Lawfar Media has an article about whether the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution applies to Musk. I wish a broader question would be asked. If the founders thought a quid pro quo relationship with U.S officials were bad, why is that relationship worse with foreign states than domestically? In my opinion, these domestic relationships, which include lobbying, are equally bad. Given how much money it takes to win an office, the dependency and consequences are worse! Of course, one cannot have this discussion with fundamentalists.
On Being America
What makes liberty, which I define as personal autonomy, real in America are two fundamental things:
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When one is accused of a crime they are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
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Whether one is guilty of a crime needs to be proven by the state beyond a reasonable doubt by a jury of one’s peers, or a judge if the accused prefers.
We usually refer to these two items as due process and without it there is no liberty. Further, in our Declaration of Independence we stated that all people, not just U.S. Citizens, are endowed by their creator the right to liberty. Liberty is not provided by the state, it is inherent to who we are as humans. Further, we declared that we create governments for the purposes of preserving these rights.
I don’t think the majority of the human species has learned well the lessons of World War II. The fundamental lessons of World War II is that humanity has the willingness and the capability to destroy itself. In other words, humanity can, and without the required maturity will, cause it’s own extinction. The United States emphatically demonstrated this in dropping nuclear bombs on Japan. For most of my life we have lived in the fear of this knowledge, aka the fear of nuclear war, but we have not really learned the lessons about how we need to change. Wars and weapons of war are rooted in fear. The only way to overcome this fear is to be satisfied with enough and see others as a part of ourselves.
Yesterday I attended a Detroit Pistons game for the first time at Little Caesars Arena. It’s the first NBA game that I have attended in about 15 years. In my opinion the NBA, particularly in person, is much more of an event than a competition.
A week ago right now I was on a plane destined for Phoenix, where it was raining and cold all day. I choose to think of the sunshine we had for the remainder of our stay.
The sun has come down on my last night here in Phoenix. We saw two Cubs spring training games, and they won one and lost the other.
Cubs win! Cubs win! Cubs win!
The fundamental tenant of U.S. democracy is that if citizens don’t like what government office holders are doing they can remove then in an upcoming election by voting them out. It means that executive orders, laws passed by Congress, and even Supreme Court decisions, can all be reversed, so long as there are legitimate elections. Don’t think for one minute that neither Trump nor Musk know about this risk, they appear to not fear their work being undone perhaps because they know something we refuse to face.
The world view narrative of my life time has been Soviets, now Russians, bad, Americans good. The truth is much more nuanced and most importantly is that it’s not all Americans good and Russians bad, as Terry Cowan describes in a timeline that corresponds to a good chunk of my life.
I do know that Eisenhower warned about the wealth gathering of the military industrial complex that I cannot help but feel is behind much of what we do. I know that American involvement in Vietnam was not accepted to a majority of Americans. And I know that weapons of mass destruction was a false pretext to our invasion of Iraq. These don’t sum up to a trustworthy American side of the narrative.
Krugman, and all other pundits, need to get this through their head: there will not be another federal election in the U.S. in the manner we have come to expect. The sooner they figure this out and start saying it, the better. You don’t go through all the trouble of destroying things only to have someone else come along four years later to put it all back together. Threats to Trump and his guys that they will piss off voters are not threats.
Everything I see so far from the “press” and other media outlets seem to assume that upcoming elections are a threat to the Republican majority. All of these references appear to assume that future elections will be legitimate, but I think that assumption is dangerous. Do you think that neither Trump nor his supporters learned from 2020? For that matter, is Congress really relevant? If Democrats had a majority right now, would it matter?
I am afraid that we need to start talking more about liberty and what it actually means as it has been taken for granted and distorted to mean much. For me, agency such as described by Annie here in the section titled Radical responsibility, is fundamental to what I think is liberty.
Finished reading: Low Anthropology by David Zahl 📚
Anthropology is the study of humanity, in other words it is a study of us as humans. In this book the author suggests we tend to have a high view of ourselves, which he calls a high anthropology, whereas we would benefit from a more realistic view of ourselves that he calls low anthropology.
Yesterday and Monday we enjoyed a spring thaw that has turned to lower temps and some snow flurries. Ah, but yesterday was glorious.
The Republic Has Failed; Why Does It Matter?
Much of what I am seeing written about the state of the United States seems to be in the context of “Democracy is failing” or a “Constitutional Crisis” is imminent or present. The correct description of the United States as defined by the Constitution is a republic with self rule by a representative democracy.
The reality is that the republic, the one for which our flag stands (remember the pledge of allegiance) has failed. It failed when citizens and our representatives forgot or no longer valued the form of self government that has been in place. Our attitudes and inaction about the insurrection on January 6 is the clearest sign that the Republic has failed. Today we the citizens of the United States value power over liberty and our liberty exists to the extent it aligns to dictates of those in power.
Our conversations and writing on this topic need to transition to, why does it matter that the Republic has failed? The reality is, most people don’t think it matters because they have not yet recognized or acknowledged how their life has been impacted. Particularly Republicans and particularly those who support Trump.
My answer for why it matters is ironic. It matters because without the representative democracy of the Constitution the MAGA movement (or conservative movement) could not exist. Tyranny allows no opposition, thus had it been in place MAGA could not have done what it is currently doing. The Republic is what has allowed you to have your day, enjoy it but know that without it there will be no other opposition.
When the time comes that the “new” U.S. Government does something you do not like there will be nothing that you can do about it. The “elites” have determined Democracy is too inefficient and they think a more efficient government is controlled by a dictator, and they would be right. Freedom has been the purpose of the Republic, and inefficiency is a feature not a bug. However, the elites and their corporate/startup world view know what is best for them and have convinced you its better for you, and this will all work so long as you accept and comply with their dictates, their interpretation of current laws and their new laws.
Nadia Bolz-Weber, in a reply to questions from her readers about faith wrote:
I guess I just no longer think of faith as intellectually assenting to theological propositions, or as regularly confirming in myself that I believe all the wildest stories in the Bible are literally, factually, historically accurate. Faith functions in my life as something closer to gravity than ideology.
I like her description of faith as something closer to gravity than ideology.
Sitting in the living room, drinking coffee and doing my morning reading on this holiday while the winter wind howls in the background.
Enjoying the beauty of fresh snow.
What we are now witnessing is the consequences of not valuing humility and empathy.
The phrase “Christian Nationalism” is as oxymoron as “Roman Catholic.” Diana Butler Bass’s Sunday Musings based on the text of the lectionary readings this week (Psalm 1 and Luke 6:17-26) drives home my point.
Nothing about “Christian Nationalism” is consistent with Jesus as he says in Luke 6:20, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God” and then later in Luke 6:24, “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.” Does this sound like Jesus is talking about the United States?
Of course, the phrase “Christian Nationalism” is only an oxymoron if “Christian” is truly associated with Christ and Jesus. The problem is that Christianity as understood by the vast majority of people around the world is more of a reflection of it’s founder, the Roman Emperor Constantine, than its Christos namesake.