Democrat Hatred and the Constitution

I'm not a Constitutional scholar. I'm a high school graduate with a couple semesters of college and a whole lot of life experience. But I read and comprehend English very well.

This impeachment thing is the most ridiculous thing Democrats have done in my lifetime. The single article of impeachment derived by the House Democrats, while unethical and completely outside House rules, was legal since it was decided while Donald Trump was still President. Delivery of it to the Senate after President Trump left office was symbolic but stupid. And the trial promised by Chuck Schumer is unconstitutional.

Article I, Section 3, Clause 7 of the Constitution provides that the sanctions for an impeached and convicted individual are limited to removal from office and potentially a bar from holding future office. Nothing in the Constitution allows for trial or punishment of someone who no longer holds office, nor does it give the Senate the authority to conduct a trial of a civilian. The language also says "and potentially bar someone from holding future office," not "and/or potentially bar someone from holding future office." By the language of the Constitution you cannot do the second one without the first.

The Constitution specifies that the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court will preside over impeachment trials. John Roberts, knowing a trial in this case would be unconstitutional and will likely end up in the Supreme Court if it goes forward, has declined to preside over it. So Democrats in the Senate have decided Senator Patrick Leahy will preside. Again, there is no provision in the Constitution that allows a Senator to preside over an impeachment trial. Therefore the trial would be unconstitutional.

Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer are throwing the Constitution out the window in this debacle. They're making things up as they go along simply because they hate Donald Trump. They must really be afraid of him if they're willing to knowingly commit unconstitutional acts to prevent him from running for office again.

If Schumer proceeds with this trial he will make a mockery of the impeachment process and the Constitution. Sadly, he doesn't care. His desire to exact revenge on Donald Trump outweighs common sense and legality. The Democrats, and a handful of Republicans, are showing their true colors. It's not about justice. It's about hatred and vengence.

A Wake Up Call

I'll get some grief and disagreement for this but I'm OK with that. It's my blog, my opinion. I don't need approval.

I've been thinking about the violence in the country over the last year. Over the summer of 2020 we watched cities burn. Minneapolis had billions of dollars of damage to buildings and businesses.  Portland had rioting and destruction every night for nearly three months while their mayor supported the actions of the rioters... until they tried to burn down his apartment building. In Seattle, rioters took over an entire section of the city, killing two innocent people, and the Police Chief retired because the City Council wouldn't allow her officers to intervene.

Many people died in the violence. Police officers and civilians were killed and injured. Democrat politicians, from governors to the Washington elite, mostly ignored the violence. Some defended and even encouraged it. Congressman Jerry Nadler told a reporter the violence was a myth.

The violence caused by left-wing demonstrators went on, often unchecked, for months. Then there was an election and the Democrats won. Suddenly, with a few exceptions, the violence stopped... until January 6th.

On January 6th, some Trump supporters, some far right-wing people and some far left-wing people (all verified) descended on the U.S. Capitol Building, breaking windows, vandalizing the building, entering private offices and stealing artifacts. The violence lasted for several hours. One rioter was fatally shot. One police officer was hit in the head and later died from a blood clot in his brain. Three others died of medical complications.  Then it was over - the same day.

The violence should all be condemned, regardless of who perpetrated it and regardless of where it was. But the outcry over the Capitol Building was far greater than it was for the violence and destruction in our major cities all summer. Many say it's because the January attack was on our center of government. But rioters tried several times over the summer to burn down federal and state government buildings. I suggest a different reason for the increased outcry over the Capitol attack.

For the first time since the 2020 violence began our elected officials in Washington were scared. Suddenly the violence became personal to them. It was no longer some city a thousand miles away. It was in their place of business and their offices. And most of them were like scared children. Their fear is understandable but in many ways they needed a wake up call. They're now paying attention.

I understand the notion that the attack on the Capitol was an attack on all Americans. But I see it more as Americans venting their anger because their voices weren't being heard. What they did was wrong, period. But in reality it was no worse, and in fact not as bad as what happened in Minneapolis alone.

Some want to blame the President's speech that morning. Except investigation has revealed that the violence had been pre-planned, days before the 6th. And the President did not tell people to assault the Capitol. He told them to go "peacefully and patriotically" to the Capitol to make their voices heard. By the time he uttered those words the attack was already beginning.

Our elected officials mostly live in their own self-serving worlds. On January 6th they learned there are other people in their worlds and many are not happy with them. It wasn't the right way to go about it. But the message was clear - "Don't marginalize us. We won't allow that anymore." And I think at least some of them got the message.

Silencing Has Begun

Twitter and Facebook recently shut down President Trump's accounts. Apparently they believe they should control what the President of the United States is allowed to express publicly. Main stream media outlets recently have refused to air the President's rallies. And last night Google and Apple removed Parler apps from their app stores, telling Parler they need to better control content on their web pages or their apps will no longer be available.

Don't get me wrong - Facebook and Twitter, as private companies, have the legal right to censor content. Membership on their pages is voluntary and they can restrict what one says. However - big tech threatening to silence another company if that company doesn't conform to their standards should scare people. And main stream media outlets that refuse to air the things the elected President does are no longer news outlets. They're left-wing propaganda machines. But that comes as no surprise to most of us.

President Trump has attempted to remove or modify Section 230 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, that prevents big tech companies like Facebook and Twitter from being sued for censorship. Our brilliant elected officials overrode him. The result is that the President himself has been silenced on those social networks, as well as several of his associates.

I never thought I would see such constraints on the First Amendment in my lifetime. But then - I never thought I would see socialism become popular in these United States either.

Historically, the average length of a democracy has been about 200 years. We are a Constitutional Republic, which may be the reason the United States has been around for nearly 245 years. But things are changing. I don't see the United States falling as a nation but I do foresee the constitutional government changing to a socialist government. Funny thing is - some people believe socialism will be better and that everyone will be equal. But those with money and power will maintain their money and power and those without money and power will maintain that status. Under socialism the upper middle class will erode away to lower middle class and only the elite will have status. That's how it works.

Democrats will control all three branches of government in just over a week. If they do what they're promising, abolish the Electoral College and pack the Supreme Court with liberal justices, they will control all national elections for decades. And the United States in which we grew up will cease to exist. And sadly, some people don't realize it... or simply don't care.