The knowledge that “history repeats itself” is so rooted in history that it probably came from Proverbs. So why hasn’t anyone noticed the misery happening now?
This nation began like a petri dish, beginning with straggling migrants seeking a better life. Families packed into boats and off they came crossing unknown seas to reach uncharted lands. The 1700s brought conflict from governments seeing what their former citizens had developed from raw terrain and they wanted it.
Their new colonial home was worth fighting for, so the colonists did. “The British are coming! The red coats are coming!” Men grabbed a musket and jumped on a horse to high-tail it to alert neighbors that danger was near. What telephone?
Sound familiar? Change the words to “Russians are coming” and monarchists wearing red MAGA hats, and the proverb is powerful. Danger is definitely afloat.
Winning the Revolutionary War set the colonies on a new course toward becoming a Republic. Creating that official governing document, the Constitution, forced delegates from the 13 colonies to cooperate into forming a government of three parts -- executive, legislative and judicial. The Articles formed the first part of the Constitution, as the Amendments gradually followed. Compromising was necessary.
People relaxed when the Supreme Court emerged in 1789 as the official arbiter of the land. Six men appointed for life, and confirmed by the Senate took their judicial duties seriously. Their rulings were powerful.
The court grew to nine members in 1869, one being appointed the Chief Justice, always having the final word on any conflict and shaping the fabric of the land. Good or bad.
Now 250 years later, the Court has lost its way. In 2008 the Supreme Court ruled in the Citizens United case that corporations had equal freedom of speech rights as humans, and money equaled free speech.
Power was valuable so big money could now dump cash freely into formerly restricted political election accounts. Millionaires buying power is what brought us to the current crisis. The looting continued as the Court repelled challenges to the decision.
In the mid-teens the Republican Party began going off the rails to gerrymander voters, catering to ever more conservative opinions. End Citizens United was founded as an effort to stymie the flood of laws pushing the government toward the right and to counter those billions of dollars feeding ultra conservative causes. A fight was on.
The Rule of Law became battered. Conflict abounded. Gradually the GOP became the party of “NO” the more Article I was compromised.
It didn’t matter what the people wanted from government or how they voted, the list of “no” grew. Elected officials had long strayed from their lanes (think the highway here), but laws mostly kept them from totally destroying the freeway. Supreme Court challenges grew.
Legislators wanted to show citizens they meant “No”. Laws restricted doctors with loss of licenses for treating a pregnant woman or prescribing drugs. Lawyers representing doctors also were threatened. The threats broadened; attorneys general jumped across their lanes into other states, threatening citizens there. The executive branch bullied other countries with gag rules for “cooperating” with any American professionals that opposed them.
Professional educators were slammed next. What they couldn’t teach was more than what they could, and students suffered. The separation of Church and State no longer wasn’t. The Ten Commandments were authorized for every Texas classroom, when kids can’t read well enough to understand the words.
What’s next? Russian as your foreign language elective?
Every branch of government was jumping over boundaries when it was none of their business!
The Party of No has taken over, folks, and I’m not alone in fighting this negativity. The GOP won’t allow any constitutional challenges to learn if voters actually support the platform of #47. Polls indicate a vast majority don’t. We are no longer the land of the free.
The Supreme Court seems unequal to this task since they already ruled presidential powers are unlimited.
If The Supremes can’t control DJT#47, who can? Just asking.
Shelly has worn more hats in the communications field than Carter has pills but forgot to retire when she closed her promotions business. She earned a BA in Journalism at NTSU (before it became UNT) and has never lost her love of words.
Source: Freepik.com