A friend recently commented this regarding Donald Trump in another venue.
Politics is a repugnant endeavor…America and the world needs a president who will rule by decree like Obama, only in the other direction…
While I understand where he’s coming from, I have to disagree with him. The last thing this country needs is another President that will “rule” like Obama from either direction. The problem is not the President. The problem is not the Supreme Court. The problem is the Congress. It is broken fundamentally and has been so for over 100 years, ever since the 17th Amendment was ratified and turned the Senate over to mob rule. It’s a long historical discourse that I can’t bore you with here, but this is the root cause of the rise of the D.C. elite political class. At the national level, at least. Progressives were in the end-game of a nearly 120 year agenda and both the People and the States are waking up and pushing back.
Everyone seems to want to talk about how Congress has the power of the purse and can defund the President’s over-reaches. If the State’s were still actually represented in the Senate as intended, rather than this nationalized quagmire, do you think that would even be necessary? Hell, no! He would have been long since impeached. Assuming he would have even been able to attempt his tyranny at the outset.
Even more insidious is that the “mess” with the Federal Courts, and especially SCOTUS, is entirely the fault of Congress. Most people are aware of the Senate’s role in approving justices. I’d say a majority are even aware that Congress has the power to impeach a Federal judge, including a Supreme Court justice. What most people have never learned is that Congress has authority over the Supreme Court. Article 3, Section 2 reads,
In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party, the supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases before mentioned, the supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make.
Notice that last part. Congress can set both exceptions to the Court’s scope as well as define the rules under which it operates. The other thing to notice in the law is that the President does not have a say in this. Considering the makeup of State legislatures and governorships, can you imagine SCOTUS getting away with it’s recent behaviors if the States were still represented in the Senate as intended? That’s a “Hell, no!” too.
We have gone from a tyranny of the majority to a tyranny of the mob in recent years. The last thing we need to do is embed the idea of a tyranny of the presidency. We don’t want to turn an outlier into precedent. The idea is to return to our Constitutional roots, not move further away.
The last couple congressional elections were far more important than most people realize. Many in the press like to talk about how the TEA party is “dead,” yet that couldn’t be further from the truth. It’s principles have become a part of the mindset of much of the grass roots and has not only given Republicans increasing dominance in both Houses of Congress, but has – and this is the important part – given to the rise of Constitutionalist lawmakers.
It is this that has pushed the President into the last step of taking the cloak of a tyrant. It has also changed the nature of Congress. Both Boehner and McConnell had to legitimately defend themselves in their 2014 primaries. Others were forced out of office. It doesn’t matter that Boehner or McConnell won, it’s that they had to mount a real defense where an attack would have been unbelievable a few years ago. That their authority could be threatened as it has been over the last year would have been unthinkable a few years ago. Ted Cruz went so far as to call McConnell – the Senate Majority Leader – a liar from the floor of the Senate and get away with it. While it helps, it doesn’t matter that what he said is true, it matters that he got away with it.
The rise to power of Constitutionalist Congressmen has forced Boehner and McConnell to abandon even the cloak of a fake conservatism and be seen as the Progressives they are. Both men are going to have a hard time explaining away supporting Obama against their own party and constituents. The reality is that much of the Republican leadership have more in common with Obama than their voters. The difference is in extent and how quickly they want to get there. In fact, I would go so far as to say that if they hadn’t governed like Democrats, Trump would not be having the success he is having.
That is the heart of his political success. Donald Trump isn’t fighting Barack Obama, he is fight the real enemies: the elite political class* and political correctness with which they bully the populace into submission. I’ve posted for years here about who has to be taken on first and Trump is going after those people. I’m grateful that he is doing what few have the courage and resources to do on a large public scale. It is important for the survival of America as a Republic. However, if he’s not going to do as I say above and move this country back towards Constitutional health, I don’t want him as President. I believe that Walker, Cruz and Paul will do that, which is why I support them. Trump has not given me any confidence in that regard, though he is clearly a better move in that direction than anyone the Democrats could offer.
I’ll close noting that if we don’t hold the dream where electing Congressmen who believe in the Constitution, it really won’t matter if it’s Trump, Hillary or Ted Cruz in the White House. At worse, Progressives will simply have to wait a few more years and then it will come to violence to preserve the Republic. As I said in the beginning, Progressives have been playing a long game for over 100 years to get to this point. You can’t reverse that in two Congressional cycles or in a single Presidency. That is a problem for our instant-gratification culture that we need to speak to and speak to honestly. The price is too great to fail at this point.
* – By “political class” I do not only mean elected officials, but also the press, much of academia and the federal bureaucracy. I.e., the status quo supporters of intrusive and Progressive federal government.