By Philip Drucker

Even during the best of times, Democracy is by its very nature a messy affair. So many different people with so many different opinions, all of which when reduced to a vote all carry the same gravitas and weight. In 1787 when George Washington was elected our first Constitutional president, America was a nation of roughly somewhere between three and four million newly minted Americans. George was unanimously elected as a function of the Electoral College. Government officials did not attempt to count the popular vote as it was considered too difficult and could not be completed in a timely fashion, if at all.
Besides, did it really matter what a bunch of usually drunk religious zealots really wanted to see as their leader? Why hell, at the time it is also estimated there were a high percentage of former colonists perhaps as high as approaching 50% of the population still loyal to the King. Imagine fighting a war for your independence and then for your first real act of sovereignty your countrymen vote in a manner and with the effect and intention of announcing our big change of mind and will you please have us back? We’ll be good. We’ll pay our taxes, with or without representation. God save the King!
But that didn’t happen. The idea of rule by monarchy, a distant and out of touch with the everyday needs of the American people one at that, was no longer an option for those in the new world, the land of the free and the home of the brave. Oh, there were plenty of legitimate concerns regarding basics such as starvation, invasion by hostile foreigners, intrusions by hostile natives, dinosaurs (yes, dinosaurs) and an assortment of poxes and plagues guaranteed to raise an eyebrow of concern over even the most stoic of pioneers, mountain men and adventurers. But we made it.
As the country continued to grow up from the original 13 colonies we saw the rise of the two-party system along with traditional political, often nasty campaigning, and the ability to count the popular vote. This leading to the election of 1824, where Andrew Jackson won a plurality of the electoral college votes and the popular vote but by resorting to the 12th Amendment, Jackson’s establishment backed rival John Quincy Adams was appointed the winner by what Jackson and his supporters called the “corrupt bargain”.
The corrupt bargain involved the speaker of the House of Representatives Henry Clay. Keeping in mind Clay detested Jackson, he agreed to build a congressional coalition strong enough to install John Quincy as president. The quid quo pro being Clay would be JQ’s Secretary of State, a position Clay coveted as a stepping stone to his own presidential ambitions.
Four years later, in the election of 1828, the Jacksonians positioned themselves as the anti-elite party appalled by the back-door dirty deals being made in Washington that ignored the will of the people. Now the original populist, along with his rampant racism, poor temper and distrust of a strong central government, Jackson won both the popular vote and majority of delegates in the Electoral College and took his place up on the throne of American power. Jackson’s presidency was a time of territorial and economic growth within the United States. It was also an era of brutality and cruelty towards the native Americans. It was Jackson’s policy of tribal re-location enacted as the Indian Removal Act, that produced the infamous “Trail of Tears”.
In 1838, the Trail of Tears involved the forced relocation of approximately 16,000 Cherokee Native Americans. By time the march reached its destination in Oklahoma over 4,000 tribal members, many of who were women and children were forced to march through winter without any proper clothing or protection, died of exposure, starvation and disease.
That’s what happens when you are only president to some of the people. My point? When we elect a president, who is an unabashed racist faux populist with a grow at all costs agenda, bad things happen. Particularly to people sitting on land and/or possessing personal property deemed for better use by “real” Americans.
Now you know why on several occasions Trump has expressed his admiration for Andrew Jackson and his no-nonsense approach to governance that as indicated above includes sickness, disease and the potential for mass murder in his political toolbox of horrors.
Jacksonian times, as much fun as they were, eventually gave way to issues including the abolition of slavery, States rights, and secession. Secession led to civil war with the North defeating the South and consequently, the new party of Lincoln, the Republicans beating the old guard Jacksonians then known as the Democratic Party. Today, democrats act more like republicans, and republicans act more like democrats. But, hate by any other name or label is still hate. Politicians still jockey for power and minorities are still dying for someone else’s sins. There is still roughly one-third of the population that would vote to reconnect with the English monarchy, or at least anoint an American King.
Psychologists tell us anger and fear are the two strongest motivators when it comes to political party affiliation. Whatever you are either mad at or afraid of will influence your political leanings and ultimate choice of party. On prominent display in Oregon and across the country are demonstrations in the form of protected political speech and assembly, fundamental rights afforded to all Americans, regardless of race, creed or color.
Exercising one’s free speech rights in a peaceful manner is not unconstitutional or illegal. It is as American as America gets. Under a messy democracy. Where our commitment to no prior government restraints on speech allows any number of shall we say detractors, agitators and criminals to join in the mix. Until we figure out who is who. If we can. Once we do, those who deserve punishment should be punished. But, that is not what is happening, is it?
Our current president who wants us to re-elect him so he can fix the mess the guy currently in office left him (yes, you read that right) has staked quite a bit of his political future on fear. What is the time-honored curative for what fears you? Law and Order. Bringing a semblance of normalcy and predictability to what is otherwise unpredictable, chaotic and scary. Here is where Trump’s bring in the federal goon squad policies are going horribly wrong.
Law and Order is fine when employed to combat the acts of criminals and their crimes. The police find and arrest the criminal elements in our society and the courts bring justice through order, or, predetermined legal definitions and guidelines administered through an adversarial process at the end of which is liability, incarceration, and even death.
Death squads of roaming racists trying to start a race war, shooting protestors in the back, breaking windows, looting, take note. What you are doing is illegal and importantly, not sanctioned by any of the laws of our land including the Constitution. Accordingly, an application or two of Law and Order seems not only appropriate but down right necessary.
Peaceful protesting, and don’t mistake peaceful for docile, political protests can be plenty animated, even agitated at times and does not cross the line into imminent lawless action. Now follow me here, therefore a show of law and order against persons exercising their First Amendment Rights to protests are both highly inappropriate and unconstitutional. The protestors are doing nothing wrong and their right to do nothing wrong in the context of political speech and assembly is far more valuable that any attempt to limit the right to speak one’s mind by associating it with the acts of the bad guys and evil doers who are without legal justification, committing acts of vandalism, wanton destruction and yes, even murder.
Trump has done everything he can to blur these lines of distinction. He has made the good guys bad, the bad guys good and all points in-between. Further, he has repeatedly equated the right to free speech with the content of the speech. If you are for “him” your speech is fine. If it’s against “him” you are an activist, communist, fascist, antifascist, extreme left wing agent provocateur and surely not a real American. Who lets people die of a virus “washing over” us. Acceptable losses? Culling the herd? The price of freedom? Or, none of the above and only the incompetent actions of a mean- spirited autocrat who is in so far over his head he can’t see the bottom line is to save us, America, he must leave. It is the only sure way.
In closing, watch for applications of “law and order” to the wholly legal and constitutionally protected acts of free speech and assembly and know that our messy Constitution demands the police protect the rights of the speakers to speak first, and only when this becomes physically impossible to protect the life and limbs of the speaker, can the right to protest be cut short. It’s like that. Yes, it is. This is what a constitutionally aware president, Joe Biden comes to mind, would do. Trump? Still wants to be the stick that stirs the drink. Wants to be the fan that fans the flames of divisiveness and division.
The right to speak and air one’s grievances without fear of reprisal directly to those to whom we would protest, is one of if not the greatest rights we have as Americans. It is imminently worth fighting for, here, now, in Portland and wherever else the voices of liberty and freedom need to be heard. Hey Trump? Do you hear the liberty bell in your sleep? It trolls for thee. Troll.
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