(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Time to end the imperial presidency? [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-10-28 TIME TO END THE IMPERIAL PRESIDENCY? “Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant to step the ocean and crush us at a blow? Never!….If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher.” Abraham Lincoln Americans who read, watch, or hear news from reliable sources are being thoroughly educated in criminal law, as it pertains to the legally required preparations and maneuvers leading up to several prosecutions of Donald Trump. We are witnessing just how careful the government’s lawyers need to be in order to build a sustainable case against the accused. In our constitutional republic, individuals have many rights which must be painstakingly protected before prosecutions can begin. The ongoing, detailed discussions by legal experts make clear just how many rights a defendant has under the Constitution. At the same time, we all know that ex-presidents have legal prerogatives that are denied to regular folks like you and me. Looking at the pains the government must take to protect a wealthy, influential, popular ex-president, we can see how many rights we all legally have. Yet, we know those rights do not always trickle down to us plebes. No way could I, for instance, request a delay of a trial—whether for murder or a speeding ticket—by announcing my intention to run for public office—unless I wanted to give everyone in the courtroom a good laugh, before being penalized for wasting the court’s time, by being handed a hefty fine and a jail sentence for contempt of court. I could expect similar results if I claimed innocence by not knowing I had violated the law. Everybody knows murder is wrong. The speed limits are posted, and I am responsible for reading them while driving. And my trial would continue. And what would be my fate if I threatened judges, prosecutors, jurors or witnesses? Reality gets worse for poor and minority citizens, whose civil rights are often ignored by the authorities. Apparently, everyone is equal, but some (ex-presidents, for instance) are more equal than others. Has American society reached a breaking point in its mortal conflict between two creeds? We gloat that “No one is above the law.” Then, we scarcely mutter “The king can do no wrong.” The imperial presidency has grown since the country’s founding into an illegal yet impervious institution. In 2016 America elected someone who recognized just how unassailably powerful the office of Chief Executive had become, who then acted imperially to the full extent, for the next four years. He faced little effective opposition, defying and ignoring laws that obstructed his ambition, and making new laws to suit his convenience. The record shows how routinely and outrageously he overlooked and even violated established limits to presidential power. The checks and balances written into the Constitution were largely ineffectual. Millions protested his actions, but the imperial presidency had mutated to the point where protests had also become ineffective. Until 2020, no one had ever asked a sitting president whether he would leave office should he lose reelection. It had been written into the Constitution, and routinely understood and followed, that we have a system whereby leaders are changed at the will of the people, without bloodshed. A president who lost his bid for reelection was expected to uphold the Constitution he had sworn to uphold, and leave. The process continued, ongoing and unquestioned, until some people began to wonder about Trump, who had habitually violated many other practices, customs, and even statutes. Would he obey the law, and allow the peaceful turnover of power? When reporters began to ask him whether he would, it was apparently assumed by Trump and many of his supporters that he had a choice. The country had taken to accepting the imperial presidency as unquestioned reality. The trashing of the Capitol on January 6, 2021 proved that the laws we had expected our leaders to obey were no longer relevant to many Americans. Perhaps the fact that Trump lost the popular vote in 2016 while still winning in the Electoral College tempted him to believe there might be other ways around the laws ensuring peaceful change of leadership. Adolf Hitler, for instance, took power despite lacking the support of a majority of his country’s citizens. Any autocrat could ask, “Does the ruler rule the people, or is it the other way around? Who are the people anyway?” While the Electoral College is questionable, it is constitutional. But current events show that millions believe there must be other ways to tweak the law and ignore the Constitution. In other words, the king is always right, even if he breaks the law. Now that Trump has opened the box of imperial demons, sitting presidents can expect to be asked whether they intend to follow the law and leave office should they fail to win reelection. The accompanying theatrics should keep the pundit class amused and occupied long into the future. If presidents need to be asked if they will leave, it can be assumed they do not have to. So why hold elections? Donald Trump used a makeshift revolutionary army to try reinforcing his claims to continue ruling. How long will it be before other candidates raise better disciplined, armed, and trained armies, to help them win “the people’s hearts?” This bloodthirsty strategy became routine in the Roman Empire, until Rome’s final downfall. It has been observed that our Constitution is nothing more than a gentlemen’s agreement. Now we discover that when a non-gentleman comes to power, our relied-upon checks and balances can be ignored. And millions of Americans apparently welcome the new reality. Do they believe the country cannot survive with gentlemen in charge? Democracy seems so twentieth century. Many former democracies are ruled by authoritarian regimes. If America is to survive, should we not get a ruthless authoritarian of our own—someone who knows how to “play the game?” With the future looking scary, mysterious, and mean, maybe the imperial presidency is the best solution. And living in a real empire would free us from the responsibilities of self-government. The prospect is tempting to many of our fellow citizens. We who believe that people are capable of governing themselves if given the required resources can hear a loud wake-up call from the multiple indictments of our ex-president. We are the ones whom emperors, kings, fuhrers, duces, chairmen—whatever they call themselves—insist on silencing. Now, when I can still write stories like this one without fearing boots in the night, is the best time to ring the alarms. We need to insist that no future president can rule with total impunity. Our founding fathers, having rebelled against a divine-right monarchy, had no intention of establishing an imperial presidency. Our Constitution begins with “We the People,” not “We the Emperor.” But can we find our way back to people’s rule? After two-and-a-half centuries, America’s transformation from republic to empire is now obvious. If we do not change it, the current situation will get worse, leading to disaster for those of us who might be tempted to criticize our government. We now know that we can no longer routinely expect those we elect to high office to behave like gentlemen. But how do we reverse the current precarious reality? How do we return power to the people? The details are unclear, but I believe the basic solution is for all of us, beginning with the “woke” ones, to get busy with the difficult, boring, and often ugly process of self-governing. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/10/28/2202206/-Time-to-end-the-imperial-presidency?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/