Saving democracy

Our American democratic tradition evolved gradually, the result of an accumulation of the influences of constitutional amendments, court decisions, presidents, protests, immortal literature, European contacts, increasingly progressive suffrage laws and a myriad of influences. Our efforts to perfect our democracy will never end.

Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne Jr. writes, “The biggest paradox of all: Throwing (former President Donald) Trump off the ballot would seem, on its face, the opposite of democracy. Yet the whole point of Section 3 is to protect constitutional democracy from anyone who has already tried to destroy it. If its provisions don’t apply to Trump, they don’t apply to anyone. The court would not be disqualifying him. He disqualified himself.”

Our democracy is constantly in peril, assaulted from all sides by those desiring absolute power, unchecked riches, suppression of protests, demagoguery, a coup or other forms of domination. Which of these apply to Trump? All do. Never in our history has democracy been threatened as much as it is right now. Trump’s claim that he would be a dictator on “day one” is no idle threat. Worse, he would choose a government staff that must pledge loyalty, not to the Constitution but rather to himself. For example, the Justice Department would be forced to be in thrall to Trump’s version of “justice,” instead of the Justice Department possessing the wherewithal to determine impartial justice using independent, objective criteria.