A Roving Mind [View all]

[H2O Man]

“Imagine the people who believe such things and who are not ashamed to ignore, totally, all the patient findings of thinking minds through all the centuries since the Bible was written. And it is these ignorant people, the most uneducated, the most unimaginative, the most unthinking among us, who would make themselves the guides and leaders of us all; who would force their feeble and childish beliefs on us; who would invade our schools and libraries and homes. I personally resent it bitterly.”
Isaac Asimov; The Roving Mind


I think that we can all agree that Trump's base is a cult. I'm not speaking of those in Washington who dislike the president, but are willing to publicly humiliate themselves for job security. Or those republicans across the country who don't think Trump is a “real” republican, but always vote along party lines.

Rather, I am thinking of those who attend his rallies, where they behave in the manner of religious experience, with all sense of individuality lost. The crowd becomes an individual organism, swaying and shouting praise in veneration to the object of their devotion. They are, as Asimov says, the most ignorant, uneducated, unimaginative, and unthinking among us. And they seek to force their god upon us.

I was speaking to an old friend last night, an aging hippie who helped finance my social activism for many decades. As Thanksgiving approaches, he dreads talking to his brother-in-law, who he describes as “aggressively stupid.” My friend said few things are as annoying as when, if he points out something bad Trump is doing, the guy says, “They all do it.”

My first response to such nonsense would be to ask who “they” are? The most likely answer is, “You know – all of them.” This provides the opportunity to point out that there have actually been but three past administrations with anything similar: Nixon formed his own “intelligence/dirty tricks” unit known as the plumbers; Reagan and Bush 1 had the National Security Council engage in illegal, hidden “foreign policies”; and Dick Cheney formed a Nixon-style intelligence unit run through the Office of the Vice President. By no coincidence, in each example, people were convicted of felony charges. This tends to take the fuzz of the “they all do it” peach.

Next, ask if the person values the Constitution? Is it more or less valuable than political party affiliation? When was the last time they read the Constitution? Specifically, the part about impeachment? Have they read the Federalist Papers? Specifically, numbers 65 and 66, which contain the Founding Fathers' thoughts on impeachment? What exactly do they say about presidents who have unseemly relationships with foreign powers, for personal advantage? Call it speculation on my part if you will, but I'd bet $10 to a penny they haven't read these documents.

I'd ask them to explain what exactly they believe the word “bribery” is intended to mean in the Impeachment Clause? Next, I'd ask them to describe why the Founding Fathers substituted the words “high crimes and misdemeanors” for the previously proposed “maladministration” in the Constitution? What is the difference? What advantages and disadvantages are contained in each?

My friend cracked up laughing, and said that I could talk circles around most people. I said that's a shame, at least in my opinion, because every citizen should be interested in and educated about the Constitution – what each section means, why it was included, and how we can best use it to maintain our democratic republic.

In my opinion, impeachment is intended to not only protect the nation from any individual action by a president – though there ar individual actions that should truly disqualify any person from holding that office – but more frequently, to determine that a series of actions show that the president simply cannot be trusted to not engage in future maladministration.

Enjoy this week, for we are both witnessing and participating in history.
H2O Man