We are being taught so many depressing and dangerous lessons about now autocracies seize power. Today we look at the attempt to destroy checks and balances.
It has been said many times that the genius of the Constitution is that is provides checks and balances. Well, it doesn't provide checks and balances. What it does provide is a framework, a structure, for the implementation of checks and balances by human beings. For example, if a former president steals the nation's top secrets with the most likely purpose to sell them to a hostile foreign power, or to blackmail the government by threatening to sell them in order to stay out of prison, then the check and balance should be the Department of Justice to investigate, discover, uncover, indict if a crime is seen, try, and imprison that person for espionage.
But what if the checks and balances are not there? What if the Department of Justice is infiltrated with autocratic collaborators? And the collaborators make sure that the DOJ cannot stop the autocrat's crimes? And the collaborators destroy justice, and then also go on to destroy honest elections and go on the establish an autocratic regime with a corrupt, power mad and greedy autocrat at the top and a system of corrupt or ideologically fanatical collaborators below.
Look at Russia. Look at China. Look at Venezuela. Look at Hungary. Look at Saudi Arabia.
Look at America.
It is clear that The Former Guy thinks he is going to be charged with this, and probably a number of other crimes. And he is calling upon his fanatical collaborators to rise up in violence if he is. Autocracy in action.
But, this is not going to work. I choose to insist that our checks and balances are there to be implemented by people of honor and integrity, and this latest attempt to establish a right wing extremist autocracy is going to fail.
