2020 Crossroads: The Nation Votes on ConExit

Foreword:: I am republishing this essay, with minor changes, at a time when the Nation is between two of our most cherished celebrations — Memorial Day and Independence Day. The former honors those who gave their lives in the defense of our democracy and the freedoms enshrined in the Constitution. The latter celebrates the historical moment when our nation declared its independence from a tyrannical monarchy and began the journey which culminated in the birth of the Constitution and our democratic republic. This essay focuses on the grave threat presented today to that Constitution and our democratic institutions by those in high-placed public office who are betraying their solemn duty to country by undermining our very framework of democracy from within. Tom Coffin

Brexit was a referendum concerning whether Britain should exit the European Union. In 2020, the United States will vote on a referendum on whether the country should continue on the path to exit from its Constitution and transition to an autocratic regime.

To explain, we are in the third year of Donald Trump’s first term as President, and the pattern that has emerged gives a clear picture regarding his philosophy about government, his belief system, objectives, and strategy for achieving those objectives.

Our nation was founded upon the principle that government is a social compact between the people and those selected by the people to govern them, and that the essence of this compact is that those who govern serve the people. To that end our Founders crafted a Constitution that established democratic principles and protected basic freedoms and rights, such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The Constitution established a system of checks and balances to ensure the people would never again be ruled by a tyrant, but would instead have the inalienable right to select those in authority and thus hold their leaders to accountability.

In Donald Trump, we have a nascent despot who increasingly evidences disdain for our Constitutional form of government, its underlying principles, the rights and liberties set forth in the Constitution, and the very Rule of Law that is the foundation of our country. He has expressed contempt for our Constitution and its values many times in his words and actions. From describing the Constitution as archaic and obsolete, criticizing the checks and balances of separate and coequal branches of government, encouraging the use of excessive force by the police, exploring abolishing the First Amendment’s protections of free speech, floating the concept of becoming president for life, suggesting that he might not accept election results if he lost, touting “2nd Amendment solutions” if he lost, stating this his followers would start a civil war if he were to be impeached, and repeatedly praising the absolute power of dictators such as Putin and Kim Jong un, he has unmistakably revealed what he does not believe in and conversely what he does believe in. As for the Rule of Law, Trump has made no secret that the paramount attribute he will insist upon for presidential appointment to office is blind loyalty to him personally. Thus his first Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, was cashiered because he didn’t quash Special Counsel’s investigation as was James Comey, the Director of the FBI. He then appointed Matthew Whitaker as Acting Attorney General, who had vociferously criticized the Mueller investigation. Trump followed the Whitaker temporary appointment with William Barr, who had previously publicly defended Trump’s action in firing Comey, which was part of the Mueller investigation concerning possible obstruction of justice. Yet Barr, unlike Sessions, did not recuse himself from reviewing the Mueller investigation or making findings that exonerated Trump on the obstruction matter as well as determining what portions of the report may be disclosed to Congress and the public. On another front, AG Barr has deviated from long standing DOJ policy regarding its duty to defend Congressional legislation from court challenges and, at Trump’s direction, has directed the Department to abandon its defense of the Affordable Care Act (which the Administration was unable to persuade Congress to repeal). The net result of all this? We now have in place a Department of Justice that is an extension of the White House, not an independent enforcer of the Rule of Law with a non-partisan dedication to integrity and its Constitutional obligations. The AG has become the consigliere of the President. Do not for a minute think that this message has not been received loudly and clearly by everyone in the DOJ and government service.

We do not have a President who considers himself to be President of all the people in our country. He is President only for those who are loyal to him. Political opponents and critics are labeled “enemies”. Violence is subtly and even expressly encouraged against outspoken dissenters. He divides the country into two camps: those who are for him, and those who do not support him. He openly encourages the DOJ to investigate political opponents, and embraces the idea of “punishing Democrats” by bussing migrants to their districts and turning them loose on the streets. This is our President? This is how we are to deal with political disagreements?

At bottom, his objectives are easily discernible : the transition of our government from a democratic republic to an autocratic regime. In this, he finds the Constitution to be an obstacle, even complaining that the Founders have made it difficult for him to achieve his goals.

The Republican Party. is enabling his assault on the Constitution by refusing to perform its duty in Congress to function as a co-equal branch in checking the overreach of the Executive branch. The national emergency declaration that has resulted in the President appropriating funds for a border wall that was rejected by Congress is nothing less than a hijacking by the Executive branch of authority that the Constitution vests in Congress alone. By failing to overcome Trump’s veto of Congressional condemnation of this action, the Republican faction in Congress has in effect ceded its constitutional function to him. This is a grave wound to our Constitutional framework of government.

This President has likewise attacked and continuously attempts to intimidate the Judiciary. He questions the competency of judges based on their ethnicity, their being appointed by a different president, the geographic location of the court, and other bullying tactics. He recently suggested getting rid of judges. Such conduct speaks volumes of his contempt for the Rule of Law and passion for autocratic rule. It could not be more clear that he expects loyalty from those he appoints to the bench. The independence and integrity of the Judiciary is likewise gravely wounded by his disrespectful and inappropriate attempts to influence judges in the fulfillment of their independent and coequal constitutional function.

He also has brazenly dismissed the constitutional powers of oversight entrusted to the coequal branch of Congress by ordering his subordinates to refuse to comply with Congressional subpoenas requiring them to appear before Congress to testify and produce documents highly pertinent to the administration’s entanglements, financial dealings, and communications with foreign powers — matters which clearly implicate national security.

While Trump’s supporters may welcome this movement towards autocracy because they see it as serving their own agenda (power, nationalism, return of white patriarchal supremacy, wealth), the rest of us risk losing our democracy and forfeiting our cherished freedoms and rights if we don not pay attention to this President and the unmistakable signals he consistently emits. In the book “How Democracies Die”, the authors compare the collapse of democratic institutions from Europe and Latin America to analyze the alarming erosion of democratic norms in the United States. A common thread is that those who undermine democracies come into their leadership as political outsiders with the assistance of political insiders who are pursuing their agendas. The insiders typically downplay the outsiders display of authoritarian behavior. believing they can keep them under control. Too late, they discover they cannot and the democracies die. The authors highlight four main warning signs of authoritarian behavior in this pattern: 1) rejection of democratic institutions or a weak commitment to them; 2) denial of the legitimacy of political opponents; 3) toleration or encouragement of violence; and 4) the desire to reduce civil liberties.

Trump has repeatedly displayed all of these alarming signs. The Senate, controlled by his Party, has repeatedly failed to check him at any step of the way. Those in his administration who have made even minor efforts to restrain his dictatorial impulses have all been dismissed. One of them, James Mattis, the Secretary of Defense, made the ominous comment to the Defense Department as he left to “support and defend the Constitution while protecting our way of life.” What does he know? What does Attorney General Barr want to keep the people from knowing? Our government serves “We the People”. It is our government. We have the right to access and be informed of matters that are germane to the integrity of our institutions because we are the masters of those who serve us, not vice versa. How can we have trust in the judgment of an official who serves at the whim of the President whose conduct is at issue?

The concerns I have are not partisan political concerns. The Constitution is not a partisan document. Every politician, government official, and citizen is sworn to uphold and defend the Constitution. If we have reached the point where defending and upholding the Constitution is somehow considered “partisan politics”, that itself is evidence that our democracy is in imminent danger.

2020 may be the last opportunity Americans have to save our democracy for ourselves and all generations to come. Will we rise to the occasion as our parents and past generations did, or will we passively surrender to the theft of power by an autocratic movement and allow our democracy to die? Our Constitution, to the express irritation of the President, is all that stands in the way. Which candidates are committed to the Constitution and which will betray it? Wearing a flag lapel pin is a hollow mockery if someone’s soul is far away from what it represents. The 2020 elections are in reality a referendum on our Constitution. Do we remain faithful to it, or do we exit from our 231 years of history as a constitutional republic?