Caveat — We The People show up in sufficient numbers through the primaries (since Russia is now “voting” in them) and the general to overcome what’s sure to be massive Russian cheating on Donald Trump’s behalf and virtually every Republican gets shit-canned. Caveat #2 — A peaceful transfer of power happens.
Caveat #3 — The Rule Of Law becomes a “thing” again. We all agree to adhere to it. We all agree that no one is above the law and everyone gets treated equally by it. As we’ve learned the hard way, relying on people to follow norms might be a moral bridge too far for some of them. There must be significant change — both systemic and cultural.
We need to re-instill both respect for the Rule Of Law but also a sense of civic pride in ourselves. Democracy is incredibly hard to pull off successfully. It can’t be done by a lazy citizenry. Bad actors aren’t lazy. That’s the problem.
The rebuild of our political system and structures will start with reasserting the Rule Of Law. The Rule of Law will demand that we not hold every criminal accountable for what they’re doing now — but, also, for what they did in 2016 when they deliberately undermined the Rule of Law — tried to overthrow it in fact. Tried to murder it dead.
Okay — too melodramatic. The Republican Party stole the Rule of Law from us via an election result and want that election result back.
If we view election 2016 as a “crime scene” & the election’s results “stolen property” – making We The People the crime’s true victims – how will we return that “property” – the thing that was stolen – to US?
It seems profoundly “unfair” (to put it mildly) that the crime’s victims – us – would be forced to endure eternal victim-hood because there was “no way” to return to us what was stolen from us: the election results (minus Russia) that we actually voted for.
We, as a people, once accommodated slavers and slavery. It compromised our Constitution so severely that we fought a Civil War over it. We refused to deal with an INJUSTICE directly. It did not go away. It lurked.
Just like Russia is lurking.
Russia got what IT wanted from our election. Think about that. They ACTIVELY sought one result vs another – ACTIVELY engaged with our electoral process to MAKE THAT RESULT HAPPEN – and we are STILL arguing about whether the borscht is cold enough. That’s how far past the event horizon of this black hole we may already be. We think we’re swimming in a pond unvisited as yet by Russia. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Before fully hitching his wagon to Moscow, Mitch McConnell – at the behest of his masters, the Kochs, the Mercers and all that RW money – set out to hijack the judiciary. He denied Obama lots and lots of lifetime-appointed federal judges including a SCOTUS judge that was his right to have because WE THE PEOPLE VOTED FOR OBAMA.
See how Mitch was already standing in our way? But, being greedy (and therefore stupid), Mitch was also getting serenaded by Russia. Mitch has been taking Russian money into his campaign coffers forever – and Russian money comes with strings. Lots and lots of strings.
The Russians know how to use greed and sex to lure stupid, greedy Americans into compromising positions. Whether or not Putin has video of Trump watching hookers piss on the Moscow hotel room bed where the Obamas slept – while he shouted the “n-word” – makes no difference. The fact that the threat even exists – and Trump can’t defend himself – speaks volumes. In a civil trial, it might even clear the 50% preponderance of the evidence hurdle we’d need to clear to win.
As we’re now (FINALLY!) being reminded, it was Mitch McConnell who refused to let Barack Obama inform We The People that Russia didn’t just want Trump to win, they were actively working to MAKE him win. Hey – how familiar is that? Trump, we just learned, went batshit crazy when Joseph Maguire, the head of the DNI, told Congressional Democrats (including Adam Schiff) that Russia was actively gaming the election – including the Democratic primaries – on Trump’s behalf.
Trump was worried the Democrats would use the information against him (of course they will). That they might use the information to DEFEND THEMSELVES? Not part of Trump’s equation…
Anyone who thinks the Majority (that’s who was cheated here) can sit by idly while lifetime judges – nominated by a criminal POTUS who never had the authority to nominate anyone (only legitimate potuses are authorized to do that) – continue to steer us AWAY from the country we voted for is foolish.
It will be unthinkably hard – voiding an election’s results – and we almost certainly won’t do it.
But then we should not be surprised when – not too far in the future – the ripple effects of leaving injustice in place catches up with us.
As it will…
History’s pretty consistent that way.
Leaving the results of election 2016 in place is an understandable shoulder shrug in the face of a very hard ask. But the alternative will be another Civil War. How can there not be when we refuse to learn from History – and insist on living a lie that betrays our values and, in fact, leads us diametrically away from them?