The Founders never meant for a president to have such powers.

[kentuck]

Washington, Madison, and Jefferson would be rolling in their graves.

To even think that the Congress, duly-elected Representatives of the People, would submit to such a rule, was not something they ever wanted to see. After all, it was King George that brought them to declare their independence.

That is why we fought the Revolutionary War.

So, the so-called "President" wants to have a big celebration for our country on July 4th. He doesn't really care about celebrating the country. He wants to celebrate himself. King Donald. That's the bottom line.

He will order the military to surround him on that day. He wants tanks in the streets and fighter jets in the air. He wants to be the number one cheerleader for our military. It is the act of a tyrant. The kind that leads to a Revolution.

When a government no longer serves the people, but submits to the rule of a Leader, it is time to replace that government. The part of our government that is most dysfunctional at this time is the Legislature, the US Senate, led by Mitch McConnell and the Republicans, to be more specific. They are the first that should go.

They should face the consequences for their failure to represent the people.

We hope the American people are wise enough to defend what the Founders gave them.

[True Blue American]

1. Great post!

I have nothing to add.

[rampartc]

2. the founders were operating at a time whrn travel was slow and technology slower

they failed to predict or account for political parties, much less an extraconstitutional "2 party system"

I think the constitution needs a major overhaul, but can not trust our current system to amend or replace our current government with anything close to the required changes.

we need more democracy, not less.
we need a "vote of no confidence." trump, and many of his partisans, need to be thrown out long before 2021.
we need a government responsive to the people, not the lobbyists.

ok, i'll say it, we need a parliamentary democracy.

[HopeAgain]

3. I think the fetishizing of our founding fathers

Doesn't help anything. Washington and Jefferson were slave owners, for God's sake. We need to stop looking back and instead look at the present and say "this is broke and it needs to be fixed." Founding fathers may not have been as wise as we think, nobody could have pictured some of the current threats to democracy.

[tymorial]

28. The owning of slaves is a separate issue entity. While repugnant

It has nothing to do with the balance of powers defined by the constitution.

No one is placing the founders on a wall of honor for humanitarians of the millennium. They did draft the document by which our nation is governed. It has been modified over time as was intended. It gave powers to the branches of government which took have expanded over time. One item that has not changed, Congress is expected to hold the executive in check. The founders saw this eventuality. We may not respect them entirely for all that they were. We should respect them on this

[HopeAgain]

31. We are finding out

They did not put enough checks on the Executive. We are in this mess because of the over representation of minority states (the electoral college and Senate) which was motivated, to a large degree, to protect slave holding states.

Lets change the Constitution, it is proving to have serious flaws.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

4. Glad to see you posted this in your journal. . . . nt

[ck4829]

5. K&R. What was the point of declaring independence if we just replace a king with "elected" tyrants?

[melm00se]

24. This was a serious

question.

So many people know about Common Sense author Thomas Paine but what they do not know was that Paine had serious reservations about the structure of the government set by the Constitution. He, in my mind, accurately predicted that the Senate would become the aristocracy/House of Lords (essentially "keep the seat as long as you want it&quot of the new American Republic.

Additionally, the Anti-Federalists, despite "losing" the argument over the Constitution, feared that this would be the outcome of the way that the Constitution and government was structured.

[FakeNoose]

6. K & R Well said, my friend!

[PJMcK]

7. Your last sentence

The American people-- collectively-- are not wise. Consider that 60+ million people enthusiastically voted for Trump tells you all you need to know about the American people's wisdom.

It's very sad how Republicans have destroyed our once-great nation.

[FiveGoodMen]

18. I would say that preachers and hate-radio jocks (and secretive billionaires) destroyed the nation

and the current GOP is the result.

[PJMcK]

21. Fair enough

Chicken or the egg, really.

[world wide wally]

22. It doesn't even matter "who" destroyed out country... Just that they did

[demosincebirth]

25. Seems like the "perfect storm" has hit us.

[BamaRefugee]

29. They also voted for Nixon and Reagan,twice each, howling with glee

[ananda]

8. The checks and balances arms have been broken.

If the Senate were to actually do its job....

[demosincebirth]

27. McConnell is the culprit by allowing much of this shit to happen. I will

contribute heavily to see this turkey neck dumped.

[Honeycombe8]

9. Our govt system didn't take into account that Congress would be loyalists to the President....

and allow fascism to creep in. In the days of the founding fathers, invasions were soldiers marching down the street. Now, invasions are done by spies and computer hackers.

Now that the S.Ct. has also been unethically altered to contain loyalists, as well....it doesn't look good.

The founding fathers did not foresee this.

[kentuck]

10. They have added Supreme Court Justices before...

...Perhaps that time is coming once again?

[melm00se]

32. As long as the reasoning

is not purely for partisan reasons, it could pass but the last time an attempt to increase the seats on the court for these reasons (under FDR), it did not fly even when FDR's party holding an overwhelming majority.

[johnnyfins]

11. So, at parades and stuff...

...Does Cadet Bone Spurs get to wear his uniform?

But seriously: How did backyard barbecues, fireworks, and entertainment become a military parade with a president emcee?

It seems like it only happened in the blink of an eye.

[bucolic_frolic]

12. My question remains ......

WHO is behind the decades long movement to put Trump in office and create this nightmare?

Sorry, I don't think it's Putin, or necessarily Russia or the KGB.

Rumblings of the themes behind his actions have been heard for decades. Inequality between American per capita income, for example, and Russian and Third World incomes. America exporting pollution and not absorbing the pollution they create as another example. And as early as 1972, articles in political journals suggesting that the Soviet Union and America would ultimately to some extent merge their political systems, we becoming more like them, they adopting our methods.

And post-Election 2000, when Bush v. Gore was looming, I heard a radio clip of a European politician crowing the uncertainty. "So much for your vaunted American democracy!" or something close to that.

Every power that ever existed in the world wants to regain power. Donald Trump did not plan this. He's an opportunist at best, lurching to the front of what is essentially an ultra-Libertarian bus. But DJT had no expectation that he could run and win. Now if you go back to the years of Sarah Palin seeing Russia from her house, the lens becomes a little clearer.

I have no answers for the questions posed here. Just perplexity and suspicion.

[llmart]

17. Great analysis.

I agree wholeheartedly with your statement that trump didn't "plan" this. He couldn't plan his way out of a paper bag. And yes, he is and always has been an opportunist who has no moral compass, so once he saw the opportunity to manipulate the gullible among us, he took it and ran with hit.

At least in my lifetime of seven decades, I saw the decline start when Reagan was elected. Then I lost all of my political naivete when Bush v Gore was decided by the Supreme Court and not the voters.

I, too, have no answers. The simple answer is education, but those of us who are educated are labelled "the intellectual elite" and are derided while the simple minded, incurious, willfully ignorant in our country decided they know better what this country needs, and they have no concern about the principles on which it was founded.

[treestar]

13. Most of the People don't participate

and leave it to the President to "run the country" or be "leader of the free world." They do nothing, don't inform themselves, and only notice a little bit if unemployment starts inching up past 8%. Then there is a crisis and they look to the Leader of the Free World to Fix it and use the election to change to a different Leader who can save the economy.

The Dotard will win as long as the economy is OK.

That is what the Founders could not have realized. The entertainment culture and an amount of prosperity great enough that significant numbers can avoid politics altogether.

[Turin_C3PO]

14. There's a good analysis posted

that shows that even if the economy is good, he’s not likely to win unless the Democrats screw up royally. The man who wrote the article correctly predicted many past elections up to 2018.

[treestar]

15. That makes me feel a bit better about it

Maybe there is some concern that the Dotard makes us look awful on the world stage.

President Obama may be around a lot more during the General Election to remind people the recovery started with him.

[Turin_C3PO]

16. The thing is,

An incumbent with a good economy would usually soar to re-election. But the Orange Menace is different. He’s so incompetent that people are looking beyond the economy. That’s why his approval never goes above 46% and that’s on a good day. If his approval is still underwater by Election Day, we win. Of course, as always, Democrats must turn out in great enough numbers to overcome the Republican voter suppression and other cheating tactics.

[demigoddess]

19. I keep hoping the military will be wiser than the 'president' and refuse to allow

a dictatorship.

[kentuck]

20. Any country that is dependent on the military to save them ...

...is in deep trouble.

[FiveGoodMen]

23. Yeah, I'm hoping that too!

(But not counting on it )

[dlk]

26. We Can Look to the Republicans and their Unitary President Vision

They have greatly expanded and consolidated the powers of the president.

[bdamomma]

30. Geez, me too.

We hope the American people are wise enough to defend what the Founders gave them.

This is our country first and foremost. We must defend our way of living from these thugs.