Tuesday April 16, 2024

An Independent Progressive Media Outlet

FacebookTwitterYoutube
Newsletter
News Feeds:
Americans Cannot Allow a King or an Emperor to be in the White House PDF Print E-mail
Commentary
Written by Randall Schumann, Madison   
Wednesday, 12 February 2020 11:04

donald-trumpWhen America consisted of 13 colonies 244 years ago, the colonists enacted a Declaration of Independence and forcibly in a war, got rid of America's first "King" -- England's King George III.


MADISON, WI - In the 3 years since Donald Trump has been President, he has continually violated his Oath of Office to "uphold the Constitution" which establishes 3 co-equal parts of government. The executive branch (President), the legislative branch (Congress), and the judicial branch. But rather than uphold the constitutionally established separation of powers, Trump has unconstitutionally refused to comply with mandated requirements to provide Congress with lawfully subpoenaed documents, and has vilified Federal court decisions that have determined numerous actions and executive orders of Trump to be unconstitutional.

And most recently during Trump's impeachment (non) trial in the Senate, a Trump defense attorney, Alan Dershowitz, argued that whatever Trump does as President, "if it is something he believed would get him elected in the public interest, he could not be impeached for it."

constitutional-conventionThat arrogant argument essentially says that there are no constitutional limits on a President's power, that the powers of Congress under the Constitution are null and void, and as a consequence, Donald Trump is, in effect, a 'King" who is above the law and cannot be called to account by Congress under the Constitution.

Interestingly, a recent article noted that the same inability to separate the personal interests of a leader (such as Trump) from the country he leads (America) has echoes to ancient Rome. Roughly 2,000 years ago, the Roman Senate over a relatively short period of time, abdicated to their "princeps"/ "first among equals" leader, the Senate's oversight powers over the military, their veto authority over legislation, and also granted any Princep immunity from prosecution. Not surprisingly, the result was that what had been a "first among equals" leader became a series of "Emperors" with sole, unquestioned authority over the Senate and the Roman people. Another result was the notion that the identity of the Emperor was inseparable from the identity of the State, such that any disagreement with the Emperor was an attack against the state itself - and thus arguably "treasonous" subject to the death penalty. The final result of Rome and its Senate/government allowing the creation of Emperors was the fall of the Roman empire.

If that description of what happened with the creation of Emperors in Rome 2000 years ago sounds familiar, that is because it also describes Trump's defense attorney Dershowitz's argument referenced above in Trump's Impeachment (non) trial in the Senate.

The bottom line: America forcibly got rid of its first "King" 244 years ago. Americans now need to learn from both Roman history 2000+ years ago, and from our own Revolutionary War, and act in little more than 244 Days to vote out of office and get rid of, a President who sees himself as, and acts as, a King /Emperor in violation of his oath to uphold our Constitution.

 

Randy Schumann
Madison, WI

 
Tweet With Us:

Share

Copyright © 2024. Green Bay Progressive. Designed by Shape5.com