The Constitution is in Danger
In the longish quote below, Tom Cornell, the New York City Catholic Worker newspaper publisher, outlines how a nonviolent activist should behave and what he or she might hope to achieve. Critical to the effort is what “weapon” to use: “The principal weapon of nonviolence is dialogue. Genuine dialogue assumes the good faith of partners and avoids invidious language and ad hominem argument.” I believe that; I also believe that civil disobedience, the most potent weapon, “… is the last weapon to be used, not the first …”
In his opinion piece, “Mitch McConnell has emerged as an enemy of the US Constitution,” Eric Lewis notes that American-style constitutional democracy requires “good faith” on the part of its primary actors:
“[T]he written Constitution is not self-executing. It relies on the good faith of each branch to uphold the integrity of the basic structure of the system. It requires the commitment of the individuals who operate within the constitutional system to preserve its republican structure, even if honoring the rules does not serve a short-term political or policy goal. Without that commitment, we are at grave risk.”
We do not have a commitment from President Trump or Senator McConnell, or indeed from the Republican Party down to the county level, of “honoring the rules.” Mr. Trump and Mr. McConnell violate the Constitution, laws, and norms of democratic governance when “necessary” to facilitate their quest for permanent power and a “unitary executive. “ Republican state legislators (using ALEC templates) write laws limiting dissent, make voting more difficult (especially for People of Color), and practice extreme gerrymandering.
Republicans cannot be trusted in negotiations, if they deign to negotiate at all. Mr. Trump advocates violence against journalists or anyone else who challenges him, and he attempted (but failed) to bully the military into flooding the streets of Washington DC with 10,000 soldiers. He now hides behind an elaborate system of fences, concrete barriers, and presidential security details, with an underground shelter a few steps ways from the Oval Office.
But Democrats aren’t off the hook. President Obama violated the spirit, if not the letter, of the Bill of Rights when he signed the re-authorization of the Patriot Act, something that’s especially dangerous to our First Amendment rights (freedom of expression generally, and that of journalists in particular).
Mr. Obama pressed forward with defending the American empire, including sending American soldiers into combat without Congressional authorization. He coordinated the destruction of the Occupy Movement. He separated families, locked them into cages and, so far, deported more people that Mr. Trump. Mr. Obama even “innovated” by using drone strikes to assassinate American citizens.
Democratic Party mayors (Minneapolis, Chicago, and New York City) around the nation have unleashed their violent, heavily armed and armored police forces on citizens seeking to peacefully exercise a constitutionally-guaranteed “redress of grievances” against the government. Journalists and medical professionals have been attacked by the police, and mayors have lost control of rioting police forces.
What this means is that the conditions Mr. Cornell outlined in his essay (below) don’t exist in contemporary America. Presidents and senators have stopped listening to anyone other than lobbyists and pollsters. We’ve come to the end stage of a failed government and economic system, both of which conspire to create the desperation that leads to fascism.
So, we are left with civil disobedience and voting, but don’t expect that voting will result in much improvement. Both Democrats and Republicans are wedded in a ménage à trois to corporate capitalism, so it’s not in their interest to change. Mr. Biden is less immediately dangerous than Mr. Trump, but his likely inaction on the climate catastrophe or the American empire means our decline will continue, albeit at a slower speed.
Unless, of course, we resort to massive, continuous acts of peaceful civil disobedience, with clear demands that must be met before we stop.
“In struggle, the nonviolent activist does not seek victory but reconciliation, the redemption of opponents, never their humiliation much less their annihilation. Therefore, the nonviolent activist always allows the opponent a way to retreat with dignity, an honorable way out of any conflict.
“The principal weapon of nonviolence is dialogue. Genuine dialogue assumes the good faith of partners and avoids invidious language and ad hominem argument. Dialogue may be suspended at an impasse, but resumption is always a goal. The nonviolent armory includes protest, public dissent, noncooperation, and active resistance, but always with the purpose of re-establishing dialogue. Civil disobedience is the last weapon to be used, not the first, and should be undertaken after careful discernment under spiritual direction. Christian nonviolence is a way of life, not a tactic. Often adopting nonviolence is part of a conversion process.
“To purify our wills we need to pray. To tame our lusts we need self-control, discipline, and fasting in one way or another. Only then can we come to the study of nonviolence with the realistic hope of putting it into useful practice. One need not be a saint, but the intellectually slothful and the self-serving will not make effective nonviolent practitioners …
“Nonviolent action embodies a moral truth in response to a serious moral crisis by way of protest and acts of resistance, including civil disobedience, that do no harm, conducted in openness and truth with willingness to pay the legal penalties.”
