“A republic, madam, if you can keep it.”

What’s it all about? To me, an idea: liberal democracy.

  • Due process.

    Before the government does anything to you, it has to show a disinterested (but not bored!) neutral magistrate why. And it has to proveit using fair process, in an amount that corresponds to what it wants to do.

    A revolutionary idea. Literally.

    So easy to take for granted. But to deny due process to one, is to deny it to all. If we can deny members of one group their rights without process, how will you prove you’re not in that group?

  • The rule of law.

    You know what this is. You literally went to school for it. But let’s be clear about why it matters. The alternative is the rule of men: arbitrary decisions at the whim of whoever seizes power. After all, no rule of law means no orderly process for determine who holds power.

    This, even more than democracy, is what Trump went after in 2020 and 2021.

    “And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned ‘round on you, where would you hide . . . the laws all being flat?. . . . [I]f you cut them down . . . do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then. Yes, I’d give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety’s sake!” - Sir Thomas More, A Man for All Seasons.

  • Democracy.

    The right to choose our leaders means the right to reject them. That, in turn, means accountability.

    Democracy might not be everything, but it’s the starting point for liberalism.

  • Liberalism.

    By liberalism, I mean a bundle of beliefs, imperfectly instantiated in our Constitution.

    I mean a belief that individuals matter. That oppression must be stopped. That people should have the means to choose their way in life and achieve their potential. That reason, not superstition, drives societal progress. That fighting disease is a worthwhile goal, as is much scientific advancement. Tempered by humanity.

    It’s core principle that tempers democracy and prevents the crowds from overriding basic rights.

Look. I know we’ve never been perfect. We’ve never lived up to our self-description. Our very founding was based on two irreconcilable premises: that all are equal and should be free, and that some people may own others.

What always made us great, though, until now, was our striving. Born in sin, we strived mightily for virtue. We fought and won a war to erase that stain. (Sadly, we gave up just when victory appeared attainable.) Our country incubated radicals, free-thinkers, and social improvers. Imperfectly, to be sure. But effectively.

But now? Now much of the country has put its shame aside, and is openly celebrating its hatred. Its loathing for the Other. Its belief that even core conservative principles like markets, self-sufficiency, and freedom, should only be for the select. We cannot allow that to stand.

The Constitution, before the post-war amendments, had no moral force, only legal force. But with those, it attained moral force, too. It openly proclaimed, not what we were, but what we were called to be. Now the 14th amendment is used to mock us, ripped from its historical purpose. Now the evil we failed to address at the founding goes unanswered in the government. We must keep the light on.

“Now take the Constitution according to its plain reading, and I defy the presentaiton of a single pro-slavery clause in it. On the other hand it will be found to contain principles and purposes, entirely hostile to the existence of slavery.” - Frederick Douglass, What to Slave is the Fourth of July.

Let’s fight for this country’s grand self-description, for what it claims to be. It’s never lived up to it. But if we capture the future, it will. It must.