I
The Charge
Yes, Americans successfully stared down tyrannical types who desired such power in the past. They fought against a king who denied his subjects their rights granted by the Crown that there would be no taxation without representation. They fought leaders of the Confederacy in a civil war to ensure no man or woman would ever be the property of another. They fought two world wars against foreign enemies who, in their desire for world domination, overthrew sovereign nations and brutalized their populations. They fought against local officials and elected members of Congress who tried to suppress the right to free expression of creative individuals, by engaging in fear mongering to claim such intellectuals and creatives were members of the Communist party who should be denied such rights. They fought against local officials and elected members of Congress who opposed granting civil rights to women and minorities so they could experience the full rights and opportunities granted to all people regardless of sex, gender, race, or ethnicity. But this tyrant is of a different breed.
He not only ignores but actively challenges the legitimacy of the separation and delegation of powers prescribed within the Constitution that would limit executive power – powers delegated to the legislative branch that include regulating commerce, controlling funding through legislation and appropriation, authorizing and funding foreign affairs programs, establishing reporting requirements for agencies, providing advice and consent over treaties, engaging sanctions and entering international agreements, and declaring war – by issuing hundreds of executive orders that circumvent the oversight process as though he was not a president but a king. And in the same vein, he demands fealty from any person who owes him their position or desires to remain in his good graces – whether those be individuals running for or having been elected to office, administrators of various federal agencies, members of the Supreme Court, or private businessmen and women who need to protect their business and position of wealth – while he punishes individuals and countries who do not bend knee.
He mocks private citizens, journalists, duly elected officials, military commanders, and intelligence officers – all of whom are duly vested members of the country protected by rights and many of whom are critically important in protecting the nation state, individuals who oftentimes take an oath to willingly sacrifice their lives and sacred honor doing so – while he panders to authoritarian leaders whose absolute strength he admires and desires, people one and all who pose direct threats not only to the freedoms desired and deserved by their own people but to the very existence and purpose of America herself. It is no wonder he despises the less fortunate, those who may not possess an education or the rights of citizenship yet granted, those who focus not on money or the accumulation of wealth but on the simple pleasures afforded by a life lived well amongst family and friends, because he holds no respect for people over whom he can exert his power and capitalize on what he sees as their vulnerabilities.
Breaking all norms of responsible leadership, this tyrant – a convicted felon who was twice impeached – uses the constitutional framework and levers of his office against the government that was itself formed of, by, and for the people. He applies the law only when it is to his advantage, as when he hides behind the right to free speech when it serves his need to promote a particular agenda, but he denies his fellow citizens the same right when their criticism or dissent threaten his world view. He uses his position both domestically and internationally to increase his and his family’s personal wealth by billions of dollars, effectively running an extortion racket out of the people’s house.1
And in the last instance the tyrant uses the mechanisms of the State against his enemies, seeking vengeance for perceived grievances which he brought upon himself. Here no one is
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