Valley Views
Keeping the Republic
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It took almost two centuries of tyranny, war and suffering for our ancestors, desperate for liberty and self-determination, to conceive of and draft our system of constitutional government that has endured for 237 years.
They met in Philadelphia in the sweltering heat of the summer of 1787 to design and hopefully agree upon a form of government their ancestors had never known. There was little assurance that would happen, but after listening to each other in good faith and debating for 89 days they created the Constitution of the United States of America giving birth to the longest functioning democracy in human history.
From the beginning of their deliberations, it was the resolute belief of the Founders that our consensual union would not survive, the Constitution would not function, and our republic would not endure, unless the people and their elected leaders believed in and adopted the civic virtues embedded in the Constitution. Only if the eternal objective of the Constitution remained to seek the public good would our hallowed union survive.
Constitutional virtues, so easy to summarize and so challenging to sustain, include humility, self-restraint, integrity, courage, truth, moderation, patience, compassion, respect for contrary opinion and a commitment to the Rule of Law. Rejection of those virtues, the Founders believed, would first loosen the bonds that hold us together, then lead to civil disorder, and finally result in the destruction of our democracy.
The disordered and erratic governance of the President and his apologists, leading the nation step by step toward autocracy; his relentless pursuit of power and control; his illegal government reorganizations and directives; his reckless declaration that it’s time to “terminate,” certain “articles” of the Constitution; his mindless Napoleanic suggestion that when he’s saving the country, he’s above the law; his calling for impeachment of a Federal judge who doesn’t rule in his favor and then referring to him as a “radical left lunatic;” his betrayal of the oath he took and the promise he made to faithfully protect and defend the Constitution; all of that, and infinitely more, reveals his lack of fitness to lead this one nation under God.
We all understand that reform of governmental operations can produce disruption, even when undertaken lawfully. But the lawless laying of waste presently and repetitively unfolding across the country creating chaos, injury and fear is nowhere near a normal or expected consequence of legitimate and lawful reform. It appears and feels more like the work of furtive detectives who don’t know what they’re doing, inflated with power and creeping through Federal buildings to gleefully inform employees their jobs no longer exist. It is utter madness and it’s looting the heart and soul of America.
Neither the President nor his Republican acolytes in Congress appear to even remotely comprehend the risk of their frontal assault upon the Constitution, nor to remember that as the world turns, generations who follow will inevitably end up reaping what they now sow.
The Republican Party Platform pontificates that the Constitution is “a unique and binding compact,” which the President and his ilk in Congress have pledged to faithfully “support and defend.” Yet their smug dismissal of their own platform and the virulent encroachment upon the judiciary unmask the undeniable belief that the President already controls the executive and legislative branches so all that remains to be done to gain control of all three branches of government is to conquer the courts.
Our democratic republic, though we’ve been blessed with it and devoted to it for 237 years, is nonetheless fragile. It is, after all, based upon the consent of every American. We cannot be forced to embrace it. We must choose it. For the republic to survive the ages, our promise to each other has been and must forever be: to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution; to practice the self-discipline required of every American to maintain order; to respect our fellow citizens and presume their good faith; and most importantly, to work at keeping the republic more than we focus upon ourselves.
