The State of the United States in 2020.
…and where are we going from here?
OVERVIEW
We citizens are far past any crossroads or other turning point. The option of altering our behavior to preserve our Republic no longer exists. There is no way to reverse the damage that has been done.
There were an unlucky few people who saw what lay ahead. The alarm had already been falsely sounded, relentlessly, for generations. Our nation turned deaf ears to the rickety old dog, barking in the distance. After all, why should we enlightened and educated fear any outcome whatsoever?
Our nation’s death certificate shows “Natural Causes” as cause of death—as if signed by a cheeky cosmic coroner.
We didn’t know we were that sick. We never sought an elixir, nor reprieve, nor pardon. We were never shown mercy; we did not know we needed it. There was only the stark outcome: The death of democracy and the death of our Republic.
To the delight of those now in power, most citizens still have no idea the Republic is dead.
WARNINGS
“The issue today is the same as it has been throughout all history, whether man shall be allowed to govern himself or be ruled by a small elite.”
— Thomas Jefferson
When asked what form of government had just been formed by the newly written U. S. Constitution, Ben Franklin responded, “A Republic, if we can keep it.”
The following two examples show first, attempted domination of the majority by the Elite, and second, attempted domination of a minority by the majority.
Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798
The Sedition Act was the first great test for our civil liberties. The act attacked the core of our national ideology and clearly was overstepping the First Amendment. The Acts were passed with little support from the (non-voting, non landowner) majority of the population. There were riots in the streets in opposition to the unconstitutional new laws.
In 1798, there was no clear path available to challenge the Sedition Act. The SCOTUS, at that time, had little power of Judicial Review. (The Marbury v. Madison case in 1803 cemented the High Court’s power of Judicial Review.)
The Sedition Act expired on March 3rd, 1801. POTUS Thomas Jefferson then pardoned all those who were still serving prison terms under the Sedition Act.
Jim Crow Laws
Elimination of the Jim Crow laws was THE defining battle for the soul of our country. If we were to survive as a nation, with civil liberties intact, “legal” Jim Crow discrimination by race had to end.
In order to keep the Republic, it was a requirement that the oppressed minority win the harsh, long battle against Jim Crow.
How do the above warnings apply to our modern society? After all, the attempts to subvert the Republic were eliminated by the free and open exchanges of our thoughts and beliefs. That is our strength as a nation and we have freer and more open communication now than ever before.
How, in today’s America, would it be possible to subvert our carefully crafted Republic?
- The Elite Few, in order to dominate the majority, must falsely appear to be a majority, acting in a democratic manner.
- The majority, in order to dominate a minority, must falsely appear to be themselves a minority, fighting for their constitutional liberties.
The “takeaway” from these cited warnings: Truth will keep us free.
But that is a problem. Truth only matters to a reasonably well informed populace.
The Republic depended on an informed populace.
In 1789, we established a Republic that took its strength from free, open expression of our thoughts and beliefs. Many of the faults in our system were eliminated by expressing our beliefs that these faults should be changed. We sometimes had to be patient, waiting for the ultimate resolution to some large problems.
It was a work in progress, while the Republic lived. It was a remarkable experiment in self governance.
Self governance required, at a minimum, that we be an informed populace. We needed to be informed of important events, as accurately as possible. Therein, we have always required an open mind and a skeptical nature to prevent our being misled.
We believe things that we KNOW to be true.
Sadly, there is no adequate definition of the word “Truth”. We must defer to the philosophers (ancient and modern) on that elusive definition. The search for Truth has never been found.
“The Truth, the whole Truth, and nothing but the Truth” is a legalistic attempt to box an individual into relating facts, which then become evidence. If that individual believes something to be true, then they can give testimony to untrue things, without penalty. Everything you hear, regardless of the veracity of the source, has some degree, some possibility of deception.
We are limited to our own personal version of “The Truth” but for the purposes of this essay we read “The Truth” as being:
The Truth: Accurate facts, in context, without intention to mislead.
Notice that this simplified definition of Truth contains necessary qualifiers, just as does the oath for testimony.
This essay does not pretend to deliver the answer to “What is Truth?”. We will clumsily use the above flawed definition and move on to more mundane concepts. …read more