processes to which the governed agree. No, it does not mean that every single cry-baby has to agree to each and every law. That’s where the concept of democracy comes into play. The consent of the governed is obtained via voting and generally, but not always, the majority vote is determinative. Those who slept through 5th grade may think that the majority vote is the final word.
Because the Declaration and Constitution impose the duty on the government to secure each individual’s inalienable rights including Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, those rights override the will of the majority. Yes, inalienable rights are supreme over votes. That is known as the Rule of Law which is the opposite of Majority Rule.
(2) Polarization Destroys the Rule of Law
Our society has become polarized between two extremes. Both the MAGA and the Woke believe that only they know the truth and the other extreme is the personification of evil with whom there may be no compromise. Polarization can result in the most petty of behavior which has the most horrible consequences. The current example is the House Democrats’ refusal to support Kevin McCarthy for House Speaker. They had a constitutional duty to support McCarthy because that was the only way to move towards a consensus government. Had a huge majority of the Dems supported McCarthy, McCarthy would not cater to the MAGA right. Instead, MAGA would have been isolated and Trump, who hates being a loser more than anything else in the world, would have been Loser, with a capital L in bold.
The reason the House Dems wanted a extreme right wing MAGA to be Speaker rather than to have a Centrist coalition is two-fold: (1) If McCarthy froze out the MAGAs to obtain a majority of Dems’ support, the Dems would have to freeze out the Woke. When there is a centrist coalition government, both extremes become powerless whiners. (2) The Dem strategy, as devised by Nancy Pelosi years ago, is that The GOP will do such a horrible job that the nation will plead for the Dems to return to power. That has never happened. Even with a mentally ill cry-baby man-child in the White House, the nation did not turn Woke Dem. Joe Biden won the Presidency by promising not to be the Leftist Woke to Trump’s Rightist MAGA. After the election, Biden went all Woke everywhere, which told Russia, China, Hamas, and all our other enemies that Biden was weak and could be shoved around. We had a chance to undo all that by simply supporting Kevin McCarthy as Speaker.
(3) Did I Say Kevin Is a Nice Guy? Nope
The Speaker of the House is not a partisan policy position, nor is the Speaker supposed to be Miss/Mr. Congeniality. It is a constitutional position to keep the nation on an even keel. Because the Constitution made no provisions for political parties, there is no reason for one party to select the Speaker: it’s a decision for the entire House without party politics. When political parties started voting along party lines, it turned out that the Speaker would be from the majority party. The fact that we turned the Speakership into a destabilizing position rather than the person who made certain Congress act orderly is our bad.
The best way to keep the Speaker Centrist is to make certain he is dependent on a broad coalition of the moderates from both parties. Seldom does such a possibility arise, but it did with McCarthy. As we realize, fickle McCarthy changes with the winds: Trump is the devil, then Trump is the savior. The one time he stood on principle is when he stopped the government shut down. That was his constitutional duty. Then, the nation was set to have a Centrist Speaker. Instead, the Dems screwed the entire nation and voted with the MAGAs to remove McCarthy.
Now, we have a Speaker who follows the Bible and rejects the Constitution. Trump controls Congress. For years the danger of Pelosi’s Woker identity politics was clear. She suffers from a delusion that the nation can be governed from the Woker Left. Only by violent repression can any extreme govern a nation. Before we get to that stage, the moderate GOP and moderate Dems need to isolate and defang the anti-Semitic Wokers. With no Wokers, there is no need to support the extreme right wing MAGA.
Anyone who thinks that Wokers, who support Hamas and work for the extinction of the Jewish People, will treat Americans any better is delusional.
“When someone shows you who they are believe them the first time.”
― Maya Angelou
With all their own lunacies, one thing MAGA do understand is the existential threat that Wokeism poses for America. The MAGA solution of violence is no better than the Woker justifications of Hamas who murders old women and babies. But that’s the nature of polarization – murdering innocents becomes a holy cause.
Let there be no mistake – Nancy Pelosi elevated anti-Semites in the US Congress and promoted the Equivalence Doctrine where no Palestinian atrocity may be condemned without mentioning some imaginary evil by Jews so that dead Jews are transformed into the Oppressors. November 8, 2021, CityWatch, Nancy Pelosi is the Most Dangerous Person on the Planet
(4) Self-government Requires That We Stop Lying to Ourselves
Both MAGA and Wokers pose an existential threat to the nation. The only option – and it is a long shot – is that droves of moderate GOP and DEMs de-register from their party and re-register as Independents, i.e. No Party. That way both parties will have to pay attention to the Americans who detest both MAGAs and Wokers. Please, do not join the other party! Each party needs to shrink as voters move to the Center.
(Richard Lee Abrams has been an attorney, a Realtor and community relations consultant as well as a CityWatch contributor. The Opinions expressed are those of Richard Abrams and not necessarily those of CityWatchLA.com. You may email him at [email protected].)
