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.
Anyone that believes we Conservatives were the ones that started the street violence in Washington, D.C. on January 6th is missing out on a few salient points. The ring leaders of the violence have already been proven to be of BLM and AntiFa connections. A few have already been released without bail.
That we, and by extension President Trump, are being tarred by that brush is both naive but dangerous in the connection. Why would those of us who wrought the beginnings of this movement, the TEA Party and 912, begin violent riots?
Another ignorant government dolt. Where do I begin? First, the USA is a CONSTITUTIONAL REPUBLIC, not a ‘representative democracy’. Secondly, the American Revolution was ‘street violence’ and we would have ZERO ‘political process’ if the patriots did not engage in same. Next, Thomas Jefferson said: ‘I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical’. Finally, OPEN YOUR EYES, as ‘legal processes’ mean NOTHING to Dumbocrats, who could CARE LESS about both the Constitution and the rule of law, only POWER and maintaining same at any and all costs. ‘Soap box, ballot box, cartridge box’ – Abraham Lincoln. The time for the soap box and ballot box is over. WAKE UP! The clueless, the deniers and the unprepared will be the first to fall.
As has been proven; this is a Plandemic, first made known in a direct word from Fauci himself in 2017, and being used by the Deep State to bring their agenda to make America a third world nation under their control. How many came out of nowhere to condemn our duely elected President as a traitor! When he has accomplished more good for this nation than any of the last 10 presidents! THE LEFT PROGRESSIVES HATE HIM; PERIOD.
Thank you, Robert Charles. For me, you explained exactly what is happening today and precisely what the laws of our country mean. This will be passed on to family and friends.
God Bless You!
Our enemies would love it if this country had a civil war and would take full advantage of it.
Hopefully This article represents the notion that “cooler heads will prevail.” I have thought all along this is a constitutional crisis and this well-written, clear delineation of the issues support my thoughts precisely!
Biden will ask Trump to remain in office another two weeks so that Schumer’s senate can remove Trump.
Crooked ? Sure but that’s how DC works, Anything to throw more bombs at Trump. Stay tuned.. Other
tricks are planned.
We can discuss the “big picture” when Biden in inaugurated. Or watch paint dry.
Now, while Trump is still in office, we can still have the blast we have had the last 4 years
and I dread missing it.
So, impeachment # 3 ? Lets go for it. Nancy, the impeachaholic, can surely think of
something.
If this voter fraud is allowed to stand, THERE IS NO NEXT ELECTION, THE MACHINES RULE, WELCOME TO THE MATRIX! we have the right to recall politicians if they fail to serve us or defend the constitution, BUT since msm social(ist) media has kept the truth from us and all politicians posing as “americans” are all socialists as well as ALL LAWYERS AND JUDGES, GOOD LUCK WITH THAT, ONLY ONE PARTY EXISTS NOW and it is corrupt, treasonous, evil and VERY DANGEROUS, they have unleashed thier “brownshirts” and they have TASTED BLOOD and they LOVED the taste and they WANT MORE, THE LEFT WILL NOT BE ABLE TO CONTROL THEM, BE VIGILANT AND YOUR FAMILY CLOSE, the braindamaged left want to release ALL the violent criminals from prison, PRAY FOR THE BEST, BUT BE PREPARED FOR THE WORST, YOU WILL BE FORCED TO FIGHT, OR SURRENDER, BUT THAT IS NOT AN OPTIN.
Apparently, the First Amendment has been redefined as, Whose ox is getting gored.
The last sentence of this article says it all.
It’s well beyond time for true Americans to realize the raw fact that the radical left and, to a slightly lesser degree, the Beltway Establishment are not playing politics, and haven’t been for some time (decades). They are conducting winner takes all, search and destroy internal warfare against the Constitution and America’s values and way of life. They are following the same basic tenets as the global Communist Party and the National Socialists (Nazi Party) in 1930’s Germany.
During the past 50+ years, they have established firm beachheads and/or basic control in American education and academia, the journalism, social and entertainment medias, state and federal judiciary, key financial players, weak, greedy career politicians and the federal “deep state” bureaucracies. The ironic fact is many of these gullible “useful idiots”, as Lenin called them, who hold key enabling and supporting roles, have no clue that they will be some of the first to be “thrown under the bus” when total control is achieved.
The Radical Left does not discuss or permit the disclosure of history, the use of rational analysis and fact-based common sense, as they all fail to support the tired, old tenets of their agenda. That is why total control, including the disarming of law abiding citizens, is always their exclusive objective with absolutely no compromise permitted.
The ‘Conservative’ Americans must rally and speak up! We can not allow the ‘Left’ Liberals to overrun our Government.
Some have said there were over a million people in Washington DC on January 6th supporting their President as well as supporting the validity of their votes. Could the leftists culling free speech from our nation think for a second and consider what would happen if only one half of one percent of those attendees decided to go full on guerrilla civil war……and add to that the other 74 million Trump supporters that are disillusioned with the tyrannical acts of the left…..that would make for one hell of a watering of the tree of liberty with the blood of those tyrants. God help the left…..its pure physics, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction so, make sure you have some awesome security folks protecting you leftists…as if it will help.
I am disappointed in ALL media outlets, from CNN to Twitter to Amazon to Apple and all those in-between who abridged the voices of free Americans REGARDLESS of their petty reasons. When did these arrogant democrats become so self-absorbed as to spend $Millions of taxpayer dollars in pursuit of party vengeance ? The COVID pandemic has been thrust upon the world yet our own politicians persist in fake impeachment litigation, tearing up speeches publicly, ridiculing each other and plotting a very irregular (at best) election while obstructing “The People’s” business. All this while being truly incited by a media, who is little doubt, being financed by foreign interests!! Recall, “divide and conquer” ? Well, our politicians seem to be leading this “DIVIDE” while literally blowing $Millions in this endeavor. So, add to my disappointment…all media AND politicians because they ALL demonstrate they are unable to rise above personal petty indifferences, despite lecturing us all to “embrace diversity”?
Our rights and laws are definitely being abused. It’s so frustrating to feel that you have no voice and no recourse. This is an excellent article, I wish I could share.
Not really into any of this, kinda wish I wasn’t white, though I don’t know what I am (adopted), just would like to know how these Antifa and BLM people collect a paycheck. I mean, if they had jobs, they wouldn’t have time for this I think. Funny, I was never taught about this racist stuff, my brother has brown skin and is half Mexican, both of us wonder what the heck is going on. He’s more conservative than me. He’s just like me though, if you ever throw down, we tend to fight a tad against whoever is talking BS. Everybody is the same, we all bleed red blood, I kinda became more sissyfied because I ended up being a medic which meant do no harm. It was very hard at first. Now we’re close to civil war I think and guess what, the color of your skin still doesn’t matter, what matters is I collect guns and if I have to, I will defend myself. Don’t want to, but will if these idiots keep getting more violent. Only problem is I have to fix whatever I cause, it was easier doing 20 years in military instead of dealing with these idiots that have no clue as to why they’re doing this. Heck, kinda wish I was still active, at least I knew who my enemy was, here, right now, it could be my next door neighbor for al I know. EVERYBODY NEEDS TO CHILL OUT BEFORE MORE PEOPLE GET HURT OR WORSE. I will still kill the enemy, just wish it wasn’t us. 20 years in the military and I’m dealing with people that have no concept of what life means, ya’ll just need to go to the corner of the school room for this period. I have PTSD and if threatened will probably eliminate the force threat. Force of habit. GOD HELP AND SAVE US, IN JESUS NAME, AMEN.
When can we start a 3rd party? It worked in the UK. 6 months they got rid of most of the crooked politicians on both sides. Only difference is, they still have election integrity. If we can’t get free fair elections working with the dems then Conservatives and Independents should have their own elections and/or who voted Republican or 3rd party on a signed list. Should have been done last election. Trump could have proved he got 80% of the legal registered voters. I watched all the state Senate hearings. Filled a notebook with all the fraud. That info needs to be posted, by state, on sites big tech can’t ban and emailed to everyone. Ex: 66,000 teens still under the age of 18 voted in Georgia and they refused to remove their votes.
I don’t use Facebook, Twitter or Parlor, but nevertheless these are public platforms that individuals have taken upon themselves to join to air their differences, dirty laundry or whatever else they feel the need to speak about. I think Local, State and Federal Governments should sue all media outlets on behalf of their citizens for infringing on their right to free speech. Sometimes you have to hit them in the pocketbook to get their attention
Side note. When Trump first office the dems had a huge fit that Trump had cut off funding to a lab in Wuhan, China. There was at least 3.7 million that Obama had already sent them. First the democrats had their fit then that got quiet and the MSM had about a week of it has all been “debunked”. No. There was no “debunking”. Matter of Congressional record. The taxpayers were funding the Wuhan lab for years before Trump took office. Use duckduckgo and search “Obama sent 3.7 million to Wuhan lab” Newspapers reported on Trump cutting off the money. Then there’s the MSM doing their parrot “debunked” thing. There was also a virus scientist from the Wuhan lab at Washington working with BO who everyone called The Bat Lady. She was sent back to China. This is how Trump knew for sure where the virus came from. Once there is a news blackout, everyone seems to forget the truth.
Watched video sent to me. A small group of police came out at the White House and ushered some from the crowd to follow them. The police turned and walked and the group followed them. You could tell by looking at some of them they were antifa nuts. Blocked out on the news after some Republicans came out and discussed the fact all the dems stopped talking and all of them left quickly just before the antifa and crowd came in. The Republicans just stood there not knowing what was going on. The whole thing was a setup. Even the New York Times was able to match up the faces with antifa using facial recognition – which now they have gone quiet on. Sure they were ordered to shutup.
It will not do any good to run for any office unless you are part of the dem-socialist-communist party until something constructive is actually done about the massive cheating. Everyone knew they would cheat massively and the machines were rigged but nothing was done to counter that. Do something pro-active. Think ahead. It would be easy for Republicans to have their OWN election and it is not illegal as long as the taxpayers do not pay for it. It could be called a “poll”. If that had been done for the Presidential election, we could absolutely prove how many votes President Trump and other GOP actually got. Then it would be simple math. ____ + B = C. If B = Trump votes and C is the total of registered voters then Biden – A would be what was left. If ballots would be too expensive, then anyone who votes Republican could go through their local Republican party to list who they voted for – Printed name, signature, address, phone, in their own handwriting who they voted for – then you have proof of how many voted Republican and you can easily attach them to real people. I doubt after all the fraud voting that many would object to signing the list or anyone knowing who they voted for. With each small area being separate, it would be difficult for the dems to make enough disappear so the truth would still get out there and it be PROVABLE in one figure. There should be security and the poll votes should be reported to various places at the end of the day. Use the phone, not computers that can be hacked. If this were done, the dems would want to steal the Republican poll/re-election votes or even burn down the place. Make it impossible for that to matter and change the outcome. I watched the State Senate hearings on the fraud. Making simple lists and notes it pretty much filled my notebook. Create a list of all the fraud that came out in the Senate hearings by state. Email it out to the world. – Just some further info. I was sent a video through Messenger that clearly shows the vote tally you can see on TV drop in one second 30,400 votes from Perdue. The machines were most likely dropping votes from both candidates throughout the day. It was originally posted by Brad Barton who said he would post it on Triumph News Network. Perdue goes from 774,723 to 742,323 on TV with just one second (mouse click) and nothing is done about it. How many times in the day did that happen? I would send it but I am technically challenged. I do not know how to get it into my email or even send it to friends in my text messaging (Messages) from Messenger on my phone.
this is not my America! since obama it has truly gone down hill! the dumo party is out of control! they are allowed to do whatever they want! next they will be taking your kids and sex traffickin them themselves! this is no joke and not meant to be – it’s serious and there has got to be something done about these satanists, the bully brigade! we had strenght in President Trump who was for allllllll the people – we have no one who is for the re pubs -we will have to take matters into our own hands. it’s sickening the way pelosi, schummer, waters aoc etc and rinos act – they are not human, they are devil worshipers! we have got to get it together!!! True Americans and teach our children and grand kids about history and undo the damage the schools are doing, I hope people write to Trump and ask him to stay around and be our strength – i hope also, that there are many out there who feel the same way.
There may not be much time left to hear this. Christ may call His church home at any moment, than hearing the true Gospel will be very difficult. Satan has mislead people from the beginning of the human race. Since the first people disobeyed God at his prodding, and God is holy, we were left without a relationship with God. However, since “He so loved the world, He sent His only son to die in our place”. All we have to do is ask Christ to save us. He takes care of the rest. Read, if you have a bible, 2nd Timothy chapter 3 verses 1-5. It certainly is a picture of our times.
Everyone remembers Patric Henry’s speech ending with the words “…as for me, give me liberty or give me death.” Far fewer remember the early part “…Gentlemen cry “peace, peace,” but there is no peace.” That’s exactly what this article and so many in Congress are doing now. Violence is NOT “unacceptable.” It was acceptable to the Founding Fathers when their other efforts to seek redress of their grievances against the government’s actions were thwarted or ignored. If the party now gaining control of the government, did so (as all evidence suggests they did) by corrupt means, then it seems very foolish to rely on them to act to make it harder to fix elections in the future. Conservatives have eschewed political violence in the past because, and ONLY because, they believed in, and trusted “the system” to give them an equal voice, and to prevent fraudulent elections. They now see that “the system” does NOT work as advertised. Belief in that system was the only reason we’ve had more than 2 centuries of peaceful power transitions, so with that faith gone, the resort to violence is to be expected. It is unpleasant. It is scary. It is even novel. But it is not unacceptable. The successful corruption of the latest election is the destruction of the last bastion preserving peace within our country, and many now see violent action as the only means left to save the Republic. The coming violence is utterly predictable.
I have been researching since last summer. First I found the communist site on the web, then the democratic mission statement. Once again, on the internet in plain sight. Communist don’t believe in God, they worship their country and it’s leaders. Over 50% of Americans do not believe in God, you can decide if these are democrats or republicans. The democrats stole this election. There will be no more elections. The CCP, Chinese Communist Party introduced the virus to the world, but was directed at the U.S. to help the democrats steal the election with mail in voting. The CCP has infiltrated and own the deep state, the democratic leaders, and media and the internet. You could not possibly believe the democrats are smart enough to pull any of this off. Americans, republicans nor democrats, understand how communism manipulates the people. This has been going on for the 10 to 20 years that have our children and grand children thinking socialism might be better than what we have. The CCP are taking control of the United States of America without a shot being fired. It is a cancer that has been spreading and 4 years of a Make America Great President has brought us to this boiling point. Many people don’t understand that the free America keeps the world safe, it’s water ways open to free trade, dictators from taking charge of the world. Most people don’t understand that the submarines of the U.S. are parked offshore of every country, that our bombers can fly to any country in the world and strike with nuclear or traditional bombs. I understand that some people, like Barrack Obama think the U.S. should not flex their muscles in the world we live in. Our country is on the verge of being taken over by communist china, this is not democrats flexing their muscles now that Donald Trump has been neutralized. We need to realize the enemy we are fighting, and it is not each other, it is not republican against democrat, it is America against Communist China. If we don’t realize this very soon we will all be in communist work camps. Nancy and Chuck will be right their beside us because once they have the country secured they won’t need them any longer.
I agree. I lost was Terminated by a Liberal pseudo Christian university last Summer after 11 years working there. It was Cancel Culture, no doubt. Shameful really for a self proclaimed liberal arts college – tolerant – diversified – respectful of ALL persons LOL takes action bc my views are biblical from conservative Black men n ladies AND are part of my beliefs verbalized as a Christian. Still, I stood up spoke out and step away. Georgia is a Right To Work/ Terminate wout Cause Stae which I strongly support. Just didn’t work 4me. People loved darkness more than Truths facts evidences and statistics. Oh well, it is America. Shameful yet legal.
Since when do the Democrats follow the Constitution when it is to their advantage to ignore the law? The Supreme Court is clearly compromised; the presidency has been stolen; the legislative branch does basically whatever they want. All three branches of government are being run by forces of self-interest. The media is dominated by Fake News which is now silencing opposition. We The People are not served. Our voice is vanishing. This is beyond frightening.
Thank you for an enlightening and great article!
Question: Does it ever reach a point that all talk is exhausted and does anybody really believe a group of socialist that have an agenda are going to listen that alone compromise with a bunch of patriototic, freedom loving citizens of America. These people in charge of the dems are evil and power hungry. I think Chamberlin tried to talk to Hitler also.
The events in our country are not beyond God’s control or outside His plan. No matter how bad things get, it is faithless to fret over wrongs that are not yet righted. God will take care of everything in His time, and His time is always perfect. Thank you, Mr. Charles for your encouraging articles.
The five things – name calling, violence, charging others with incitement, racism, etc., impeachment and blocking items that are deemed politically incorrect have a very important and vital place in the left’s America,. It is to their benefit to contiue these and more America-destroying practices; such as inserting fraud into the election system. They now have the White house, Senate and House as a result. I expect them to continue in their ways. It works for them.
I thought that things couldn’t get worse in the levels of stupidity and corruption exhibited by a certain political party but it appears that I was wrong. After a summer of “peaceful protests” encouraged by that party and after three years of wasting the American taxpayers’ money on an “impeachment” in which more taxpayer money was spent to buy fake evidence, three days ago I read, “House Democrats plan to introduce an article of impeachment as early as Monday (11 January) alleging the president should be removed from office days after a violent pro-Trump mob stormed the US Capitol in a deadly riot.” There will be less than 10 days until the inauguration of the new President after the most “questionable” (ie corrupt) election in history and yet, with all transition necessary to establish the new regime, the only thing that the House “Speaker” can focus on is another impeachment that can go nowhere. In my opinion, this is a blatant attempt to insure that the current President – who has done more for America than any previous President since Reagan (and has possibly done even more) – has his reputation so smeared that he won’t be able to run again in four years. “Mightily vexed” would be the entryway to how I’m feeling about this anti-American party now. I was willing to remain in the silent majority and let my vote speak for me but now that the dead, machines and fake ballots have been used to place a mentally challenged person in the most powerful office in world and his “sidekick” who’s ready to step into the office as soon as when (not if) Biden is kicked to the side, I’ve had enough. While Beggin’ Biden is calling for “unity” (subservience), you reap what you sow and the Dims, hopefully, will reap the whirlwind, because God and everybody else knows that they’ve sown hot air for the last four years.
We the People command the ultimate weapon. Contact you state representatives and encourage them to call for a Convention of States Fifteen states have already done so. We the People can amend the Constitution without congress and it’s past time we did so to save out republic!
Everyone needs to calm down and take a break. Many of us are trying to make Jan 20th a NON EVENT. Do Not go to Washington, Do Not watch on TV.(Advertisers will just love that) Continue to delete ALL social media accounts, Twitter, FB, Instagram, etc. And NO shopping on Amazon. Their stock is DOWN for a second day. (hopefully none of you have a big stake in their stock) The ONLY thing these people understand is power and MONEY.. We have to show them that we ALSO have POWER, in a NON VIOLENT way. Please pass this along to everyone you know and PLEASE participate. WE MUST OUTSMART THEM AND BEAT THEM AT THEIR OWN GAME.
Next step is to immediately start working on the 2022 elections. We MUST support STRONG Republican candidates. Volunteer with Amac, your local or national GOP, Republican Clubs etc.
What is before us is a much divided country. How and why we got here is simple . Decades of failed economic policies, regulatory misguided mandates unnecessary foreign welfare and yes military overreach . Attaching the status quo was imperative. Came a president that courageously said enough and spoke to the forgotten American. How novel.
Sad that certain recent political decisions have allowed the anti best for this country politicians to again gain traction despite years of neglect and a record of failed policies
Raise the flag salute and stay strong. Do not abandon our president We have faced worse times and have succeeded
With “certification” in various business & legal realms is presupposed that remediation may be needed for various & sundry issues. So, Amendment XII’s “open & count” is deficient. Exactly what can be done at that point to handle objections was an utter confused mess & that needs to be spelled out. Either by amending XII or passing something new (amendment or legislation), first, there needs to be a review period just after the election to file complaints, then shortly after this deadline Congress would convene to redress grievances, THEN they can meet on January 6th to “open & count.” ON ALL SIDES, disagreeing on decisions is one level of frustration but two months of uncertain swirl (to put it politely) does everything but help.
Good Afternoon Everyone:
In my humble opinion , the division has been caused by a failure of all the institutions that we have all been taught exist for the protection and safety on the American People. These institutions include congress, the Supreme Court, the FBI, the DOJ, the CIA and state legislatures and some governors . If the evidence was not so overwhelming and “in your face”, there would not, I believe, be the level of tension that currently exists.
All the 75 million + people who voted for Mr. Trump have every wanted is a full, fair and transparent presentation of all the evidence. The Supreme Court ducked the issue. The state legislatures should have met in special session, especially after hearing evidence or met as soon as individuals in state governments decided election law which was unconstitutional. Except for some, Republicans did not have the backbone to stand up together for an investigation and were all too willing to certify a fraudulent election.
Not even going to mention the issue of how the VP conducted the electoral certification in Congress. The alternate slates of electors fro states in question were never considered and it looks like the language governing the procedure was changes by individuals, not by congress as it should have been.
Unless there is the investigation into both the Nov 3rd general election and the GA senate run-off, there will always be questions and doubts. If these were fair, then we accept it and move one. Point being we do not know for sure, but the preponderance of the evidence suggests there was manipulation of the vote and voting laws. Censoring discussion about it does not change that fact.
So, what is the average citizen supposed to do when all the above institutions have abrogated their responsibilities? My suggestion is that you almost need to build it back up starting at the state level with candidates responsible to the voters and to get rid of all the suspect voting machines.
As we condemn the stolen election and the liberals who are defying our constitution, let’s not forget those in the Republican Party who have let us down. Fifty of our US Senators and around 50 of our US Representatives voted to allow a fraudulent election to be certified without discussion. Add in the various state legislators who didn’t do their jobs, the Governors and other elected Republicans who usurped the constitutional authority of those legislators as well as the many staffers and cabinet members involved and you can see we have a lot of housekeeping to do. Take names now and remove every one of these disloyal people when they next ask for your vote.
Robert B. Charles might consider the intent of the Second Amendment, after waxing lyrical over the constitutional right to free speech. The Democrat Party has become a front for Marxism. The Democrat elite, and their acolytes are clearly making a big push to bring about a socialist government akin to the former U.S.S.R. These confused people think that the ideals of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels have only failed in past political experiments because the leaders didn’t apply enough motivation. As if Stalin’s Gulags were too feeble as an inducement.
One of the meanings of the word “violence” is: law, the unlawful exercise of physical force or intimidation by exhibition of such force
A government that makes unjust laws, and imposes those “laws” on the people is called a tyranny.
The tyrant will enforce his will on the people, while justifying his actions by saying he is only enforcing the laws. Example: King George ordered his Redcoats to seize all weaponry that the colonists had at Lexington and Concord. Crazy King George was just coherent enough to be alarmed by his subjects in the New World simply because they dared to criticize policies imposed by his Ministers. The colonists thought that they could exercise free speech, even speech about inequitable government decrees. So much for the right to speak about one’s grievances.
Let’s cut to the chase here and consider the intent of the Second Amendment. When the right to free speech is frowned upon, and even punished, the right to arms becomes the action of last resort. The Founding Fathers had just experienced the King’s abuse of their inherent rights, and they resorted to the remedy of rebellion. They actually revolted against the lawful government of that time with the understanding that they would be hung if they were unsuccessful.
Think of it, the colonist were so determined to live as a free people that they confronted the world’s largest army with their flintlocks. By the way, their firearms were just as formidable as the ones carried by King George’s troops. Fast forward to our current troubles. President Elect Joe Biden declared that he would put an end to the NRA, and even make privately owned firearms so legally burdensome that the people would forgo their right to keep and bear arms. The AR15 rifle is the civilian version of the Army’s M16. It is just as effective in aimed fire as the M16 and represents the
modern version of the firearms that the Minute Men carried.
Mr. Charles, I suggest that you regard the Second Amendment as being just as worthy of defending as the First Amendment. Violence may be the action of last resort but without privately owned firearms, we will not dare to voice concerns about the behavior of the liberal elite. After all, what difference would there be between work camps located on the north slope of Alaska, and the Gulags of Siberia?
There was apparently no legal remedy this time. The President’s team had more than 1000 sworn affidavits and no court would act on them. Is it any surprise that violence entered the picture? This was blatant, in your face fraud. It’s enough to try anyone’s patience.
After reading this most excellent article i see 2 points that need explanation or correction. (1) we seem to have a government made up of a very vociferous bunch that have no interest in holding together the REPUBLIC, for whatever misguided reason. IF they get their way they are not going to like the consequences. (2). This is NOT a representative democracy. It is a constitutional republic. A democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb deciding what to have for lunch. A republic is 2 wolves and a well armed lamb deciding what to have for lunch. (Benjamin Franklin Circa 1776). This might be a point to ponder on for the 80 million disenfranchised people.
I have been telling people for 12 years or longer that we need term limits for all. If term limits were done it would stop a lot of the lawlessness in Washington. I also believe that Nancy pelosi should be put in jail or made to pay back ever penny that has been spent on trying to get trump out of office. Pelosi is the worst person I have ever seen when it comes to hating someone. Anyone that has hate in there heart like pelosi should not be in politics.
I agree with your article, and I share the frustrations of the people who have commented.
I have been emailing my Congressman and Senators for weeks now, and talking to everyone I can about the issues. I am also going to be writing frequent letters to the editor of my local paper, and naming politicians by name when they are not standing up for our Constitution.
We need to keep fighting for the truth using the legal means that are still available to us. I hope and pray that people’s eyes will be opened and all the Democrat ploys and corruption would backfire on them, and that people would vote them out in droves in 2022.
Well said! If we do not stand up – we will lose our rights. Our founders and forefathers deemed that God gave us life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and they understood that Man can take it away.
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.
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.
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”.
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!
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.