An existential threat to our way of life
The entire concept of whistleblowers- that public servants have not only the right but the obligation to come forward when things are being done in government which ought not to be done, and to make us aware of it- is anathema to the Trump administration. I've remarked on that fact before. It's not the way competent and honest people run things. Openness and transparency are vital to freedom. Where secrecy and opaque maneuverings in the shadows prevail, corruption and tyranny thrive.
But if there is one principle in which Donald Trump believes, it's omerta- the mob's sacred Law of Silence. This president believes as an article of faith that those who belong to his administration owe their loyalty first and foremost to him, and only after that- if at all- to the nation. I don't know how anybody can not be concerned about that. It's one of many things about this administration that isn't just "off," but which runs counter to the values which supposedly define our form of government and our way of life. There is so much about the Trump crime family that just doesn't pass the sniff test. Yet those whose main concern in life is "sticking it to the libs" don't seem to be bothered by any of it.
Apparently, the values of Mr. Trump's friends in the Russian mob have rubbed off on him, and he's contaminated the values of a lot of good people in return.
Yesterday two witnesses at the impeachment inquiry- Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman and American Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland- were fired. Both obeyed the law and testified rather than cooperate in the obstruction of Congress of which partisan Republicans in the Senate acquitted President Trump the other day. Both violated omerta, the Code of Silence. And Don Donald exacted the price.
Not even the most charitable interpretations of President Trump's behavior can conceal the fact that he is a man who above all else refuses to be accountable. And for a nation whose system is predicated on the notion that public officials must be accountable to the people and to the law, this is not merely a bad thing. In a head of state, it's an existential threat to our liberty, to our way of life, and to our most basic values as a person.
Bernie Sanders might be a bridge too far. I would have a tough time rationalizing a vote for Elizabeth Warren. Pete Buttigieg's hostility to freedom of religion is worrisome, and Michael Bloomberg's fanatical support of an unbridled right to abortion- he not only regards it as a basic human right but refuses support to any pro-life Democrat no matter how orthodox a liberal he or she might be on every other issue- go down hard. So does Joe Biden's garden variety Catholic Democrat hypocrisy in claiming to personally subscribe to his church's teaching on abortion (which involves an obligation to work to change unjust laws) while continuing to uphold Roe v. Wade. It's doubtful that the admittedly huge strides the Trump administration has taken toward changing the Federal judiciary from a legislative entity back to a judicial one could be undone completely by the next president, but the potential is there to re-inflict a great deal of the damage that has been healed in the past three years and whose healing presumably will continue between now and January 20 of next year.
But whether the overwhelming majority of Republicans and self-styled conservatives are willing to acknowledge it or not, this is a president who does not share the values they profess to espouse either. It's not just his open and defiant corruption, his economic protectionism, and his eagerness to suppress dissent. Donald Trump is an existential threat to our very way of life. Until and unless they repudiate him and all his works, the Republican party and the conservative movement simply cannot be taken seriously when they claim to stand for even the most basic of American values.
Donald Trump must be defeated in 2020, for their sake as much as for the sake of the nation. A rogue president who runs the nation like a Mafia family simply cannot be tolerated, and since the Republicans in the Senate refuse to exercise their constitutional responsibility to protect our way of life from the threat he poses, we, the American people, have to do it ourselves at the polls.
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