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.
Like most of our “leaders” they say one thing and do to us another. This country hasn’t followed the Constitution in decades nor have those sworn to uphold their oath done so! Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Assembly, Freedom to Defend oneself with arms, etc. “shall not be infringed” and yet those oath takers are continually trying to do so. How can they keep their positions? Many in Congress hold two Citizenships; how can that be allowed, it certainly cannot be tolerated but it is because they rule by violence.
I recently visited the National Constitution Center in Philly. The center had a live presentation titled “We the People,” which presented our country from its beginning until today. It had a live speaker with visuals shown throughout the speakers talk. At the end the speaker brought it all together with what we as people have in common without the division that is currently dividing us as a people. The ending was really emotional and I wish all Americans could have a chance to see it. The center has many educational videos and podcasts for people to educate themselves. nationalconstitutioncenter.org is a good resource to view these.
Non-partisan and non-political military leader, General Mark Milley, arguably made the greatest (and most accurate) retirement speech in over 50 explaining the American loyalty oath.
Excessive secrecy in government (which Trump supporters claim to oppose citing a “Deep State” disloyalty to their oath of office) – “proper loyalty” of governing officials serving in intelligence, security, law enforcement and the military is a top priority. This loyalty oath is the same from the local police chief to the CIA Director to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
If American officials adopted the American system with proper loyalty to the U.S. Constitution – it would have drastically reduced “Jim Crow” practices by local officials against African-Americans, Jewish-Americans, LGBT-Americans ((since the U.S. Constitution and Oath of Office includes the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments).
Such a loyalty culture would have prevented McCarthyism targeting primarily the wrong targets – where Republicans invented an illegal-loyalty oath that violated the American Oath of Office.
Such a loyalty culture would have prevented unconstitutional rulings during the War on Drugs. Millions of African-Americans would never had gone to prison for non-violent drug offenses and instead paid more taxes to government treasuries, boosting the economy, not destroying millions of lives and preserving the Fourth Amendment.
Such a loyalty culture would have outright rejected the “Bush Preemption Doctrine” – where no evidence of any crime is required to search your phone, computer, home and personal effects (totally illegal under the Fourth Amendment). Republicans favored this unAmerican practice until the tables turned after January 6 – now some Republicans are on the receiving-end of these illegal abuses of power. Note: based on FOIA request records, this illegal practice had about a 90% or greater failure rate identifying any terrorists or anyone related to terrorism. Most of the emergency scenarios depicted on gross fictional shows like “24” happened 0 times in over 20 years. The closest examples were stopped by average citizens, not bureaucracies.
Such a loyalty culture likely would have prevented Trump’s coup attempt altogether. On January 6, local and federal security and law enforcement were confused about chain of command issues and proper loyalty. Since the then president was highly disloyal to his oath of office, national security officials didn’t know who to follow.
Here is Mark Milley’s 2023 retirement speech:
“We don’t take an oath to a country. We don’t take an oath to a tribe. We don’t take an oath to a religion. We don’t take an oath to a king or queen or a tyrant or a dictator. And we don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator…we don’t take an oath to an individual. We take an oath to the Constitution”.
Well, that’s a lie. Read the actual oath.
Shut up, Mark. Nobody buys your BS. You may have said these things, but you clearly didn’t believe any of them.
General Milley violated his oath to the Constitution by adhering to China in phone calls. General Milley admitted so in a congressional hearing. According to the constitution, general, Milley committed treason.
Also, the oath of office does not contain the amendments you cited.
Your post seems to be nothing other than misinformation, this information and flat out BS.
Did you learn this from a college professor?
If the oath of office doesn’t include constitutional-amendments (part of the Constitution) – it also doesn’t include 2nd Amendment gun rights or the Bill of Rights (amendments 1-10).
You are saying you have no property rights or gun rights?
Pssst. We have moved on from this thread. Come join us over here before The Stooge launches his many sock puppets. Hurry!
https://jonathanturley.org/2023/11/02/your-moneys-in-joes-house-the-biden-familys-version-of-its-a-wonderful-life
The original Constitution failed with the Civil War.
I saw the coming of these days. An eternal pessimist, I believed we were seeing the end of the American Empire, its 250 year shelf life expiring. But George Friedman has convinced me that this century will also be an American century. But in what form be us? Sir John Glubb in, “The Fate of Empires” divides the two Roman Empires: Republic and Emperors. Are we too, going into a totalitarian state? I am heartened that I see more and more splintering off form the right and the left of moderates. We will need to pry democracy from the decerped hands of the duopoly of the Republican and Democratic parties. If we can do that, things can go forward into an optimistic history.
In the end, this will be solved by might.
Might does make right.
“War is simply the continuation of political intercourse with the addition of other means.”- Carl von Clausewitz
We no longer can have debate and collaboration and agreed upon ideals. So, that is the method of resolution.
(FYI: The Biden Administration is seeking to destroy the Populists and move the country towards what? Socialism-Communism?)
AND BELIEVE ME, I don’t prefer that.
But I know which bloc is ruining this country [the ELITE] and their useful idiots [the LEFT] will burn loot and murder while getting a free pass from The AGENCIES, all 435 or more of them. Those agency members – both the feckless lickspittles of the billionaires and the malevolent drivers of debilitating false narratives – have set upon a course to make one man (45) an symbol of the RIGHT, who if not for the evil designs of the prior administration (44), likely never gets any of demonization he did. IT though FELL to the MEDIA, and they FAILED EPICALLY.
One cannot be a dictator without a servile media. Trump never had that essential aspect. So, we know where the problem rests.
https://www.cjr.org/special_report/trumped-up-press-versus-president-part-1.php
tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/guide-understanding-hoax-century-thirteen-ways-looking-disinformation#data
Lastly, we have our own take – and it isn’t too long to read:
https://jasonpowers.substack.com/p/episode-165-the-price-of-liberty#details
2024 will begin the ending of “The Great Experiment.”
Note: I am currently homeless. So my ramblings likely matter not. Yet, I am more than willing to lose my life if it saves liberty.
Can we all count together to the number 4? Ready. 1, 2, 3, 4. Four guilty pleas in the “free speech” case that according to JT and all the Trump minions is a witch hunt. Please tell me, if it’s a witch hunt why would lawyers plead guilty to a felony?
MAGA = Make Attorneys Get Attorneys
They were told we’re going to make you an offer you can’t refuse, like the offers we made the jan6thers and the other former innocent Trump supporters and campaign staff, and our judges lined up are worse than Ergodon, and we have your family members targeted, so don’t refuse.
You pretend that what you’d like to imagine is fact rather than fiction.
We all know who she’s after.
A better question, if its not a witch hunt and Fani has an open and shut case, why cut deals with no jail time for people attempting to “overturn our democracy”?
Get a grip Bob.
It’s pretty routine for prosecutors to allow plea deals. It saves taxpayer money in comparison with going to trial. It’s especially common in cases where the defendant provides testimony against someone else.
Really? And how many people have been accused of a conspiracy to overthrow the government? Is it common in those cases. Is that tantamount to murder? Do murderers get plea deals? If these crimes were so egregious as to warrant all the time and money spent to prosecute their failed attempt, why are these people getting off with probation??? Does Fani need their testimony? Last I heard she had all the evidence she needed to put them all away. Dennis said so.
It will be proven that it all came down from the top.
Money. Litigation is very expensive. The evidence is clear the Fulton County committed a lot of fraud and these facts have not been adjudicated. To go all the way with a trial that attorney would have to spend at least $50K. Going after the attorneys is bone chilling, and this will inevitably lead this decades Cold Civil war turning hot.
Like a house divided against itself cannot stand, a government separated from the people cannot stand. To paraphrase President John F. Kennedy – if peaceful change is made impossible, violent revolution is made in.
One attorney (Sidney Powell) was not a Trump attorney.
Powell *was* a Trump attorney.
Because the guilty pleas mean they aren’t punished and they don’t incur any more legal fees. Could anything be simpler?
Jenna Ellis is pleading guilty in the Georgia RICO case. Another one flips.
Kyle Cheney:
“The frontrunner for the GOP nomination is sitting in a NY court today facing a former lawyer (Michael Cohen) while learning that another former lawyer (Ellis) pleaded guilty in GA just days after two others (Sidney Powell and Ken Chesebro) did the same.”
Before too long, Cohen won’t be the only one of Trump’s former lawyers testifying against him.
Hopefully her community service will be physical work, because if she’d drop about 40, she’d be an absolute babe!
Turley made some sense for awhile then lost me with the claim that the Constitution is about citizens protecting each other’s rights. This is false. The Constitution sets up a government, which by definition means there will be citizens whose rights are trampled – there will be “winners” and “losers”. There is no government that protects rights of all, it is not possible. It is simply a tool used by some citizens to vote for representatives to bestow blessings on some while violating the rights of others. And then the next election produces a perhaps different skewing of the same problem. Many Americans have been trained (mostly in government schools!) to believe that ours is a limited government. You cannot be a little bit pregnant. Government becomes a monster, as the last 250 years have shown, no matter how small it’s start. Government is the problem, period.
“Government is the problem, period.”
And anarchism is the cure?!
Good luck with that.
I understand that this is a conservative piece with some bias to be expected. However, after painting the left so diligently with specific examples that can easily be deemed traitorous all you have is “reckless rhetoric” on the right. Can you honestly report there are none? I find that very difficult to believe, and must hurl your name onto the mountain of echochamber shills that are in many ways causing the very issue you have raised. Too bad really; this could have been a landmark essay.
I see you have listed the “ones on the right” …
Oh wait, you haven’t and presumably don’t know of any …
So someone else has to do the work to satisfy you that your complaint is valid.
Maybe your complaint is not valid.
Maybe it is so minimally valid as to not be worthy of exposure.
Maybe you can be a helper to trump and keep his leaders straight. trump thought Orban, the racist from Hungary, was from Turkey. You can help keep trumps fascist friends straight So he can be more cogent in his rambling speeches.
Trump does that 100 more times he might make the graph of the number of times Biden has misnamed people, Of course Trump spends hours a day speaking extempranously in Public. Biden’s handlers call a lid at 10:00AM. Biden rarely speaks without a teleprompter and still gets it wrong
You’re right, Biden says dumb stuff. But trump loves his fascist dictators. I’m not sure Biden has such high regard for fascists.
And how about the 4th guilty plea in trumps election subversion case?
In the last couple of weeks, Trump has also claimed he defeated Obama in an election, that Jeb Bush got us involved in the Middle East, and that WW2 hasn’t happened yet.
Cognitive decline is an understatement
anonymous is too chicken shit to even put his name in.
Sometimes a sports metaphor is the best way understand things.
Football stadiums would be empty if there was no official written rulebook, no impartial referee, no process to challenge bad rulings and no way to amend the written rulebook . Both players and spectators would be totally cynical of the integrity of the system.
American government officially has “secret laws” with secret referees that many times operate opposite of the public written rulebook. Now Americans have a dangerous level of cynicism for the integrity of government institutions and practices.
For example:
The Fourth Amendment is very clearly worded, any search of any kind requires probable cause evidence of a “past” crime. Most importantly, it requires the government official to risk legal penalty for falsifying warrant applications – it outlaws preemption policies that violate the Fourth Amendment.
Instead of following the written constitutional rulebook (which requires a constitutional amendment), in 1968 the U.S. Supreme Court rules on cases like “Terry v. Ohio” in 1968. This ruling that is illegal under the rulebook, resulted in millions of African-Americans being sent to prison for non-violent drug convictions. This ruling created “Stop & Frisk” body searches clearly violating the Fourth Amendment’s clear wording.
The U.S. Supreme Court (referees) have made some healthy corrections with rulings like “Carpenter v. U.S.” and “U.S. v. Jones” but there is virtually no real enforcement by the U.S. Department of Justice or the FBI (probably since federal officials break these laws also). Every day in America, in 2023, these rulings are illegally violated likely thousands of times per day.
Conservatives were fine with this lawlessness for about 50 years – not a whimper – until now.
Regarding rules and enforcement of rules, law enforcement is nowhere to be found when a helpless grandmother is pistol whipped in the parking lot and robbed by three armed thugs. The following week, another elderly woman was beaten, robbed and car jacked. The same store (where I shop) loses thousands of dollars per day in shoplifting theft. Last week a woman took over seven thousand dollars in supplements. When the clerk tried to stop her, she said, “You can’t touch me and there is not you can do about it.”
She was right.
This is in a nicer neighborhood in my city. The new district attorney said that he and his department are cracking down on shoplifting…oh wait, that was last year. Target and Walmart have all their detergent and cosmetics behind lock and key.
This is a crime epidemic that is impacting ever person’s pocketbook and sense of safety.
This is just a little example of what life is like in a post-COVID world with a soft on crime mayor and law enforcement. Meanwhile, the multibillion dollar shoplifting rings sell their good freely on the internet and we pay out of our own pockets.
Life in dystopia. What do we expect when the moral compass has been thrown out the window.? You shall not kill, steal, lie. You shall honor and respect you parents and elders. Why are these moral values so foreign that they were stricken from public display?
Humans are not naturally kind and caring to each other. Values are taught (should be modeled) and reinforced by parents, teachers and elders.
Jonathan Turley wrote, “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.”
I’ve been writing about this problem for a while, here is an excerpt from one of my recent posts…
Believe it or not, our entire culture is under attack from totalitarian minded fools. Common sense, critical thinking, logic, our Constitution and Liberty itself are the enemy of immoral hive minded totalitarians so those concepts are now unacceptable, socially canceled and pushed aside as being quaint anecdotes of an archaic history that needs to be scrubbed from existence. To hive minded totalitarians, rights for me but not for thee and the ends justifies the means are the status quo.
The Constitution is only permanent if the people are willing to defend it against those that want to destroy it whether those anti-constitution individuals/groups are foreign or domestic. The destruction of the Constitution and the rule of law is only a generation away and the generation on the political move right now with the loudest voices clearly want the justice system abolished, prisons emptied, totalitarian advocacy journalism to replace all other journalism, indoctrination in our public schools, silence unwelcome free speech, guilt by accusation if your opinion isn’t “woke” and they’ve been making claims of systemic racism across the United States based on irrational emotions and outright lies. It’s as if these people have adopted Paul Joseph Goebbels, the Reich Minister of Propaganda of Nazi Germany, gaslighting strategy:
• If you repeat a lie (aka propaganda) often enough, people will believe it.
• If you repeat a lie (aka propaganda) often enough, it becomes the truth.
• If you tell a lie (aka propaganda) big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.
• If you repeat a lie (aka propaganda) long enough, it becomes truth.
• If you repeat a lie (aka propaganda) many times, people are bound to start believing it.
Propaganda at some level has always been around in politics; however, as we have seen in the 21st century the vast majority of the main stream media complex (the 4th estate) has become a willing political arm attack dog of the political left delivering pure advocacy journalism (propaganda) that’s blindly in favor of the Democratic Party and they appear to be actively colluding with each other to suppress unfavorable stories about anyone or anything related to the Democratic Party. On top of all that, they libelously and slanderously smear any opposition stories as disinformation or pure conspiracy theories, it’s an ongoing Orwellian propaganda campaign.
“The media’s the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that’s power. Because they control the minds of the masses.” Malcolm X
“The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country.” “Propaganda” by Edward Bernays
The Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, the Constitution, and the Amendments are primarily set up to “establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity” and give we the people rights to control the government and protect the people from the government, but these founding documents do not protect the government and the constitution from we the people. Irrational, stupid and tyrannical anti-Liberty and anti-American people that can’t currently appreciate the Liberty they have won’t really know or understand Liberty until they’ve completely lost it.
Remember back in 2008 when Obama called “progressive” activists to action during his Presidential campaign, “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”. The political left has been actively undermining everything that makes the USA what it is ever since that speech in 2008. These people have shown us by their rhetoric, actions and hysteria that they hate the USA and what it’s built upon. It’s absurd!
The United States of America in very serious trouble if swaths of the general population continue to swallow the intentional devaluation of the foundation that the USA is built upon that’s being spread by the extremist totalitarians in our culture, these people want to fundamentally shift the USA away from its core values.
What’s happening in the USA is absurd, and I’ve been writing about these absurdities for quite a while.
“I’ve been writing about these absurdities for quite a while.”
30 minutes at least, I’d say. You do know that 99% of posts as long as yours get scrolled by, right? I’ve no idea what you wrote, but the term self indulgent comes to mind.
I read the entire post / essay. It was well written, informative, convicting, and worthy of my time Patience is a virtue rewarded with wisdom and understanding.
Jimmy wrote, “30 minutes at least, I’d say.”
Then you think and type rather slowly.
Jimmy wrote, “You do know that 99% of posts as long as yours get scrolled by, right?”
People that aren’t willing to spend the time to read and understand tend to be either ignorant or stupid, sometimes they’re both. People can choose to read or not to read, that’s their choice and none of my business; furthermore, their choice in this regard will never influence what I choose to write.
Jimmy wrote, “I’ve no idea what you wrote…”
Willful ignorance like yours boggles the mind of rational intelligent people and ad hominems from fellow commenters, like you, are pure trolling and not welcome.
Jimmy wrote, “…the term self indulgent comes to mind.”
You’re welcome to your own opinion but not your own facts.
Now go troll somewhere else with your ad hominems like a good little boy.
It is interesting to look at the religious statement made by Biden or Trump, because in the end a theocracy is best for leaders, or rulers surely their is no current theocracy having three crowns who could fix all of the moral issues. Or is there.
Division is for the purpose of the dialectic, the effect is synthesis, but the out come was predetermined.
There’s nothing a civil war can’t cure!
does this work
Darren Smith loves the taste of Dennis McIntyre’s foreskin.
“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.”
Who are these people? I do not se this locally. Is this poll a case of lies, damned lies, and statistics? I get the feeling Vizzini is involved in this and other nonsense right now.
“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.”
If so, this is the foolishness of people. The original system is fine. We broke and twisted and warped how we used it and too many did this for their own ends rather than the good of the whole. A republic is a government of the people, by the people, for the people. We should take a hard look in the mirror and consider how we ourselves have helped tear it down, even if our fault lies only in a lack of attention or by being easily duped by the manipulative..
The rich and big business do not like majoity rule. They have always supported dictatorship. H.Ford supported Hitler and the Bush family banking business included Adolph as a client. Their banking business was charged with violating the “Trading with the enemy” act and was
shut down by the U.S, government.
The public prefers majority rule democracy.
Prairie Rose,
Well said and I agree.
Around our parts, most people are common sense. Most want to live their lives in peace, as little government interference as possible and lower taxes.
However, they also see some of the crazy going on, people demanding they use pronouns, men in womens locker rooms, the sexualization of children and feel they may have to take up arms to defend themselves from these fascists.
Lefty’s seeking to be persuasive–Please, please, I’m begging you, (Darling, LALA) try something new. Tossing around the same bull crap is so boring now. Create some new material, PLEASE.
RULE 1.2: PROMOTING CONFIDENCE IN THE JUDICIARY
A judge shall act at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the independence,* integrity,* and impartiality* of the judiciary and shall avoid impropriety* and the appearance of impropriety.
Jon, You of all people should, MUST, do whatever you can to clean out what everyone knows is a thoroughly corrupt branch of our government. No one is searching for compromised judges, but most of them are. They were lawyers once upon a time!
Re: Brad Markel
You might want to watch the true life movie “Little Pink House” about landmark case “Kelo v. City of New London”.
It’s about a brave first responder, an EMS member of an ambulance team, who has her house stolen and the U.S. Supreme Court refusing to protect her. A private company destroyed her home and then never used the land. The state governor went to prison.
In that case, “Institute for Justice” (conservative attorneys) provided legal services for free, not charging the EMS first responder for any legal fees. Not all attorneys should be stereotyped as bad. Some actually perform a public service that benefits all Americans.
Tell the 95% of them that are crooked pieces of sh!t.
The judiciary cannot exist without the trust and confidence of the people. Judges must, therefore, be accountable to legal and ethical standards. They are accountable even for the perception of inappropriate behavior.
This is NOT your granddad’s Republican Party! Republican’s claim to be the Party of Ronald Reagan, but in action today’s Republicans have contempt for Ronald Reagan. George W. Bush Republicans took the GOP into the wilderness.
Reagan supported humane just treatment of immigrants. Reagan supported and signed an international torture treaty that is also federal law (legally binding in the USA). Reagan wanted any official that also committed cruel treatment to be criminally prosecuted. Reagan also was also a bigger fan of the values of Jesus than the 21st Century Republican leaders.
Reagan, like Dwight D. Eisenhower, was adamant about supporting and strengthening NATO to keep Russia in check. Reagan viewed the communist regime of the former Soviet Union to be the “evil empire”. Trump favors and trusts Putin more than his own American intelligence community.
In other words Ronald Reagan would have put Bush DOJ torture lawyers in prison and disbarred them from ever perpetrating legal malpractice – banning them from the occupation of law. Reagan is closer to Biden on supporting NATO.
When Barack Obama was elected, Republican leaders attacked Obama’s Christian minister. When that slander failed to stick, those same GOP leaders then slandered Obama as being a Muslim. When that slander failed to stick, those same leaders invented the “Kenyan Witch Doctor” slander.
When war veteran John McCain (Reagan and Goldwater Reagan) pointed out this lie to Republican voters, Republicans essentially threw McCain out of the party.
Most Republican voters supported Bush desecrating everything Reagan stood for and it’s only gotten worse over 20 years!
It also appears that Reagan promised Gorbachev that NATO would not expand into Eastern Europe if Russia released it’s grip on those countries. If anyone has “abandoned” Reagan, it is the warmongers, of which McCain was one.
Responding to EdwardMahl:
Russia didn’t release it’s grip on Eastern Europe, it annexed former Soviet block territory near southeast Ukraine. Predating the Ukraine war.
The Warsaw Pact ended.
We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye … and now we are indignant, because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought back into our own front yards. America’s chickens are coming home to roost. Obama’s Christian minister.
Slander? Good one. That’s why Obama left that anti-American, white-hating, thug’s church.
FOOL and con-artist and liar. Busted cold again and again and again