July 4th is our original 'No Kings' Day
Today, we have a government that has neither the legitimacy of consent nor the purpose of securing our unalienable rights.
John Hancock, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Cesar Rodney, Stephen Hopkins, Ben Franklin, Richard Henry Lee, and the others signed the Declaration of Independence didn’t do it give us another King. The government Trump leads is what they risked all to leave.
They signed on for this:
We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness—-That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government.
This extraordinary paragraph inspired the world. It became the banner around which generations of Americans rallied, and the ongoing inspiration for people everywhere who sought freedom. It clearly describes two things. It says the purpose of government is to secures our rights. And, it says that government’s “just power” flows the consent of the governed. These two elements, the reason we establish a government, and the test of its legitimacy define the American experiment.
Under Trump, our government no longer exists for the purpose it was intended
Far from aiming to secure our rights, the Trump administration uses its power to undermine them.
He has abducted American citizens and deported them to foreign lands where they have no connection.
He has sent masked, armed thugs to terrorize our cities. His Attorney General, Pam Bondi argues that Trump has the power to our nullify laws.
He has ignored and disobeyed lawful court orders, and intimidated judges. He has attacked independent law firms and universities.
He has targeted women and black Americans for termination of government employment and has banned many of their images from government buildings.
He has used his pardon power to create a vigilante movement that puts his interest above the nation’s, and he has attempted to convert our professional military into a political movement.
The purpose Trump’s government is not our security, rather it is his wealth and power. He has taken extravagant foreign gifts. He has used lawsuits to create a vehicle for corporations to “settle” rather than to contest, and by so doing to pay for favor. He has used the power of our government to cause great pain in the form of tariffs, and when one of the suffering industries bows down and submits, he offers some relief for the pain. He has created a cryptocurrency scheme to enrich himself, and he regularly sells access to those willing to pay for dinner at Mar-a-Lago, his private palace.
His governs without consent of the governed
The government put nearly all its policies in one bill. That provides us with the opportunity to measure consent. The nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation did just that in a poll released on June 17. It showed that 64- percent of Americans did not want the bill to pass. Other polls examined the policies separately. Tax cuts for the rich? Cuts to food programs? Cuts to healthcare? Cuts to science research? Cuts to K-12 education? Spending more money to build a massive internal deportation program than we do on all other criminal justice efforts? The polling is clear. Americans do not consent. Policies not in this one bill are equally unpopular. Abandoning Ukraine to Russia? We do not consent. Further eroding abortion rights? We do not consent.
The evidence does not just come from polling. This administration has seen the largest public demonstrations of opposition in American history.
One might argue that consent was conferred because elected representatives passed his unpopular law. That might be true but for the perversions of gerrymandering. First, consider that, due to population differences among the state, Democratic Senators represent more than 20 million more Americans than Republican ones do. Senate consent to the one big bill came only from GOP Senators. The large majority of Americans were represented in no votes. Similarly, in the House, where gerrymandering is protected by the U.S. Supreme Court, many of the representatives never face serious electoral competition. They do, however, campaign for campaign donations- also protected by the Court. That means representatives often work for the map makers and the campaign funders rather than for voters. Americans know this system is broken. That’s one reason we keep electing people who promise change.
One may also argue that governments must sometimes do unpopular things. In the 1960’s, civil rights was deeply unpopular, particularly in the old confederate states where Jim Crow laws had effectively nullified the 14th amendment to the constitution. In that case the consent required for legitimacy stood in opposition to the purpose of government- to secure the rights of all people.
Today, we have a government that has neither the legitimacy of consent nor the purpose of securing our unalienable rights.
In 1776 they came together to create, and today we need to come together to restore, a legitimate government that protects our rights rather than alienates them. It won’t be easy, but the for this cause, “with a firm Reliance on the Protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.”