On the advice of friends and family, I will not be on the National Mall watching 850,000 “pyrotechnic devices” launch into the sky on July 4th. It is not because I don’t want to celebrate the Nation’s 250th birthday, but because I believe America is losing its way. A line from Neil Young’s “Alabama” comes to mind, “a wheel in the ditch and a wheel on the track.”
When Neil Young worried about Alabama, he went on to sing, “You got the weight on your shoulders that’s breaking your back.” Today America has the considerable weight of Trump on its back. And that worry, not a lack of love for or pride in America, is what is making this July 4th less special than it is supposed to be.
I will spare you a lengthy “gripe list,” that could also be called, “The worst things Trump has done since returning to office.” Even if you support Trump, you could recite about 90 percent of the list to me. Instead of focusing on the administration’s misdeeds, proven and alleged, it is more constructive to focus on the implications of what we see.
My primary wheel is that the Constitution is growing less relevant and less useful by the day. In college and law school, I learned that the Constitution and the laws promulgated by the checks-and-balances government it created are supposed to ensure life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I am not seeing a whole lot of life, liberty, and happiness these days. Instead, I see hate, fear, and oppression.
Recent Supreme Court decisions based on “originalism,” the belief that in interpreting the U.S. Constitution, courts should understand the Constitution’s words based on what they meant at the time they were written, are deeply troubling. “Originalism” relieves courts of the task of asking, “What would the Founders have written if they knew what we know today?”
“Originalism,” as practiced by the Roberts Supreme Court, has brought us the end of independence from political influence for major federal agencies structured as repositories of knowledge and expertise. These agencies are charged with using that expertise to execute government functions best achieved in the absence of politics. Examples are the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, the Federal Communications Commission, the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, and, of course, the Federal Trade Commission.
The President is now free to fire, without cause, members and staff who work for these agencies and replace them with political loyalists. (Note what President Trump did with the Kennedy Center Board, the U.S. Institute for Peace, and the Planning Commissions that were supposed to evaluate and approve actions like tearing down part of the White House.)
The Court, relying again on “originalism,” has granted the President nearly complete immunity. The decision, in my view, has led to a flood of corruption unprecedented in the history of the United States. Who knew that it was possible for a President to earn $2.2 billion in a single year while in office—not to mention the grift occurring with his two sons and son-in-law?
A third example is the Court’s decisions undermining voting rights (and, better stated, democracy). The Court has weakened enforcement of protections against voting discrimination and upheld redistricting of congressional districts resulting in discrimination against Blacks and other minorities.
Looking at today’s situation—a tragic retreat from the ideals embraced by the Founders—America’s government is corrupt. Civil rights have been truncated at the expense of Blacks and other minorities. Alliances such as NATO have been abandoned. And the military is being used against American citizens to suppress dissent.
I could go on, but as I look at our star-spangled banner, that flag is waving less briskly and, all too often, flown next to a Trump flag.
I look forward to a future July 4th. one where we can say, “I can’t believe what is happening” and think with pride of a government much different from the one we are saddled with today, a government that has a wheel in the ditch.
God bless America. God knows we need it.
J.E. Dean writes on politics, government, goldendoodles, and other subjects. A former counsel on Capitol Hill and public affairs consultant, Dean is an advocate for democracy, sanity, and the rule of law.
