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A surprising poll released last week showed that a majority of voters not only see the opposition as a threat to the nation, but also justify violence to counter their policies. This poll captures the crisis of faith that I have been writing about for more than a decade as an academic and commentator. Many people are currently questioning democracy as a sustainable system of government. It represents the single greatest threat to this country. It is a people who have lost faith not only in our system of government, but in each other.
A poll by the University of Virginia Center for Politics shows the nation is at war with itself. Fifty-two percent of Biden supporters say the Republican Party now poses a threat to American way of life, while 47% of Trump supporters say the same about Democrats.
41% of Biden supporters now believe violence is “justified to stop” [Republicans] About the same number of Trump supporters, 38 percent, would approve of violence to stop Democrats.
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Not surprisingly, many of these people have lost faith in democracy. About 31% of Trump supporters think the country should explore alternative forms of government. About a quarter (24%) of Biden supporters also doubt the viability of democracy.
Faith is essential to any system of government. Without trust in the values underlying a constitutional system, authority relies on a combination of coercion and capitulation.
I have been writing for years about this growing loss of faith and how it has been fueled by intellectual and political elites. In the news and social media echo chambers, the public constantly hears how the opposition is made up of “traitors” and how the constitutional system works to protect the enemies of the people.
Viewers now have a steady diet of figures like MSNBC commentator Elie Mystal, who called the U.S. Constitution “garbage” and argued that it should simply be thrown out.
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In their New York Times column, “The Constitution is Broken and Shouldn’t Be Reclaimed,” Harvard law professors Ryan D. Dorfler and Yale University’s Samuel Moyn wrote, “The Constitution is broken and should not be salvaged.” He called for “fundamental changes” to the constitution in order to “recover from the
Rosa Brooks, Professor, Georgetown University Law School on MSNBC’s “The ReidOut” blasted Americans for being “slaves” to the U.S. Constitution, which itself is now the nation’s problem.
They are part of the radical chic that has become the norm in academia and is widely accepted by the media.
According to these law professors, the problem is not just with our country’s constitution, but with constitutionalism in general.
Some argue that important protections and institutions should be ignored. In a recent open letter, Harvard law professor Mark Tushnet and San Francisco State University political scientist Aaron Belkin wrote to President Joe Biden about what they believe to be “misguided” policies in the name of “popular constitutionalism.” He asked them to defy the court’s decision.
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“Popular constitutionalism” appears to be a form of discretionary or ad hoc adherence to the constitution. If only the “popular” constitutional rules are followed, the constitution itself becomes a mere pretext for accommodating whatever demands a changing majority or a forming mob demands.
Politicians also contributed to this crisis of faith, challenging the values and core institutions of the Constitution. Lawmakers like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York have questioned the need for a Supreme Court.
People like Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren supreme court packaging Simply to immediately create a liberal majority.
Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer of New York went to the steps of the Supreme Court and declared, “I say this to you, Gorsuch. Kavanaugh. You unleashed a whirlwind, and so will you.” , excited his supporters. Pay the price! You never know what will hit you if you go ahead with such a terrible decision. ”
It’s no surprise that a man showed up at Judge Kavanaugh’s home to kill him over his “terrible decisions.”
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Conversely, former President Donald Trump has regularly denounced his political opponents as “traitors” and “enemies of the people.” He recently declared:If you follow me, I will follow you too! ”
With our leaders making reckless statements like this, it’s no surprise that our Constitution itself has come to be seen as a threat to our country, rather than the very thing that defines us. It is designed to suppress the majority and protect the least popular in our society.
After all, the Constitution remains an agreement between the people, not between the people and the government. It requires a leap of faith. It is a promise that despite our differences, we will protect the rights of our neighbors.
At least that’s what the Constitution recommends. That means we’re still here. It is a constitution that has survived economic and political turmoil. It also survived the Civil War, which killed hundreds of thousands of people.
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It’s not a particularly poetic document. This song was written by the ultimate genius, James Madison. If you want some truly moving prose, try one of the French constitutions. Of course, they often failed, so they practiced more. Other countries have based their constitutions on ambitious statements about the values we share. The Madison system has spent just as much time on what divides us. Not only did he recognize the dangers of factionalism, he created a system that could bring such divisions to the surface and address them.
The dangers of other systems were realized when these schisms were left under the surface, capable of festering and exploding on the streets of Paris. The American Constitution authorized a kind of controlled implosion toward the center of the system. The interests of these factions will be expressed and vented in the legislature. The Madison system does not hide our divisions. It invites their expression.
The question is whether we have reached a time when what divides us will overcome what unites us. This is not the first time we have been furious. In fact, in the early days of our republic, opposing political parties weren’t just figuratively trying to kill each other; They were actually trying to kill each other through laws like the Alien Act and the Sedition Act. Thomas Jefferson echoed his predecessor John Adams’ terminology: “The Reign of Witches.”
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But that history is no guarantee that it can survive the current turbulent times. Relentless attacks on the Constitution by politicians, media, and academic elites have turned many into constitutional atheists. But the future of our nation’s constitutional system may depend on a growing number of constitutional agnostics, people who simply have no interest or interest in defending our nation’s founding principles.
Philosopher John Stuart Mill warned in 1867 that all it takes for evil to spread is “good people.” [to] We are now in a struggle for survival to preserve the values that created the most successful constitutional system in the history of the world. It is our heritage, now either boldly defended by an appreciative people, or lost to the world. The cries of an indifferent generation.
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