Time to clarify murky water, shall we? Five big points are being missed. They are vital to the future of our Republic, should help calm and define this churning moment in American history.
First, legal processes – constitutional and statutory – exist to mitigate foreseeable conflict. That is why the US Constitution contains Article II, section 1.2, defining how to electors are chosen. That is why Title 3, Section 15 prescribes how electors are counted. That is why our Founders permitted legal challenges to electors’ selection. Accordingly, calling US Senators “Nazis” and blaming them for senseless political violence – based on pursuit of legal process – is just wrong.
Second, political violence begets political violence. As a former Assistant Secretary of State, charged with supporting rule of law in corrupt and unstable countries, I have seen it the world over. That is why resolving political differences through street violence – attacks on public or private property, or persons – has never been legally acceptable in the United States. It was not acceptable in Shays’ and Whiskey rebellions, 1960s, summer 2020, or in mobbing the Capitol.
Notably, if any good comes from those jaw-dropping images of violence at the Capitol, it may be this: On left and right, from any perspective whatever, there should be a go-forward consensus that political violence is to be universally condemned – regardless of justification. Violent riots are anti-American, undermine law, must end. If all leaders accept that standard – we turn a page.
Third, a word about “incitement.” This is a legal term. It has a concrete meaning. It does not mean bad judgement, loose, negligent, improvident, irresponsible, or even reckless use of words in the conduct of politics, or any other venue – all legally permitted by the First Amendment.
Quite the reverse, “incitement” to violence requires specifics. The law is set by the US Supreme Court, which took a tough case at another time in American history bubbling with emotion, political and racial tensions, overlayed by foreign actors and engagements, rife with fear.
Against that backdrop, a liberal court in 1969 stood up for the First Amendment. The seminal case on “incitement” is Brandenburg v. Ohio. It involved what most would call reckless, unjust, dangerous advocacy of collective action, including a DC march. The Supreme Court was crystal clear. What was said was hostile, but protected by the First Amendment, not incitement.
A quick, dispassionate review of that Supreme Court case would be useful – including by the US House, which seems intent on substituting a lesser political standard for governing law, stumbling headlong into yet another ill-advised, country-splitting impeachment stampede.
Putting aside the horrible precedent of a rushed “two-week impeachment” – can you imagine what that would mean for future presidents? – the legal standard is being disregarded. It matters.
For the past 50 years, the High Court has rejected definitions of incitement that outlaw free speech based on a “clear and present danger,” “tendency” to sedition, or encouraging resistance. Instead, the standard is knowing intent to cause specific and imminent lawlessness – combined with the likelihood of that specific lawlessness occurring.
In short, inflammatory speech, if not expressly directing imminent violence, is protected by the First Amendment. That is why those questioning electoral integrity, complaining about potential fraud based on mail-in ballots, pursuing legal challenges to elector slates – and even talking briskly of resistance – are not guilty of “incitement.” That is why the US Justice Department has made clear no one is being prosecuted for “incitement.”
That said, we are at a crossroads. The First Amendment – once upheld by liberal Justice Earl Warren’s Court, in that unanimous Brandenburg opinion joined by Associate Justices Thurgood Marshall, William Brennan, Potter Stewart, John Harlan, Byron White, Hugo Black, and William O. Douglas – seems like ancient history. This realization leads to the next point.
Fourth, the First Amendment is under fire. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the past week’s crazy redefinition of permissible speech on “matters of public concern,” such as elections, election integrity, and constitutional processes – by media and social media outlets.
In a head-spinning series of unilateral, unprecedented decisions, major social media outlets – with near monopoly over public communications in this venue, exempted from legal remedy – literally shut down a president’s access to the venue, blocked, removed, or edited thousands of others. High tech then blocked access to competing social media options, with political bias.
Beyond selective media reporting, misreporting, and political activism, social media just flipped the table. They are literally now acting, with perceived immunity from prosecution, as final arbiters of political access to a major medium, dictating to citizens and political leaders who can speak, when, how, on what topics, with what passion, affiliations, intent, and consequences.
Plainly, in a representative democracy – based on the sacred role of corrective action through free speech – this cannot stand. How political and legal actors undertake to restore free political speech is unclear, but a good guess is State and Federal legislation, plus robust private litigation. Americans will not stand for being silenced, intimidated, cajoled, or manipulated by anyone.
So, what comes next? Likely rising public discontent, disaffection with leading media and social media, calls for corrective legal, legislative, market, and economic actions – including major market moves away from censoring venues. The average American is likely to get more politically involved – not less – when efforts aim to shut him or her out of public dialogue.
Call this five, a cautionary note for the moment, connecting dots. Because legal processes count and mitigate conflict, because political violence is unacceptable in America, because incitement has a real and legal meaning, and because the First Amendment is under fire, all Americans should be willing to step up and be heard, not remain docile, silent or – God forbid – fearful.
In short, our First Amendment is sacred, one reason it comes first. It says, Government “shall make no law … abridging freedom of speech.” That presumably means it is unconstitutional for a law to shield social media outlets intentionally abridging political speech, such as Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. It also means citizens are empowered to speak up when free speech is infringed. Much is murky, but that much is not. Violence has no place in our political process, but vocal objection to being stripped of core rights certainly does.
Come on Bob, nothing says peaceful protest like bear spray, body armor and zip ties.
Regarding next week’s protests, let’s take a deep breath and see what happens but maybe people should leave their bear spray, zip ties and body armor at home.
Robert,
Thanks for the clear, analytical approach to these important matters. If only every American would thus consider this situation.
Here is my thought on this matter, I do not like violence in any form, it is not acceptable whoever is doing it, the problem we have in this county is those on the left and can get away with it because the news media has sold out to the Demonrats and the Communist’s, ANTIFA and Black lies Matter can commit any crime they want and are not held to the same standard as people who are RIGHT on the Right. Equal punishment for Equal crime’s .
When a party uses fraud to win an election, 80 million people are disenfranchised. Yes, we are angry, but we see that Antifa and BLM have been destroying cities across America and the news agencies call them peaceful protests….then, I believe Antifa infiltrating the protests in Washington), scales the wall and breaches the capitol (probably at the Democommunists’ request) to hurt Trump…those 80 million people who were angry became more angry, and if the ignorant morons in Washington impeach Trump and remove him before his term is over, they are going to become even more frustrated and angry. Like our forefathers have said in the past, to keep the Republic a little blood must be shed from time to time. I am afraid the unacceptable violence is going to happen, and the communists who stole this election are going to get their just deserts. There are not enough military to stop 350,000 gun owning patriots in this country. I am not calling for a revolution, I am just stating that even 40% of Biden supporters believe that this is going to happen. This year is going to be a dark one for America, starting with the swearing in of an illegitimate president.
This is very informative. Thank you
I really enjoy the folks at AMAC who write these intelligent articles. Is it permissible to share them (while we can) on the sites many of us still belong to?
America is now becoming a third world country. They have taken our first amendment rights and are trying to take our second amendment rights also. If people do not wise up and stand for these rights our great nation will die. People need to realize that if their rights are taken away they are subject to the people in charge and that is what Hitler did to his people. Stop changing the history books and learn from them.
“Censorship is a form of homicide” Ster Ling
A careful reading of Trump’s so called “inflammatory” speech reveals there is nothing in it that can reasonably be called inflammatory. It has been branded as such by the Trump hating media and Democrats and has been repeated enough that it is now considered to be the truth (reference “1984” by George Orwell). Big Brother, really just Big Tech, now is cutting off social communications so conflicting facts and opinions cannot be viewed by we common deplorables. It may not be illegal for Facebook, Google et al to disconnect opinions they do not like, but it is certainly immoral and dangerous to our so called democratic republic.
My Name is FRANK, and I’m a Paid Subscriber. I just want to thank you guys for always supporting President Trump, the BEST, MOST Accomplished President in my Voting Lifetime, and I’ve been Voting since 1978 {I Know, this is a RunOn Sentence}. ALSO– I DON”T want to see too much Reporting on Soon-to-Be President BiteMe! They Stole The Election, and every time I see/hear him, I literally get ill.
The legal process has been subverted by corrupt politicians, judges and poll workers. We may need to display civil disobedience many times in the future unless we remain crushed and cowed by the new Socialist Regime. We will need to fight fire with fire. No more political BS and “Pie in the sky”
Citing the constitution is all well and good, but it only works if those responsible for adhering to it actually do so. Congress and the courts have both ignored it and stomped all over the rights it defines. And who’s to hold them accountable?? Even unelecting them won’t work anymore since they now know how to steal it and will do so from this point on (think Chinese/Russion “elections” – ha!). I still believe our country will no longer exist even two years from now. Fundamentally transforming this country is exactly what Obama said would happen and now it is starting in earnest.
Thoughtful well written article.
In my opinion/what I’ve witnessed: The Demoncrats/Socialists/Elites have stole an election, silencing conservative voices, imposing communism, threatening genocide against those that oppose them (& I believe we will discover that they helped to unleash Covid-19 as a means of population reduction. I would not oppose violence and civil war to stop the destruction of our country.
Has anyone checked Pelosi into the loony bin today//Its Time for Dementia Joe/Screwy Schumer and Whacko Pelosi to spend their later years in a liberal rubber room//Since Washington D>C was such a bad thing has anyone checked on PORTLAND lately because the riots are going on 6 months and the social media is deaf/blind/ and ignorant of that disaster/ Not to worry though because Biden and his gal pal Harris are in control//VERY SAD
The author acts as though the Constitution will be in force. That in itself is laughable.
I wonder if the founding fathers at Lexington and Concord found political violence justified.
I think we need to get the Tea Party back into motion. We need to organize and perhaps use a page out of the dems playbook. Disrupt the dems every chance we get. Have them defending themselves constantly as Trump had to do. That’s just to start. They say the squeaky wheel gets the grease so we need to be the very squeaky wheel. We also need to inundate all in Congress with letters, emails and phone calls about them not supporting the Bill of Rights. We have a midterm election in 2 years. We need to start right now to look for candidates who will support the rule of law and take back the House and Senate. If we don’t, we’ll lose this nation. We also desperately need election reform. No mail-in voting, no rank choice voting, no early voting. You either vote on election day or absentee with all the safety measures put in place. I’m ready to start. I helped to defend this nation once before in the USAF and I’m ready to do the same now in my old age in just a different way. What do you all think?
Many of us have deleted our Twitter and Facebook accounts and moved over to other more Cooperative social media Outlets. Can you make your editorials now shareable to mewe and parler? I understand parler we’ll be back up in the very near future
Bottom line is, when constitutional statutes are ignored, and no one bothers to enforce them, they become useless. It has become obvious that the socialist takeover has no regarded for the constitution and apparently the only one willing to anything about it is President Trump. We have eight days of his term left to salvage what is left of our country. What will it be?
So why isn’t these laws being followed by the controllers of us now? And I use the word CONTROLLERS as I see it now! And why aren’t our laws being enforced by our Republic?
Where is the Supreme Court?
very well written piece. Spokesmen from other nations have been quick to respond, even Russia– BUT NOT CHINA, NOT IRAN.
Very good article. To bad our Nation’s leaders acknowledge and lead by the Constitution, plus, the major businesses throughout this nation have lost any intelligence, or an ability to attempt to heal this Nation (Communism is here).
We are in a “Target Rich” environment. We are moving against the targets 0R the targets are moving against us. The environment will eventually determine who and what we are. We have to evolve the environment to an amicable settlement or we shall no longer exist or will the Constitution. THIS WON’T HAPPEN IF WE DO NOT GO ON THE OFFENSIVE. WE HAVE TO DEFEND OURSELVES. MAGA!!!
Loved the article on first amendment rights. I was going to share it by email, but when I tried, the message set up for me to forward was full of Chinese symbols! I was not comfortable sending that to my contacts.
Very good article and I can generally agree. However, one must remember that our founders started a violent political revolution to replace a tyrannical monarch with the nation we all love, and those same founders recognized and spoke of a potential need to reestablish liberty by the replacement of any future tyranny by any means necessary, even one elected by profoundly ignorant voters. We have reached a point when far too many voters cannot name the three branches of our government and believe Judge Judy is a Supreme Court Justice! Yet these morons are allowed to vote, and it bodes ill for the future of our nation.
It is far too late for nicey nice rhetoric about how things should go in our Republic. Republics can only stand if the population has the moral compass of the Christian-Judeo ethics in place. That compass has disappeared here in the United States. The 2020 election showed that even when corrections are made for malfeasance, at least 50% of the population wishes for the welfare communist state. Over the last 100 years, the communist forces were strong enough to emasculate and brainwash the greater portion of our population and effectively terrorize and threaten legislators and judges who might have been otherwise true to the Republic. So what really happened? What happened was that most good men did nothing when intervention would have helped and that is all that evil needed to succeed. And so the late great United States will live under communism for several generations until it falls apart of its own weight. I am just sorry that good people will have to suffer. I do take consolation when I remember that Jesus said that the good would suffer with the evil as He suffered and to know that the good will be rewarded in the life to come while evil will be punished. Remember the beheading of St. John the Baptist. Jesus also said to pray for and do good to your adversaries and to hope for better times to come. I will do that.
All I can say is that Lord, please help us all. Americans need to rise up and be the better person.
Great article.
So why does the democrat party continue to incite violent protest,rhetoric ,antagonistic speech and actions against others who refute their failed politics and policies??
Are we expected to always turn the other cheek when they directly insult,threaten retaliation,and shove anti american,anti freedom,anti religious and immoral activities without any accountability or reprecussions down our throats??
Where is the tipping point when ALL American Citizens put an end to their blatant divisive and hateful antics??
The socialist democrats, the democrat party and its leaders , practice this as a staple if their quest for power and money, I’ve watched it for 50 years.
The problem is they continue without consequence.
Or at least so far……
A few tech companies have decided that only they can control what is “truth” and what can and can’t be said and that they can also control the right to free association. This cannot be allowed to continue. There are times when violence is acceptable in politics or else we would still be a British colony. A fraudulent takeover of government and a media shutdown of dissent is just such a time.
Until someone (Hillery or Biden and his son) gets arrested we live in something other then a democratic republic. Without someone who will carry out the law of the land we have a dictatorship of some sort. Clearly The United States of America is gone…….done! Our FBI and CIA are a huge part of the demise of American justice. Our government hated our President because he called them on their hypocrisy and their financial theft and misshandling of our taxes!
When I signed up to receive this newsletter I did not realize that “mature” meant old and not thinking straight. I did not realize that no Republicans participated in planning elections in the 50 states and that no Republicans worked at the polls or were vote counters and so that the Democrats completely controlled the voting process and “stole” the election. Republicans won their half of Senate seats and many House seats. Only Trump was generally rejected.
Thank you for the explanations. I was recently banned from Facebook, Google and Amazon for speaking out for Freedom of Speech.
I believe the left are outsmarting the right by provoking the weak minded supporters of Trump who are rightly angered by what they see the left are doing without any accountability, from the elected politicians and media, and knowing that we try to do what is right by the law, while they continue to ignore and break the law. Then they purposefully infiltrate the peaceful demonstrators and incite their anger to do violent acts and back off so they don’t get caught up with the arrests. It’s unfortunate that these supporters, who are just frustrated and angered at what they see happening, are being used by these evil agitators and have their lives ruined. It is pure evil, that is happening, and we cannot give in to it!
Legal challenges are one thing, but what is the recourse when a lawsuit, with hundreds of affidavits pushed by several states, makes it to the Supreme Court? Then, the Supreme Court simply throws it out! Throws it out without even looking at the evidence! This presidential election was peppered with fraud – cheating! President Trump was cheated and the courts have buried their heads in the sand! This reaction by the court serves as an endorsement for more cheating- oh! excuse me irregularities! The democrat party will simply cheat more in the next election!
I dont feel we are at a crossroad. I feel we are already over it. We are and continue to be on our way to socialism.
We cannot just blame Democrats as you wouldn’t blame a spoiled child. Someone allowed them to get that way.
Somehow conservatives have not gotten strong enough either in messages or action.
Millennials and younger now outnumber baby boomer and older generations. Why wouldn’t everything free not sound good? Why wouldn’t getting stoned everyday all day sound good? Why would a criminal fear jail and change their actions when they know they will be freed? Why wouldn’t an illegal continue to keep crossing or trying when eventually they will be allowed? Why have laws and rules when you can break them and there are no courts to punish? Heck, it all sounds inviting to anyone!
The difference? Selfish.
We know what these actions do to this country, our loved ones and our future.
They only look to power, themselves and their wants.
I’m afraid the powers, the wants and the gummies are too strong.
Only when the power, wants and gummies start to take from their own and we are a Venezuela will they then realize what has happened.
Until that message is out there we will continue to be on that path so hold on.
I find myself already saying I remember when I had a choice…
I wasnt made to wear a mask, I wasnt made to walk the barriers like a herd of cattle, I wasnt told no plastic bags, I wasnt made to buy paper straw that fall apart in my mouth and on and on. Why? Because i was already responsible, knew the repercussions of my actions, knew what I wanted for my future, those I love and my great country.
For now… I will continue to be the responsible person but just a bit more bitter and wonder… where do we go from here and what do we do.
It’s a sad and scary future. Who will lead that also cares enough?
“Notably, if any good comes from those jaw-dropping images of violence at the Capitol, it may be this: On left and right, from any perspective whatever, there should be a go-forward consensus that political violence is to be universally condemned – regardless of justification. Violent riots are anti-American, undermine law, must end. If all leaders accept that standard – we turn a page.”
Now all ya gotta do is get the liberals to agree AND DO.
Good luck with that.
Mr. Charles has presented an excellent article on why and how we can take back this Republic. We can either sit and cry in our beer OR start contacting our state legislatures and demand a review of the election laws. Then evaluate the laws and procedures to see if fraud can happen. If there are problems, we can now fix the problems now and be ready for the next election. We have had an excellent example of a person run for office and state clearly what he would do if elected. When he was elected, he walked his talk despite a level of hate that I have never seen before. We need more people in offices who will state what they will work to accomplish and then walk that talk. This is the only method that we can get honest representation in government. I have listened to the talk in the primaries, then listened to the changed talk after the primary, and finally watched a different walk in office. We cannot survive this way. The power to change that problem is still in our hands if we choose to do it
Yes, many of the so-called “elected” leaders have shown just how treasonous they really are. But we should listen to our REAL President who asked us to be calm and patient. He said many would be in jail in a couple of weeks. Let’s obey our REAL President and let him and his REAL team prepare for what he said will be done. If we START anything, it’s wrong. The left just wants us to start to finish destroying our country. Let’s give our President Trump the time he asked for. Remember, NEVER start anything, but no one can blame you for self-defense if need be.Let’s just hope our President can do what we want him to do. Let those on the left start the real war, my guess is that the military will be on OUR side, not the left (not counting, of course, a couple of dishonest pentagon members.).
What we see playing out here is a total rerun of 1933 Germany. The propaganda by the Media, the Tech giants, who are also burning our books :aka freedom to comunicate, and Antifa and BLM acting as the brown shirts, with this one exception, that they learned from the Islam wars, blend in with the civilians then do the damage. I believe it’s coming down to this. “Lock and Load, keep’em cocked and locked, and remember “From our dead cold hands”
This is a very clear explanation of the turmoil in our country right now. Thank you.
Thank you for a thought-provoking article. I am discouraged, but also angry. We must unite and vote out the Rhino’s who could not wait to run to the microphones to distance themselves from our President. I have never, in my 48 years of voting, seen a President disrespected and maligned the way this man has! Therefore, we, too, have been seen as rubes and simpletons. I am weary of their lies. While I am not in favor of violence, I do hope that we can finally UNITE and prevail!
Thank you Amac for standing firm; however, I’m afraid you too will be closed down if the main stream media has its way. America is in a sad state right now and I’m afraid it’s only going to get worse. I appreciate all President Trump has done for the past four years and it’s so sad he has been treated so horribly. Never in my 73 years have I seem so much hatred…not even during the civil rights era. I just hope and pray God will get us through this and I pray for President Trump and his entire family!
WE THE PEOPLE have the right to recall politicians that fail to serve us or defend the constitution, we need to take them down one at a time, recall, investigate, punish or replace, this WILL also expose the corrupt judges and lawyers that have helped to destroy our legal system, they keep turning these ANIMALS loose to commit more crimes, they put minors in prison to indoctrinate them and fill thier heads with hate and propaganda and a new and bigger generation of socialist maddogs is born, and chinajoe and cameltoe have said they want to release them from prison, all the hate and violence of past few months will seem like a marrital spat compared to what they have planned for the future, KEEP AND BARE ARMS was created for this very situation. STOCK UP ON AMMO!
The finger pointing and the hatred found in the political rhetoric has to stop. Violence regardless of who, what, when, why and how is outrageous. Our elected political elite, regardless of party, received a first hand experience of what it feels like to be threatened by a mob. Just as their constituents experienced this summer. Invoking the 25 Amendment and the impeachment serves only to escalate an already impossible situation. The question is, who has the intestinal fortitude to stand up and put an end to all this hatred and division? All three branches of Government should come together, check their egos and partisan politics at the door, read the Declaration of Independence as well as the Constitution and focus on governing for the common good of America.
No violence! No violence! No violence! That’s the point that I took away from this article. And you are wrong! Our political system needs exactly that to remove the tyrants who are subverting and destroying our Constitutional Republic. Just as our founders had to resort to violence so we too must now drive out the the enemy within with violence! This is no time for pacifism and tolerance! It is time for courage and patriotism!
Am I the only one getting annoyed by the constant begging for money to “investigate” the criminal left? Got a new message from judicial watch, they have been “investigating” the clinton crimes, fbi crimes, doj crimes, for how many years now? When do we see these traitors and thieves and MURDERERS get punished? Hunters laptop, chinajoes illegal deals with AMERICAS ENEMIES, BENGHAZI, IRAN GETTING BILLIONS OF DOLLARS FROM OH BUMMER to support terrorist attacks on AMERICANS, WE have all seen, the entire world has seen the evidence, how is it that lawyers and judges are unable to “see”it? That is because lawyers and judges are ALL SOCIALISTS, we support judicial watch, but WHO DOES JUDICIAL WATCH REALLY SUPPORT? they keep dragging this whole mess out in order for them to get the five foot high stack of PARDONS they have that are already filled out and signed “legitimized”.
Vote fraud undermines the country. Once that is accomplished, none of those five points matter, and it only leaves one alternative. There is only one thing that would kinda sorta settle things down a little, and that would be a full and transparent investigation of all the more salient claims of vote fraud. Of course that will never happen. First, the Democrat leftists who are now in near total control, thrive in chaos. Second, it would likely prove that vote fraud is common and Trump should be president. Third, the deep state intends to continue to manipulate the vote. Personally, I intend to get a little rambunctious before they tell me to get on the cattle car.
If the effort to steal an election is allowed to stand, and those guilty of it and those that supported the effort are not held to account, then this country indeed has no future as the “United” States. I suspect there may be efforts by state legislators to reverse the illegal election. If that fails, then there is just one more effort that may soon follow, Secession. That will become very likely after the second amendment is also ignored and guns legally acquired by honest Americans are forcibly removed from their homes. When the next effort by the left is to give illegal immigrants the right to vote, with the clear intent to steal future elections, the movement to secession may become an avalanch. My only hope is that the Supreme Court intervenes and rights the many wrongs now being forced upon once patriotic Americans. Violence is never an option. Unfortunately, I think that many may soon believe that it is the only remaining option. As a Christian, I hope and pray that it is not. These are dark times and the future is not bright unless the Supreme Court intervenes directly.