They rejected kings and were sincerely concerned about the possibility of a dictatorship. But we need to move past founder-worship and focus on justice.
They rejected kings and were sincerely concerned about the possibility of a dictatorship. But we need to move past founder-worship and focus on justice.
Today’s Republicans say they want to follow the Founders’ intent, but it’s all a lie. There are only two reasons why they have this Founder fetish:
It is always convenient to be able to base rulings on the opinions of people who have been dead for hundreds of years, because you can’t ask them what they really think. I think the Founders would have had a lot to say about today’s Christian Nationalists, most of it uncharitable.
Their endgame has always been to call a Constitutional Convention, and rewrite the whole thing from scratch. Poof! Now they are the New Founders, and Precedent says they will be fetishized for another 250+ years. Imagine US History buffs of the future scrutinizing the essential writings of the new Founding Fathers: McConnell, Roberts, MTG, Sean Hannity. Future armchair historians will analyze Trump social media posts like they are the Federalist Papers! Maybe someone will make an epic musical out of them…
Ever seen The Purge?
2 is right, but the reasons aren’t for aggrandizement (at least, not mainly). It’s for more power and the legitimacy of that power.
But it seems that they don’t need to convene a convention if the Supreme Court and Congress can simply allow Trump to ignore laws with impunity.
I’m already working on a musical about them, but I think I may have to send it out of the country to be both published (under an assumed name) and performed.