Therein lies the rub. In order to have a free society, one with the ability to grow and expand, you have to be grounded on principles, not law. Now our principles are being violated & there is no law to stop them. Our feckless complicit Congress is unwilling to rise to the moment
1/ This should be worded differently...better. Point is this: Our LAWS ought emerge out of our principles. That is the central idea of a free society. Thus we have the Constitution& more the Bill of Rights as our founding ideas. This is the basis of Rule of Law.
2/ That state is most corrupt whose laws are most numerous. ~Tacitus. Now you hear a call for a laws to stop Trump from profiting from the Presidency along w any number of other violations of norms. Hitherto these were Principles that were respected by the holders of office...
3/ Now there is a man, and a party, that is unmoored from our moors...This is how Democracy's Perish. To be clear...I don't think this process started w Trump. Rather he is the culmination of years of steady erosion of the foundations of state. Now it is a scramble for raw power
4/ I think a case might be made that it requires a man like Trump, devoid of any principle except himself, to actually manifest what has been developing over these years. It takes a man who can lie so effectively & without conscious to convince people he is telling the truth.
5/ One of the first signs of the loss of ones Democracy (& Republic) is when the leaders vote themselves exceptions. Another is when they simply take them, and declare the principles/norms & the laws to not apply to them. Then the stage for national demagoguery is set.
6/ Things start happening quickly. Norms of every sort are dashed. In the Trump era I call it the multi fron, blitzkrieg #TrumpsWarOnAmerica. The catalog of fronts in this assault is long and daily getting longer. ...
7/ Soon, and this is the position I think we are at today (Dec2017) the laws are decreed without the consent of the governed. Look at the number of major laws being developed & passed in secret - despite overwhelming public opposition. HealthCare & Tax Reform are major examples.
8/ The pattern is there to be seen. The problem w such large movements is to accurately understand when the tipping point occurs. When is it no longer possible to change the course, & the society have to weather the storm of harsh consequences of tipping into authoritarian rule?
