Democracy lost

The vulnerability of democracy is that man and woman have the free will to fall.

That is the price of freedom and when an individual or group does fall there are built-in guardrails we depend on to prevent autocracy. But in this existential saga the guardrails also fell.

Tyranny is the forbidden fruit of the tree of autocracy that ominously lingers in America’s democratic garden.

The U.S. Constitution delineates three separate and equal branches of government, namely the legislative, executive and judicial. They were each deliberately designed and created separate and equal to ensure a system of checks and balances to prevent an imbalance of control and ultimately to prevent the abuse of power that threatens and challenges democracy.

Usurping the authority of another branch is forbidden.

But when the legislative and judicial shed their power and became fearful, complicit and under the spell of the rhetoric of the executive, President Donald Trump, it created an imbalance of control. Both the legislative and judicial branches appear servilely grafted to the tree of autocracy and susceptible to exploitation and usurpation by the executive, which has amalgamated additional power, leaving the legislative branch impotent, the judicial beholden and the executive wielding the most weight.

Like an unbalanced seesaw, the weight of power landed on Trump’s side and remains, while the legislative and judicial branches are latently stranded.

There is a border that separates democracy and autocracy. And that border, like the Rubicon of antiquity, has been crossed. The die is cast.

There is defiance toward democracy by Trump and an acquiescence toward autocracy by the legislative branch, even as the judicial branch shields the executive.

The loss of democracy is insidious. Trump, the wannabe king, has consolidated power and a monarchy ensconced under the protection of an oligarchy is burgeoning.

On Jan 20, Trump took the oath of office as president for the second time and solemnly swore to uphold the Constitution. Within just hours, Trump once again betrayed that oath by issuing an executive order ending birthright citizenship, which is guaranteed by and enshrined in the 14th Amendment. 

A federal District Court Judge temporarily blocked Trump’s order calling it “blatantly unconstitutional.” Will the partisan Supreme Court follow suit or fold?

Then, on Jan. 23, U.S. Representative Andy Ogles, a Tennessee Republican, introduced a resolution to amend the Constitution to allow only Trump to seek a third presidential term, excluding Clinton, Bush and Obama. Trump mused, "I think I'm not allowed to run again, I'm not sure, am I allowed to run again,” and even “joked” of a fourth term.

Constitutional law is clear — he’s prohibited from running again. At least for now.

Is this willful recalcitrance by the executive branch toward the Constitution and America’s institutions righteous indignation or a display of vanity, exaggerated amour propre and conceit that comes from being consumed with false pride and the envious desire to covet unconditional rule?

During the last decade some Americans were corrupted through the art of persuasion. Trump induced his followers to think solely of themselves and how great they can be isolated from the world and they fell susceptible to the guile and dissimulation spewed by the political serpent who concocted lies mixed with a touch of truth in order to strengthen the deception and enticed them to disobey the Constitution.

“Awake, arise or be for ever fall’n,” Milton wrote in “Paradise Lost.”

The lies have created a lust for that pseudo greatness and contrived patriotism that has perverted, warped and overwhelmed democracy. The Orwellian strategy to control the thought of the masses with propaganda, slogans and confusion has succeeded in manipulating many to forgo democratic principles and prefer a strongman over a statesman.

Trump zealots were tempted and seduced to eat the forbidden fruit in hopes of attaining that intoxicating promise of greatness and although they liked the taste of autocracy they have yet to suffer the consequences, experience the shame or regret their fall.

America the beautiful has fallen from grace.

The free press is the first line of defense against a tyrannical government but some media outlets have capitulated in return for access and survival. Those that have not succumbed have been threatened with license revocation or otherwise frivolous multi-million lawsuits, and dauntless journalists who assert freedom of the press risk repercussions. Corporations, billionaires and social media companies also fell in line, with fear the motivation, oligarchy the prize.

America is sojourning, nihilism has won. The paradox of a divided United States has manifested and an anti-democratic nature is now evident with pandemonium as its mentor, envy its conscience and retribution its goal.

After Trump’s inauguration, Elon Musk, who has endorsed the far-right nationalist party in Germany, was accused of gesturing the Nazi salute while standing behind a podium that displayed the seal of the president of the United States.

During World War II, 400,000 Americans died to defeat the Nazis in the battle against tyranny.

The future is waiting for America to once again reject tyranny, uphold its Constitution and reassert itself as the leader of the free world.

America is the beacon of hope, “that without hope we live on in desire.”

We await a savior to redeem America from the disobedience of eating the forbidden fruit of autocracy and falling from the Constitution because of one man’s fantasy and messianic desire to be the “chosen one.”

Democracy is a sprinkling of paradise in a fallen world. But America will see democracy regained.