Below is my column in Fox.com on the poll released last week showing an increasing number of citizens have lost faith in our constitutional system and now view violence as warranted to silence those with opposing views. It is a crisis of faith that represents the greatest possible threat to our Republic. The loss of faith and fealty constitutes one of the greatest crises that our nation has faced since its foundation. Here is the column:
A recent startling poll shows that a majority of voters not only view the opposing party as a threat to the nation but justifying violence to combat their agenda. The poll captures a crisis of faith that I have been writing about for over a decade as an academic and a commentator. Many now question democracy as a sustainable system of government. It represents the single greatest threat to this nation: a citizenry that has lost faith not just with our system of government but with each other.
The polls by the University of Virginia Center for Politics shows a nation at war with itself. Fifty-two percent of Biden supporters say Republicans are now a threat to American life while 47 percent of Trump supporters say the same about Democrats.
Among Biden supporters, 41 percent now believe violence is justified “to stop [Republicans] from achieving their goals.” An almost identical percentage, 38 percent, of Trump supporters now embrace violence to stop Democrats.
Not surprisingly, many of these people have lost faith in democracy. Some 31 percent of Trump supporters believe that the nation should explore alternative forms of government. Roughly a quarter (24 percent) of Biden supporters also question the viability of democracy.
Faith is the one thing that no system of government can do without. Without faith in the underlying values of a constitutional system, authority rests on a mix of coercion and capitulation.
For years, I have written about this growing loss of faith and how it has been fueled by our intellectual and political elites. In the echo chamber of news and social media, citizens constantly hear how the opposing party is composed of “traitors” and how the constitutional system works to protect enemies of the people.
Viewers now get a steady diet of figures like MSNBC commentator Elie Mystal who called the U.S. Constitution “trash” and argued that we should simply just dump it.
In a New York Times column, “The Constitution Is Broken and Should Not Be Reclaimed,” law professors Ryan D. Doerfler of Harvard and Samuel Moyn of Yale called for the Constitution to be “radically altered” to “reclaim America from constitutionalism.”
Georgetown University Law School Professor Rosa Brooks went on MSNBC’s “The ReidOut” to lash out at Americans becoming “slaves” to the U.S. Constitution and that the Constitution itself is now the problem for the country.
They are part of the radical chic that has become the norm in academia — and widely embraced by the media.
According to these law professors the problem is not just our Constitution, but constitutionalism in general.
Others have argued that key protections or institutions should just be ignored. In a recent open letter, Harvard law professor Mark Tushnet and San Francisco State University political scientist Aaron Belkin called upon President Joe Biden to defy rulings of the Supreme Court that he considers “mistaken” in the name of “popular constitutionalism.”
“Popular constitutionalism” appears a form of discretionary or ad hoc compliance with constituitional law. If only “popular” constitutional rules are followed, the Constitution itself becomes a mere pretense for whatever the shifting majority or forming mob demands.
Politicians have also contributed to this crisis of faith in challenging constitutional values or core institutions. Members like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) has questioned the need for a Supreme Court.
Others like Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) have called for the packing of the Supreme Court to simply create an immediate liberal majority.
Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) thrilled his base by going to the steps of the Supreme Court to declare “I want to tell you, Gorsuch. I want to tell you, Kavanaugh. You have released the whirlwind and you will pay the price! You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.”
It is little surprise that one man showed up at the home of Justice Bret Kavanaugh to kill him for his “awful decisions.”
Conversely, former President Donald Trump has regularly denounced his political opponents as “traitors” and “enemies of the people.” He recently declared “If you go after me, I’m coming after you!”
With leaders engaging in such reckless rhetoric, it is hardly surprising that the Constitution itself is now viewed as threat to our nation rather than the very thing that defines us. It is designed to restrain the majority and protect those who are the least popular in our society.
In the end, a constitution remains a covenant not between citizens and their government but between each other as citizens. It demands a leap of faith; a commitment that despite our differences we will defend the rights of our neighbors.
If nothing else, the Constitution has one thing to recommend it: we are still here. It is a Constitution that has survived economic and political upheavals. It survived a Civil War in which hundreds of thousands were killed.
It is not a particularly poetic document. It was written by the ultimate wonk, James Madison. If you want truly inspirational prose, try any of the French constitutions. Of course, they had more practice since they regularly failed. Other countries based their constitutions on aspirational statements of the values that we shared. The Madisonian system spent as much time on what divided us; it not only recognized the danger of factions but created a system to bring such divisions to the surface where they could be addressed.
The danger of other systems was realized when these divisions were left below the surface where they would fester and explode in the streets of Paris. The American Constitution allowed for a type of controlled implosion toward the center of the system; these factional interests would be expressed and vented in the legislative branch. The Madisonian system does not hide our divisions; it invites their expression.
The question is whether we have reached a time when the things that divide us will now overcome what unites us. This is not our first age of rage. Indeed, at the start of our Republic, rivaling parties were not just figuratively trying to kill each other; they were actually trying to kill each other through laws like the Alien and Sedition Acts. Thomas Jefferson would refer to the term of his predecessor John Adams as “the reign of the witches.”
Yet, that history is no guarantee that it can survive our current age of rage. The relentless attacks on the constitution from the political, media, and academic elite has turned many into constitutional atheists. Yet, the future of our constitutional system may rest with the rising number of constitutional agnostics — those citizens who are simply disconnected or disinterested in the defense of our founding principles.
Philosopher John Stuart Mill warned in 1867 that all it takes for evil to prevail is for “good men [to] look on and do nothing.” We are now in an existential struggle to preserve the values that founded the most successful constitutional system in the history of the world. It is our legacy that now can be either boldly defended by a grateful people or lost in the whimper of a disinterested generation.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Chair of Public Interest Law at George Washington University.
I think we are being brainwashed by a media that finds that “conflict theatrics” sells. I look around in my daily life of interactions with other Americans, and I don’t see the fracture and alienation journalists relentlessly cherry-pick as news. In families, companies, churches, schools….places where Americans interact f2f….I see cooperation, esprit de corps, inspiration, post-racialism, goodwill and resilience. I see an America wholly unlike the one portrayed by the media. Which one is more deserving of the term “reality”?
Once you can separate your own direct p2p experience from that which you get through a pixelated screen, you understand how warped, exaggerated and misleading is the latter. That awareness is the key to maintaining a realistic picture of America, and belief in each other. I encourage everyone to fight off the onslaught of “sensationalist alarmism” — of which this JT piece is a prime example.
The media showcases the most provocative zealotry they can find — to addict you. Yes, it exists, but not at a level that is threatening….unless you buy into the myth the country is falling apart. The fate of the country rests in your own mind….in how you process information….in how you form your expectations….in what you decide for yourself to be reality vs. accepting the word of others chasing clicks and eyeballs.
JT is a clarion call pleading with all reasonable, intelligent people not to get sucked into nonsense like yours.
Until the world recognizes that Hamas is committing three war crimes — targeting Israeli civilians, using Palestinian civilians as human shields, and seeking the destruction of a member state of the United Nations — and that Israel is acting in self-defense and out of military necessity, the conflict will continue. alan ders
Jon, watch your diet and be sure to exercise. We can’t afford to lose you. You’re extremely busy with mostly brain work. Your old bod needs a workout, too. No offense intended.
Conservatives deserve the lion’s share of blame for dividing the nation. Remember when a former war veteran and real Republican, John McCain, corrected a lady at a campaign event that slandered then President Obama.
McCain essentially said that Obama was a good man that loved his country, but they simply disagreed on policy issues. The Republican Party basically threw McCain out of the party.
Republicans also threw out other great candidates like Charlie Christ in Florida, who could have beaten many Democrats in future elections. Almost 100% of the witnesses against Trump are real Republicans, not Democrats.
When a political party throws out the members with reason, trying to reach comprises and solve actual problems – that political party is only left with the “extremists”. Extremists can’t govern. Republicans own this result more than any other party.
Extremism is the face of intentional communist deception and violent efforts to destroy America is justified, but we are not engaged in extremism. The left is so far gone, traditional American values can be mislabeled as extremism with impunity.
Every decent American should condemn the treasonous, filthy attacks by the traitors
You are a liar. Nobody threw John McCain out of the Republican Party. I and many like me strongly disagreed with his approach to governing – which was to acquiesce to whatever Democrat extremists want rather than stand against their congenial idiocy.
McCain was re-elected as a Republican Senator after the stupid incident hyped by the media that you imagine was important. He died a Republican Senator. He lied in state in the Capitol as a Republican. While the McCain family chose not to invite Trump to attend McCain’s services, as far as I know nearly all other elected Republicans did attend.
On the other hand, in the real world, after Joe Lieberman had been the Democrat Vice Presidential nominee, the extremist Democrat activist base literally forced him to officially withdraw his lifetime affiliation with the Democrat Party and become an Independent. The same thing happened to Tulsi Gabbard. She had served honorably in the military as an officer in Iraq; she had been Vice Chair of the Democrat National Committee, and she ran for President as a Democrat. After Hillary Clinton and other Democrat extremists falsely smeared her as a disloyal American and implied she is a traitor to Assad and Putin, she wanted nothing more to do with your toxic Democrat Party. She dropped her lifetime affiliation with it and became an Independent.
Your party is now so utterly putrid that long time Democrat pundits like Glenn Greenwald, Matt Taibbi, Sasha Stone and others want nothing to do with it. Instead, neocon war hawk pundit Jennifer Rubin and professional grifter Bill Kristol now work to bash Republicans and sniff Democrats. You’re welcome to them. Good riddance.
Journalist Owen Shroyer is going to prison today for reporting from the steps of the Capitol. This is uninteresting to Professor Turley who claims to be a 1A absolutist. This is what distinguishes leftist claims. They’re never true. Everything is a posture, everything is about looking cool. Actual integrity is nonexistent. Isn’t it time for another column about ripping down posters?
‘Journalist’ Owen Shroyer is going to prison because he took a plea deal forbidding him from protesting at places like the Capitol, and is now pretending to be oppressed by the state for violating the agreement he made voluntarily not to be prosecuted. You shouldn’t get your news from the Sandy Hook guy, buddy.
You know why the above is happening and WHO HAS CAUSED ALL OF THIS.
Your friend TRUMP.
Chuckle. Like sports, Trump didn’t make their character (or lack there of); he just revealed it.
Woke leftists caused all of this.
Sane, normal Democrats like Glenn Greenwald, Matt Taibbi, Bari Weiss, Bill Maher, Elon Musk, the good professor and even my long time Democrat sister, all see the crazy that has gripped the Democrat party and want nothing to do with it.
Our system of government favors minority rule. The U.S. Senate, in particular, favors minority rule.
About 75% of the U.S. population lives in the 20 most populous states. Yet those 20 states account for only 40 Senate seats.
Only 25% of the U.S. population lives in the 30 least populous states. Yet those 30 states account for 60 Senate seats.
In other words, only 25% of the population holds 60% of the Senate!
This peculiar imbalance has wide ripple effects since the Senate confirms Federal judges, cabinet appointees and U.S. ambassadors. Senators representing one fourth of the population have a disproportionate say.
This explains why the current roster of Federal judges leans more conservative than most Americans. The Supreme Court, most significantly, is out of step with the mainstream.
SCOTUS decisions egarding abortion, voting rights, gun rights, regulatory agencies, healthcare, campaign financing and the drawing of election maps would all be different if the U.S. Senate truly reflected majority sentiments.
Therefore Americans have quite understandably lost faith in the Constitution. Which makes us wonder if Turley ever talks to his students. One imagines they have told Turley ‘why’ the Constitution seems out of date.
SCOTUS decisions egarding abortion,(not in the constitution, returned to the States) voting rights,(not in the Constitutions) gun rights, )Enumerated right, “shall not be infringed”)regulatory agencies(not a federal power), healthcare( not a federal power), campaign financing not a federal power) and the drawing of election maps(drawn by STATE legislature)
You are right, SCOTUS has its nose where it lacks jurisdiction.
Therefore Americans have quite understandably lost faith in the Constitution.
Public education stopped teaching civic, so after 3 generations, are wholly ignorant,(like yourself) of the Constitution.
“Public education stopped teaching civic”
Yes. Which, again, is our own fault for not making sure our representatives on school boards guard education better. We collectively shrugged and effectively said, not my problem to think about what sort of education kids are getting in the local district.
Your entire premise is whacked out or you have a 2nd grade comprehension level. If what you try to imply were true, the Senate wouldnt be split 50/50.
You try to imply by conflation that 75% of the country thinks one way and the 25% minority thinks another. Get a grip.
The senate is designed so that it takes a bipartisan majority typically to accomplish anything. So there’s another hole in your idiotic premise.
As for SCOTUS, mostly luck, and the poor decision of RBG is why you have the current make up.
For lesser judges, McConnell worked harder than Shumer to get judges seated. Shumer learned his lesson and is trying to catch up.
In the 117th Congress, even Alabama had a Democrat senator. Hell, Georgia currently has 2 democrat senators. So give it a rest.
I’m sure you’d love one party rule. Tough titties.
“the Constitution seems out of date.”
The Constitution provides its own remedy for being “out of date”.
Stop whining and get busy.
Also, the Constitution was not designed (nor was the goddam judicial) to “reflect” the whims of the “majority”. THAT is what is to be celebrated about it, dum dum.
If you could consider those poll numbers about violence in the context of offense or defense, you might have a different conclusion.
I’d be curious to know if those that took the survey received their education from a public school system?
There is no way anyone with a Western understanding of good versus evil can conclude the Dims are anything but evil. From suppressing speech to coopting the press to teaching confusion and perversion to the young they are quite deserving of any and every retribution available. That said, civil war is catastrophic, self-defeating and unnecessary. All you need to stop evil is to deny it power. Without it, evil fades like vines with cut roots. You do that by pointing it out, voting it out and banishing from your personal life by adhering to tradition and virtue and accepting nothing else. You can start now. Societal success is first and foremost a victory of ideas.
PRO TIP: When the fiscal collapse comes, the communists (Dems) who run this country aren’t gonna own what they did.
They’re gonna blame you. And they’re gonna tell their communist street animals (Antifa, BLM, pro-Hamas protestors) to hurt you for it.
Read about The Cultural Revolution.
Jesse Kelly
@JesseKellyDC
Oct 23, 2023
You are looking for faith? How about facts….fact: the uSA us bankrupt. We’ll never be able to pay our debt. We can only kick the can. To our great great grandkids. We the people are revolting. They are sending all our monies and weapons and ammo to other places….no king would ever do that _ He’d not get Entagle but keep his jewels. Our system was a swell idea but it’s obviously not working. All that unites us today is death and taxes. And not even death since we disagree on roe and assisted suicide. So just taxes. And it’s bull shit illegals get as much a month as seniors ss who paid into the system. We the people are revolting. If that means we need a caretaker queen….so bee it.
And we can still have our bill of rights and courts of equiry..and even laws… but we obviously need someone to guard the jewels. And to be held accountable if they don’t. But a king/qoeen … they wouldn’t sacrfice the jewels because it’s themselve.. s. Our system was volnerable from the start bc all that needed to happen was divisions. They knew that…factions…yet so did every enemy. A king wouldn’t stand for factions. He’d unite those under him.
BTW something needs to be done about the lawlessness from Fort hood. They send ppl overseas to triple their reinvestment bonuses. And they play some game at home to screw other ppls wives and create divorce.its a lawless gang. Stalking. By echo. Worse the af Osi when told just hauls pl to Dr e. I don’t think we can even have faith in our military anymore. Especially since that’s a path to sitizenship. Bottom line … we’ve been invaded. And the divisions so deep. All we got is our own family to rely on. We”ll devolve into tribes…just like most other counties. If only we had had sum one to actually guard our jewels….the idea could have worked. But it’s obviously obe.
A few names, NEWT GINGRICH to start, who deserves credit along with the computer tech industry, though by evil and lies the demoncrats claimed it was slick willie who “balanced one budget” – that isn’t true of course, the number fudgers redid the deficit for those years and later announced a “surplus” and the idiot liars and rubes bark like a walrus in agreement.
Currently , but first, Ross Perot another winner in this matter, and lets mention Ron Paul and his son Rand Paul, we have Matt Gaetz a real fighter with results. He pulled off what the squad swore they would and did not, they caved in, liars and exposed as crap.
Devin Nunez, another big winner who told the truth and did make big progress.
The 20 who opposed SotH mccarthy are also to be praised and endorsed and protected and admired.
At least a small percentage are trying. 20 of 435, one of 21.75, so over 4% but under 5%.
4-5% have our backs… LOL
Things are going great… /sarc
SYMBIOTIC
We ain’t going nowhere. We own three fifths of the world
There is a deep disconnect of many in this nation to a full understanding of the blessings, freedoms and opportunities that we enjoy and the reality that so many millions in other places will never have. We have our problems and scars from the past, but the process of freedom and ability to seek to fulfill one’s dreams.
In my view, this has been under attack by focused, mission driven activists with an agenda to tear down our form of government and our freedoms, to create chaos and discord in order to bring about their warped concept of power. We stand on the shoulders of those who stood up to tyranny and fought for freedom, sacrificing their own lives and livelihoods in order that their children could enjoy the beauty of this life, family, and freely worship their God. I am a child of such a person. My father was in the middle of the conflict in the South Pacific and my father-in-law was in the thick of battle in the ETO and lost hearing and was wounded and put back in the fight for much more of the war. I heard the stories of the hardships he and many endured in order to bring opportunity to their children and grandchildren. I saw how grateful he was for each and every meal we ate.
We have come to a crossroads where these beautiful freedoms are under full siege and frontal attack by a rabid enemy. I have often thought that the Rocky movies were in some respects, an allegory of the United States. We started out hungry, the underdog against the giant European countries and then in time, we attained affluence and soon thereafter became weak and faced new adversary and only through grit, self-determination and discipline did we overcome the obstacles.
Here we are, once again, hopefully, the sleeping giant will come to its senses and fight back against the devouring foe who is standing in our way, challenging us to combat.
Government is the common enemy of mankind; to abolish or reform it, people must first distrust it. If 80% of Americans no long er trust the government, that’s a good thing. I believe in the rule of law, not the rule of government.
How is the rule of law enforced without a government?
As far as possible, you separate the legal system from political control and influence. Sometimes it works and sometimes (as now) it doesn’t.
It’s not. It’s called vigilantism.
This is how Hamas fights. They use rocket launchers and a lot of young children.
IDF shows Hamas rocket launchers at civilian sites
Visual documentation is publicized of launch sites next to a U.N. building, a mosque and a kindergarten.
https://www.jns.org/idf-shows-proof-of-hamas-rocket-launchers-at-civilian-sites/?_se=ZmVkZXJpY28uYmVudHNpa0B0aW4uaXQ%3D&utm_campaign=Morning+Syndicate+Monday+10232023&utm_medium=email&utm_source=brevo
We are still here, but just barely. IMO it’s critical we understand that just barely is the result of generational ignorance and privilege, and just barely isn’t going to hold forever in the face of the swell. Wake up. The document (and I believe it is brilliant) the only sane way to govern, is not what has saved us by the mere virtue of its existence – people’s belief in and understanding of it has – and that is absolutely imperiled. We are talking just one or two generations. We either make it clear WHY our Republic is so unique and worth defending, or we might as well just capitulate. People do this here everyday, but your average 15-35 year-old is not reading this site, nor anything linked, and they will be voting in droves.
The principle that public officials should not only behave properly, but appear to
behave properly has come to occupy a prominent place in contemporary American
political culture. The prevailing view declares that if public officials appear to act
improperly, people will lose faith in those officials and the institutions of government
that they serve; and in a representative democracy, preserving the trust and confidence of
the governed in the leaders and institutions that govern them is regarded as critically
important
@Brad
There is a canyon of difference between ‘appearing’ to behave badly and actually doing it, and a few curse words or ill-thought out social media posts are a far cry from what is being discussed. See the Clinton impeachment for evidence, and troll elsewhere. Approval ratings are so insignificant as to warrant dismissal. Ridiculous. *Watch what people are ACTUALLY* doing. You speak as though you have no access to information beyond what is meted out to you.
Bill is responsible for the slaughter of one million innocent human beings. He appeared as a total fraud, a felon, a corrupt punk, and? He was.
More from Trump:
“A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution.” (https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/109449803240069864)
In a recent legal motion, he also had his lawyers state that “the Presidential oath, which the framers of the Fourteenth Amendment surely knew, requires the President to swear to ‘preserve, protect and defend’ the Constitution—not ‘to support’ the Constitution.”
How can he preserve, protect and defend it if he thinks it can be terminated?
It all started long ago by a man named Bill Ayers and a women named Angela Davis. They changed from recommending violence to the philosophy of indoctrination through the education system. Unfortunately they have been very successful. They were the original hate America organizers. Michael Obama used a direct quote from Bill Ayers in her speech in Denver and Obama himself held a campaign strategy meeting in Bill Ayers home. If you don’t know who they are you don’t know your enemy. I recommend Christopher Rufo’s book Americas Cultural Revolution if you want to learn more about these marxist revolutionaries.
“Conversely, former President Donald Trump has regularly denounced his political opponents as “traitors” and “enemies of the people.” ”
Trump is correct. Some of these people are “traitors” who wish the Constitution destroyed.
Listen to what Turley said:
“Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) has questioned the need for a Supreme Court.”
“Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) have called for the packing of the Supreme Court.”
“Charles Schumer (D-NY) thrilled his base by going to the steps of the Supreme Court to declare “I want to tell you, Gorsuch. I want to tell you, Kavanaugh. You have released the whirlwind and you will pay the price! ”
“one man showed up at the home of Justice Bret Kavanaugh to kill him for his “awful decisions.”
Trump never acted in a way intended to destroy the Constitution. His big fault was his mouth and being a bit abrasive. Sometimes, he talked so much that he added transparency to the federal government. Is transparency bad?
Turley got it right. The threats and actions of the Democrats intend to destroy the nation. Trump proved he could bring peace and prosperity by protecting it.
Good call that Turley apparently believes Democrats are a threat to democracy whose threats & actions intend to destroy the nation. And it defies belief that Democrats didn’t pack the Supreme Court to create an immediate liberal majority when they controlled the White House, Senate & House in 2021 & 2022.
Just another case of Washington politicians making idle threats which they have no interest in following through on. Remember the 14 times Republicans voted to repeal & replace Obamacare? And Trump vowing to build the wall & making Mexico pay for it?
Democrats are a threat to the nation based on their actions.
Republicans are a threat to the nation based on their lack of action.
This is all intentional by the elites in government. Civics used to be taught in Church so all politics was local. That was removed by the government in the early 1900’s tax code. Now you can only be taught by the government indoctrination centers. Don’t expect most parents to teach American history or how our representative republic was created, they don’t know themselves.