Losing the Republic

Photo by Anthony Garand on Unsplash

On September 17, 1787, Benjamin Franklin addressed the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, convened to transform the failed confederacy that had emerged from the Revolution that freed the Colonies from British tyranny.

“I agree to this Constitution, with all its faults, if they are such; because I think a General Government necessary for us, and there is no form of government, but what may be a blessing to the people if well administered; and believe further, that this is likely to be well administered for a course of years, and can only end in despotism, as other forms have done before it, when the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic government.”

The next day, with the Constitution well in its way toward ratification, Franklin returned to the home of Samuel Powel, where he had been hosted during the convention. Samuel’s wife, Elizabeth, asked Franklin, “Well, Doctor, what have we got? A republic? Or a monarchy?”

Franklin responded, “A republic, if you can keep it.”

We have lost the republic Franklin and the other founding fathers helped create, yielding to the very despotism Franklin warned about.

This is a failure on the part of we, the people, of the Constitutional Republic we were gifted by Franklin and the others.

We have a despot in power who doesn’t believe in the Constitution, or any form of legal restraint.

He believes only in his own sense of “morality.”

This isn’t how a Constitutional Republic works.

And yet we, the people, tolerate this.

We have despot who invades other lands, kidnaps foreign leaders, and declares himself President of another nation, despite Constitutional prohibitions against all of this behavior.

And we, the people, are silent.

We have President who steals the mineral resources of another nation (a crime), seeks to sell these resources outside frameworks authorized by Congress (a crime), and manage these resources personally (a crime).

And we, the people, do nothing.

The narcissism of this American despot has reached the level of mental illness which impairs his ability to function normally.

When a President who took an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution flagrantly disregards this oath and the Constitution, then the notion of a Constitutional Republic is moot.

There is a Constitutional remedy—the 25th Amendment.

But to implement this action the republic would need individuals who understood and believed in the Constitution.

Instead we have individuals who were selected because of their submission to the despot’s cult of personality.

This is why the Senate ratification process is so important—to make sure a President’s cabinet is staffed by people who owe their allegiance to the Constitution, and not a narcissistic despot.

The Senate failed to do this, the final failure of the administration of constitutional governance Franklin warned about, the manifestation of the corruption of the American people who openly seek despotic rule.

We lost the republic.

And I am fast loosing faith in our ability to recover it.

The current despot promised to keep America out of wars.

And now we are a nation defined by war.

The despot promised to reduce defense spending by half.

And now he proposes a 50% increase in defense spending to fund the wars he promised he would avoid.

He has sent federal troops and agents to occupy American cities.

All because he believes his sense of “morality” trumps the rule of law set forth by the document that defines who and what we are as a people and a nation—the Constitution.

The American people have lost faith in this foundational defining document because they are ignorant of both its history and its contents.

Today we have federal agents hunting down immigrants who were prepared to take a test of citizenship contingent on their ability to pass a test on the Constitution.

They are hunted down by federal agents who could not pass such a test.

Egged on my a mob of American citizens similarly afflicted with the disease of Constitutional ignorance, and the consequences that accrue thereof, first and foremost of which are the failures of society to properly administer the functioning of a Constitutional Republic.

We have become the modern-day Rome, ruled by a modern-day Caligula.

The time has come for the last line of defense of Constitutional rule to be implemented.

The 25th Amendment.

Let the voice of those Americans who still believe in what Benjamin Franklin and the other founders of our Constitutional Republic helped create be heard.

And let those empowered by the 25th Amendment take heed.

The despot is inflicted with a severe case of narcissistic personality disorder.

His mental illness manifests itself in ways harmful to the republic.

Act now to remove this man from office.

Or else our republic is lost.

We failed in our duty to keep it.