Color me opinionated today, conscious politics practitioner.
The Boston Globe published a six-part editorial last week titled, “Future-Proofing the Presidency” about “how to thwart the next American tyrant” and about which I have some opinions in response. Just as covid exposed an array of weaknesses in societies worldwide, the premise of the Globe’s editorial is that the last presidency “exposed the weaknesses in our system of government that could now be exploited by a corrupt leader with control of the White House.” It also makes a case for prosecuting the former guy.
What the Globe proposes — everything from turning norms like presidential tax disclosures into law to revisiting established policies like the (in)famous 1973 Department of Justice memo that says sitting presidents can’t be indicted to legislative fixes of existing laws addressing issues like nepotism and whistleblower protections to strengthening congressional subpoena powers to enacting some entirely new laws and maybe even a constitutional amendment — all seems sane, rational, and responsible. Indeed, I have no argument with the Globe or any of its bromides but like everything in mainstream journalism and politics right now, it’s just not enough for the likes of us.
If we fall for believing that their political prophylactics are complete, we will have utterly ignored the elephant in the (political) room and conscious people cannot ignore elephants.
Even if all its proposals were enacted next month, a wide chasm would separate us from the conscious body politic we are cultivating today and want to live in tomorrow. If we fall for believing that any of these political prophylactics will set us on a new course, we will have utterly ignored the elephant in the room and conscious people cannot ignore elephants. We just can’t. Take responsibility is the elephant and taking responsibility is foundational to conscious anything. So if ever there is responsibility to be taken and it is not taken, what follows will not ever rise to a level of consciousness we would call new. It just can’t.
If you ask me, there are at least three categories of Americans whose have outsize responsibility for the ways in which the previous president corrupted our system of government. If they had taken responsibility, very little of it would have unfolded as it did. The first category is political appointees/officials/government employees who were tasked, by virtue of their jobs, with carrying out the president’s orders and whims across the whole of government. As a public service, I remind you of the oath they all take:
“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.”
Miles Taylor, former deputy chief of staff to former Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen, first published "I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration" as a New York Times Op-Ed in 2018. Anonymously. He since went public and now publicly works against Trumpism. Just two days ago he tweeted: “I’m still astounded by the countless Trump officials who privately agreed with me that he was a threat to democracy yet still remain silent. Why?” We should all agree that this is deplorable behavior. One government employee whose blog I was reading said he forgot he ever took an oath.
We keep hearing within these ranks — and also within legislative ranks — that people who know better will not act on their knowing better for whatever lame, gutless justifications they proffer. Have I missed something? Not living up to oaths isn’t supposed to be optional. There are supposed to be serious repercussions for violating oaths. Is the problem the system of government that requires the oath? Is the problem the dearth of integrity within the people who violate their oaths? Is the problem that there is no reverence for oath-taking? Is the problem that there are zero consequences for oath-violating?
Part of this is our fault, a lot of it isn’t, and all of it is our responsibility.
To be clear, the second category of people with outsize responsibility for rampant nefarious activity within the last administration — the 53 GOP senators who sat as jurors in the former president’s first impeachment trial — would not exist save for all of the appointees, officials, and employees who actually did live up to their oaths. Their integrity paved the way for the abject lack of integrity displayed by those jurors who, collectively, voted 105 of 106 times to acquit (on two different counts). The Globe writes, “…primary instrument for curbing the presidency — impeachment — has turned out to be a blunt and, in modern times, ineffective weapon” and otherwise dismisses its effectiveness. “…impeachment is not as strong a deterrent as it was before Trump.” This incenses me because the instrument, impeachment, is not what’s ineffective. What’s ineffective is how the people from one political party used impeachment. They sullied it. They were derelict in their sworn duty (see oath above) and if America was functioning properly that would be obvious to most Americans.
The third category of people who bear massive responsibility for what transpired during the last administration are we the people. Suck it up, Buttercup. We Americans tolerate this shit year after year after year. We have become so divorced, over generations, from the realities of how our system of government operates and we have abdicated responsibility — either because we are ignorant/never been taught or because we are apathetic/don’t pay attention. Or? You tell me. Part of this is our fault, a lot of it isn’t, and all of it is our responsibility.
The dearth of civics education in America is not only frightening, it’s stupid. How does it serve any of us for so many of us — presidents, senators, and representatives shockingly included — to be so clueless about or dismissive of not only how our system of government works but also what our responsibilities are as citizens, officeholders, political appointees, and government employees? It doesn’t and I have some ideas about that, too. Watch this space.
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