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Happy Birthday, USA. Goodbye, Republic. [1]

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Date: 2024-07-04  

There is a story almost every American has heard about the Constitutional Convention, held in Philadelphia from May to September of 1787. The first telling of the story is probably found in the journal of James McHenry, a convention delegate from Maryland.

McHenry wrote: "A lady asked Dr. (Benjamin) Franklin, ‘well, Doctor, what have we got? A republic or a monarchy?'

‘A republic,’ replied the Doctor, ‘if you can keep it’."

Somehow, we managed to keep our republic for not quite 237 years. Now, it's gone.

The Supreme Court, without a single honest glance at what the Constitution actually says or means, has replaced our republic with a monarchy. They have chosen to transform the President into a unitary ruler who can operate with full immunity from the laws of the land. An emperor-king who is untouchable by the law-making power of Congress or the law-enforcing power of the courts.

Your first reaction might be, “That’s not true!” You might think the Court only granted immunity for the Presidency when they are carrying out “official acts.” If that sounds like a limitation, it isn’t.

Official Acts are going to be loosely defined as “whatever the President does.” The ruling itself says that conferring with the Attorney General, and providing direction to the AG, is an Official Act. So, if the President orders his Attorney General to investigate and prosecute an opponent, a reporter he dislikes, or a citizen who writes a critical letter to the editor, that abuse of power would be immunized.

Congress could make it illegal for the President to use the Justice Department that way, but an immunized President can simply ignore and violate any law enacted by Congress. He or she can’t be prosecuted. He or she can’t be held accountable to the law.

Lord Acton, the 19th century British politician who spent his life observing a powerful monarchy in action at at close range, knew something about the risks inherent in handing human beings unfettered power. "Power corrupts," he famously said. "Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

For 236 years, we managed to become the most powerful nation in human history by elevating an ordinary citizen into the office of the Presidency. A servant leader, working for the collective benefit of every other citizen and limited in his or her power by the equal power of Congress and of the Courts.

Now our Supreme Court has chosen to manufacture a Presidency that is absolutely immune to legal consequences for his or her actions. Lacking the constraints of accountability under the law, we now have a President/Monarch with absolute power to act above the law. Absolute corruption is all but guaranteed.

There’s a timeless bit of street philosophy I remember hearing years ago: A good person will do good things because they want to. A bad person will do bad things because that is their nature. Overall, however, more good things will be done if both are afraid that doing a bad thing will land them in jail.

It's a shame our Supreme Court justices, with all their combined college and law school educations, weren't smart enough to see that.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/7/4/2251362/-Happy-Birthday-USA-Goodbye-Republic?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web

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