On September 17, 1787, upon exiting the final session of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Benjamin Franklin told a bystander that the Founders had established “A republic, if you can keep it.” In my youth this statement made little sense because I assumed humans would always want democratic self-governance instead of dictatorship. Humans will always value freedom including self-governance over oppression.
Today, our Constitutional Republic faces grave dangers and
unprecedented political challenges that prove Franklin’s point. The
Constitution requires constant citizen vigilance to assure that as political
winds blow from whatever direction our Constitution endures to assure the
freedom and self-governance of successive generations of Americans. Citizens
must certainly value the freedom of all over petty partisan advantage.
Today that certainty wavers, and I understand more than ever how dictatorships and autocracies take root and how republics and democracies fail. We now face an epic election on November 5. The presidential candidates run neck and neck. Our Constitutional Republic hangs in the balance. The manifest threats include:
1) 1. One candidate openly called for the “termination”
of the Constitution merely so that he could maintain his grip on power,
legally or not.
2) 2. That candidate previously gathered an angry mob,
on January 6, 2021, and told them to “fight
like hell” to stop the Constitutional certification of election 2020. That
mob subsequently brutalized
the Capitol Police and vandalized the Capitol all in an effort to overturn
a Constitutional election at his behest. Today, he calls those convicted of
criminal misconduct on January 6, “unbelievable
patriots”, and he promises to pardon
them all.
3) 3. He openly ridicules and defames the integrity of
our Constitutional elections and attacks American elections as “rigged”
and “fraudulent” without any evidence. Over 60
courts of law rejected these lies, including rulings by judges
he appointed. Today, he leads an effort undermine the certainty of our
elections, and use violence and chaos to sow
mistrust of democracy in America.
4) 4. A
jury he helped pick, from his native state, found him unanimously guilty
beyond a reasonable doubt of 34 felony counts of
illegally influencing election 2016 through hush money payments to a porn
star to cover up an adulterous affair.
5) 5. He insults our military heroes willing to die
for our Constitution and the hard-won freedoms it secures, calling them “losers”
and “suckers” according to, among others, his own handpicked and longest
serving Chief of Staff, General
John Kelly.
6) 6. He courts the favor and affection of brutal
dictators.
He leaked
classified intel to one and “fell in love”
with another who now menaces
virtually our entire nation with nuclear weapons.
7) 7. He faces criminal
charges that he mishandled classified documents, refused to return
documents belonging to the United States and obstructed justice.
8) 8. He openly promises to be a
dictator on Day One. This promise entails massive Constitutional violations.
9) 9. He promises “bloody”
violence if he should prevail and implement his unconstitutional proposal for “mass
deportations” with no
due process and massive violations of human rights.
10 10. Even today, he
refuses to commit to the peaceful transition of power. He persistently
refuses to ever concede defeat.
No President nor candidate for the White House ever committed
any single one of these offenses against the Constitution. Each offense
renders a person unfit for the Presidency.
Combined, these offenses make Donald Trump incapable of credibly taking and adhering to his oath of office to defend the Constitution. This inability to take the oath of office usually plays no role in an election. Today it assumes the utmost importance. Trump attacks our Constitution and seeks unbridled power. Donald Trump’s extreme embrace of fascism complete with Big Lies, scapegoating and hatred renders him the most unfit candidate in history.
The Dem or the ones you forever hear say, We must save our Democracy! All democracys turn into dictatorships where none of the minority rights are protected.
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