Opinion/Editorial
CITIZEN’S DIVIDED
The phrase “when in the course of human events” is a famous opening line from the United States Declaration of Independence. It signifies a point where significant change or action is about to be discussed and justified. It’s a phrase often used to introduce a declaration of independence or a new form of a sitting government. The phrase is followed by a statement about the reasons for such a change, emphasizing that it is necessary when a government becomes destructive of the rights of the people.
The 25th Amendment was added to the Constitution to allow for a peaceful transition of leadership if the President became or becomes too ill to serve. However, for the same reason that both congressional houses of the U.S. have become toothless at passing bills that might irritate or anger the real money behind them, the cabinet members will never sit down and find that the current leadership suffers from severe dementia. In 2010, the Supreme Court decided that corporations, foreign and domestic, could contribute to those running for national office. It also allowed for the secrecy of most of those contributions. It has also become passé for these elected officials to transfer political contributions to their fortunes.
The process of enrichment of these national figures began in earnest in 2010, and 35 years later, the results of that terrible set of decisions are in. The leader of the country cannot be replaced because the wealth of those elected around him is too significant and must be maintained according to their perspective. At one time, the editor and publisher of this newspaper used to visit members of Congress in both houses as well as people in positions of the executive leadership as high up as the vice president. Almost without fail, many of those people serving wore cheap suits or other clothing. They fought over having decent parking places close to where they worked. Many slept in their offices instead of renting an apartment because they wanted to save money for their family back where their real home was. How things changed after Citizens United took full effect is clear.
Most serving both houses of Congress now have apartments or second homes in D.C. There are no fights over parking places because they almost all have limos and security details. Their offices can no longer be visited by citizens simply walking in like in days of old. Now, appointments must be made to even get into the office buildings where they work when not in session. These people wear clothing that costs tens of thousands for a single outfit. Many wear twenty-thousand-dollar watches. Watch closely on your television and gauge the quality of their attire, and see an indication of the changes that have occurred since 2010.
None of what has happened would matter except, in the current dementia-driven environment, this wealth accumulated by these people, which the publisher facetiously refers to as ‘the house in the Hamptons,’ is something they will fight to the death to keep. No amount of money is too much for even what in the past was a minor congressional position. What this means is that these people will not risk anything to even save the country. As the screenwriters for the streaming television show called House of Cards, so cleverly and accurately wrote, the elected officials, and now highly paid appointed ones as well, never during the show discussed the good or the condition of the constituents. The show was fiction, but that effect is real.
Two-thirds of both houses would have to vote to remove the president if the cabinet majority decided that the president had to be removed. No majority of that now wealthy cabinet, nor the wealthy members of both houses, will so vote. Real exhibitions of courage are rare, which is why the highest military decorations for valor in combat are extremely rare. The president has an uncommon attribute of dementia. He knows that he’s got it. His presentation and style of running the country are not nearly as insane as they appear to be to almost all experienced and rational observers. No, the president is taking the United States apart to keep the United States from taking him apart, and so far, that is working well. The most secure and powerful country ever to exist on the planet only four months ago could not have conceived of being at war again, much less with several countries that were formerly lifetime friends and partners but here we are with Canada, Denmark, Mexico and Panama scared to death that they will be destroyed or forced to be chattel renters of what they formerly owned, and so threatened by what used to be their very best friend and protector.
There will be no help from the elected leaders or the mass media. They are all wealthy and insulated now. No, there will have to be an ignition, a rising, a gathering, and then an insurgency where the words “When in the course of human events…” will be heard across the land again. That sound you will soon start hearing from a distance will be the sound of social whitewater growing louder and louder. We must all pray that there is no waterfall at the end of that sound.
