Friday, January 5, 2024

Why should we be so devoted to preserving the Constitution?

 It seems strange that anyone should even have to answer "Why should we be devoted to preserving the Consitution"."  The short answer is that the Constitution is the glue that holds this diverse country together so that, as a nation, we hang together with strength in unity and size, economically and politically, in peace. That keeping the Constitution and its practice of it should be even questioned is because Trump wants to tear it up or gut it with workarounds and use the power it gives him to use fear of retribution and revenge against those disloyal to him.

Why I think that:

 Trump is the first president or candidate with enough political support to take his goals seriously to change the Constitution or to ignore its laws and rules in order to enhance his personal power and to enable him to suppress any resistance. To put that in the current shorthand and contemporary verbiage, such kind of practice of governance is the definition of autocracy/dictatorship. 

 The Constitution provides the rules of behavior of governance (rule of law) approved by citizens through their representatives, peacefully through the ballot box. It must be put in practice, as well. The Constitution is like having referees in football games that maximize fairness and reduce injuries.. Participants, owners, and player unions agree on the rules It works so long as the players respect the referees and their rules and penalties, standards by which both combatant sides abide.  It is possible to keep the rules on paper, but if no one plays by them, it is not worth the paper it was written on.

Some simplistic thinking is because Americans do not know even the basics of the "blessings of liberty" our democracy brings.s National Survey Finds Just 1 in 3 Americans Would Pass Citizenship Test - Institute for Citizens & Scholars (citizensandscholars.org)  

 We are unlike most countries in the world whose demagogic leaders can invoke centuries of glory and cohesiveness of ethnic and racial similarities. America has neither. We are a nation of immigrants who brought a world of diversity with them. Those with white  European roots represent 57 percent of the USA now, as more recent immigrants with roots and cultures from elsewhere will be the majority within the century. Assimilation happens quickly as immigrants strive to pursue life, liberty, and happiness.  The Constitution promises and provides the institutions supporting freedom from oppression and fear of reprisals.

 To invoke "blood" and " immigrants are poisoning our blood", as Trump orated recently, may work for national leaders elsewhere but not in America. What Trump wants is a formula for conflict, even violent ones, that will make America less, not more,  absorbed with internal struggles, paralyzed to look after the needs of its citizens as factions fight for superiority and control over others. The beauty of America's government has been that all, via the amendments, have rights that protect the voice of those in the minority and checks and balances that keep the federal government from becoming a mighty monolith.   Hungary, where Magyars are over 95 percent of the population, or Russia, got its Muslim minority under control and suppressed are not America or American, yet they are dictator-dominated countries that Trump so admires and proposes to become.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-immigrants-poisoning-the-blood-of-our-country-reaction/

MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: What Trump plans for his second term and how he will do it

Trump calls for the termination of the Constitution in Truth Social post | CNN Politics

"A poll from December by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, found 87% of Democrats and 54% of independents believe a second Trump term would negatively affect U.S. democracy. At the same time, 82% of Republicans said democracy would be weakened in another Biden term, with 56% of independents agreeing." Biden to mark Jan. 6 anniversary by calling Trump a threat to democracy and freedom - ABC News (go.com)

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