Fortunately, in the most vicious stand-off in America since the Civil War, I have noticed no sign of involvement by the violent Antifa movement.
I deplore violence, even in the face of egregious atrocities. Mass violence achieves nothing good. It only creates more violence. And innocent bystanders are victimized.
So when the base of America’s democracy crumbles, when our institutions are undermined, our beliefs mocked and our norms of decency shredded, what can we the people do?
With the court’s specious rubber stamping of Trump’s Muslim travel ban and Congress cowering before him, it seems we can no longer rely on the Constitutional separation of powers to protect us.
Villainy stalks the land. Children are snatched from their parents and confined in secret concentration camps. Long-established laws are brushed aside with disdain.
Trump once suggested that he could shoot someone dead in the middle of Times Square and face no retribution. He might be right.
With the highest court in the land apparently subverted, he could well be above the law.
America’s democratic system seems broken.
There are peaceful demonstrations everywhere of course. Mainstream media are aghast. There is sure to be an anti-Trump reaction at the ballot box in November.
But will that be enough to curb Trump’s despotic rampage?
Or will the lies and confusion spread by Trump and his gang blunt the electoral response? And will Russia’s hackers once again subvert our democratic process?
What happens if peaceful protest fails, if the electoral system is corrupted? Must we docilely allow Trump to have his way with us?
I still say mass violence is not the answer. But would a nationwide strike be effective? And might a crusade of civil disobedience prevail?
Would we the people have the resolve to stage the kind of passive resistance that won India’s independence from Britain?
Let’s pray we won’t need to find out, that our democracy will somehow withstand this savage assault, that the ballot box will prove an impenetrable defense against Trump’s despotism.
In God we trust, after all.
Its constitutional implications
How the Indians defied Britain
