Nothing in Its History Prepared the United States for This.
Siem Reap, Cambodia, June 19th, 2024.
Salaroche 

The whole American System of Government was caught totally unawares by the January 6th uprising. In fact, the whole governmental apparatus continues to be at a loss regarding what to do about insidious, unprincipled, insurrectionist, anti-American individuals like Donald Trump.

True, there are enforceable laws against interfering with any governmental procedure, laws against vandalism, and laws against physically attacking police officers, and those laws were correctly applied against those misled MAGA Republicans who attacked the Capitol building on January 6th. But there are no clear, specific laws or guidelines anywhere in the American Constitutional or Judicial Systems on how to deal with the leaders of any insurrection.

Section 3 of the 14th Amendment was an attempt to keep insurrectionists from holding governmental offices, but it is not specific enough, it is too vague, therefore, inapplicable. Even the Constitution of the United States has turned out to be utterly deficient in its provisions. There is nothing there that prevents convicted felons from running for office.

To run for President of the United States, all candidates must first meet 3 requirements, to be at least 35 years of age, to have been born in the United States, and to have resided in the country for at least 14 years. But there are no rules pertaining to any presidential candidate’s criminal records, which is to say that convicted criminals are legally and Constitutionally eligible to become president.

Furthermore, there are Amendments to the Constitution that can serve as powerful weapons against the Constitution itself, namely the First Amendment. Freedom of Speech is a right, a blessing, and a sine-qua-non, necessary mandate for the existence of our Democratic System. But it can also be a curse and a facilitator for the destruction of our very same Constitutional Democracy.

Currently, the Republicans keep making use of the 1st Amendment so that eventually they can get rid of it. To illustrate: Since I am a firm believer in freedom of speech, how could I ever ask the US Government to censure Fox News, or to keep Steve Bannon from basically saying that the whole American Judicial System should be terminated, or to force Donald Trump to stop calling the FBI an agency of criminals, or stop him from promising to prosecute other Americans for the simple reason that they stand against him? No way I could do that.

Freedom to overtly criticize the government is essential for the well-functioning of Democracies. Funny that such freedom of speech can actually be used to undermine the Democracies it is supposed to uphold. Obviously, our nation’s problem is not the 1st Amendment. The problem is how it is used and what purpose it is used for.

As bright and reflective as James Madison's mind must have been, he could have never envisioned that the 1st Amendment he drafted in the late 18th century would someday be used to delegitimize the very same document he wrote the Amendments for. He couldn't have imagined that somewhere in time there would be a group of powerful, influential Americans, led by an ex-President, who would use such instrument of freedom of expression to undermine the Republic's most seminal document: The Constitution of the United States.

This situation is completely Unforeseen. Nothing in its History prepared the United States for this. None of us saw it coming. Fortunately, however, American Democracy is still in place, even as we don’t know for how long. So, please vote anti-Republican in November, or be prepared to enjoy the American Democratic System for the last time in your life.

Salaroche