Local
Vocal
and
VIEWPOINT BY THOMAS COFFIN
Critical to Democracy
WE THE PEOPLE DO NOT SERVE THE LEADERS
O
ne year ago, I wrote “2020 Crossroads: The
Nation Votes on Conexit.” The column described
the Trump administration’s enmity against the
Constitution and democracy itself. Since then
his administration has gained significantly more
ground in its push to topple our democratic
republic and substitute an authoritarian regime
that is its polar opposite.
Every principle of freedom, liberty, equality, the rule of law
and the welfare of the people is being shattered in an iconoclastic
raid against the sacred virtues and foundations of a free society
that Americans have always embraced as their heritage. Like the
sacking of Rome, a civilization is being destroyed.
A notorious and unapologetic admirer of tyrants, President
Donald Trump aspires to become one. He has methodically rid
the government of anyone who places loyalty to country above
fealty to himself. He has replaced patriots with sycophants whose
attributes begin and end with blind obedience to his dictates.
Truth in government has become a forbidden vice if it
contradicts the narrative and lies of its leader. Science is
wholly subordinated to propaganda in order to serve political
a g e n d a . Wa r n i n g s f r o m
climate scientists regarding
fossil fuel emissions and
their existential threat to
life are ignored, government
scientists are silenced, and
the people are falsely assured
that the emissions are not only
harmless, but beneficial.
Similarly, warnings from
epidemiologists regarding a
deadly pandemic are ignored,
described as a hoax , and
downplayed until it hits the
nation with overwhelming
fatalities. Science informs us
that climate change will reap a far greater toll on populations
and social order if we continue on the path of denial. Walls will
be of absolutely no use to our country.
The Republican Party, which has produced the calamity
known as the Trump administration, has shrunk in membership
as it embraces white supremacy, nationalism and the politics of
division, enmity and conflict. Its leadership spurns democracy
and hastens towards autocracy. It cannot win the popular vote
because it turns its back on the majority of the nation’s voters.
So it resorts to tactics that suppress, distort and even cancel
voting or its results, and thus suppresses democracy itself. It
engages in gerrymandering to put its thumb on the scale in
favor of white voters. It closes polling places in areas populated
largely by non-white voters. It opposes voting by mail because,
as the party leader himself admitted, if voting were made more
convenient, Republicans would not win elections.
Even during the pandemic, the Republicans insisted on a
voting protocol that risked the lives of voters. And on the greatest
stage of all — the prize of the White House itself — the Supreme
Court, voting on strictly partisan lines, halted Florida’s recount
of the votes in a razor-thin election to summarily award the
presidency to George W. Bush in an unprecedented disruption
of a state’s right to ensure the accuracy of its voting processes.
More recently, in Georgia, Brian Kemp, a Republican, won
election as governor over Stacy Abrams, an African American
Democratic candidate, after purging more than half a million
voters from the ballots cast in the election (mostly African
Americans) when he had been secretary of state of Georgia,
using a methodology that allegedly was racially based.
And returning to the White House, we have witnessed Trump’s
clandestine attempt to extort a foreign government to launch a
criminal investigation into his domestic political opponent for
the office by conditioning the release of vital funding for military
aid on the initiation of such an investigation. The Republican-
controlled Senate essentially endorsed the conduct, accepting
the argument that he could do anything to stay in power and
refused to check his abuse of that power.
Cheating in politics is a very slippery slope. Eventually the
facade of a democracy becomes annoying and unnecessary, as
does the Constitution with its structure of co-equal branches
of government.
An example of the facade being swept away happened quite
recently in Hungary, where the government abandoned the
pretext altogether. Thus on March 30, Hungary’s Parliament — the
equivalent of our Senate — voted to allow its prime minister, Viktor
Orban, to rule by decree indefinitely. The Hungarian measure
allowed Orban to indefinitely suspend the nation’s parliament
and punish journalists with up to five years imprisonment for
publishing “fake news” (i.e., anything that contradicts Orban).
Orban is one of those tyrants
that Trump enthusiastically
praises for his ruling style. It
thus comes as no surprise that
within just two weeks of Orban’s
“rule by decree indefinitely”
squashing of demo cracy,
Trump began announcing that
his powers as president were
“absolute” and that he had the
power to adjourn (suspend)
Congress by executive order
without its consent (i.e., rule
by decree).
One hardly needs to consult
Sherlock Holmes to grasp the
connection.
Some political leaders draw inspiration from such historical
figures as Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill,
Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks and
others who courageously made mountains of freedom for
the people. The leader of the Republican Party, on the other
hand, finds his inspiration in the likes of Orban, Putin and Kim
Jong Un. The party he leads has become unrecognizable. The
term “conservative” used to be associated with upholding the
ideals and values of our Constitution and democracy. Today,
in a cataclysmic about-face, it has morphed into an ideology of
authoritarianism.
The last authoritarian ruler America had was King George III.
Is MAGA a subliminal call to return to his mode of governance?
We should hang our heads in shame if we so dishonor our heritage
by meekly submitting to tyranny after over two centuries of
being the beacon of democracy for the world.
The 2020 election is as critical to our democracy as anything
since our nation’s birth. Our Constitution and republic cannot
survive unless they are protected and nurtured. The Constitution
is being weakened severely by a totalitarian virus, and the people
must act in unison this November to keep our democracy alive. It
is truly on a ventilator. The Senate has failed in the obligation the
Founders entrusted in it of protecting the nation from just such
a threat that they knew would come. It rests with us to pass on
our freedom, liberty and precious Constitution to our posterity.
Our leaders serve us — we the People do not serve them.
Similarly, warnings from
epidemiologists regarding a
deadly pandemic are ignored,
described as a hoax, and
downplayed until it hits the nation
with overwhelming fatalities.
4
M A Y
2 1 ,
2 0 2 0
Thomas Coffin is a retired United States Magistrate Judge. He served 24 years
in the United States District Court for the District of Oregon, from 1992 to 2016.
E U G E N E W E E K LY . C O M