“Rules? We ain’t got no rules. We don’t need no rules. I don’t have to show you any stinking rules.” Treasure of the Sierra Madre ALMOST
Yes, I know I changed out “badges” for “rules”, because that is not the story I want to tell. Before it was a successful musical, refusing to perform at the new and fucked up, Kennedy Center, there was a real Alexander Hamilton. I wrote about guys like him already. Can you imagine actually creating a country, one that was eternally intertwined with the rule of law?
It doesn’t take a genius to understand that there can be no civilization without rules governing our behavior toward others. Alex, that’s how I like to call him, argued for the importance of judicial independence, arguing that the judiciary must be separate from the other branches, to impartially safeguard the Constitution and individual rights. Jimmy Madison elaborated on the need for each branch of government to have sufficient autonomy to balance the activities of the others.
He added, “The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.”
At the present time, we are living under the thumb of tyranny, make no mistake. Those guys back in the day were brilliant. Maybe, in some ways, they were naive, filled with such a sense of great purpose that they couldn’t imagine some scumbag coming along, who didn’t give a shit about the country, only himself.
Merriam Webster defines a despot “as a ruler with absolute power and authority, or a person who uses power in a cruel, unjust, or harmful way.” Hmmm, I wonder who this definition fits? Along with everything else, I can’t believe his ugly language and how he uses it to belittle everything and everyone, who is not kissing his orange butt. On top of that, why is it OK? Why? I guess it is “woke” to say that he and MAGA set a bully example for impressionable, young people.
Honest Abe had an interesting take on the remedy for this kind of extraordinary perversion of all that is right about this country. He said, “We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.”
I am through with definitions and quotes. “You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.” OK, cut me some slack, it’s Dylan for God’s sake! You see, one of the major deterrents to breaking the law is the punishment that ensues. Once you remove that from the equation of human behavior, every one of us is in danger from this demented perversion of the worst in us. No forecast is necessary for this storm. It is right here, right now.
Throughout our history, there have been warning signs. I think the Civil War was a beauty. There were people, who believed you could own others to conduct a profitable business. While the South lost the war, the idea of taking advantage of others was not lost. Since then, many laws have been enacted to protect those without power from those with nearly all of it. The rights of the individual took on a kind of sacred quality.
Over time, that war over our rights lost any hint of civility, as if it ever had it to begin with. It took on a kind of stealth quality, operating behind closed doors, waiting for the monster, Project 2025 to awaken. Growing up in the north, the idea of segregation lived in newspapers, etc., almost like happening in another country. Stopping for just a minute, I can’t imagine how this was legal and how the National Guard had to be called in to right this incredibly, egregious wrong to people, whose only “crime” was the color of their skin. That shit is still not over in our America. The rainbow of skin colors and religious beliefs are now considered to be less than equal to white, male Christians, particularly those with big bank.
As early as the late 1800’s, the idea of non-interventionism first took hold in the country. While calling it America First had to wait for President Woodrow and his 1916 campaign. It was about keeping us out of the First World War, because it had nothing to do with us. Well, we ended up getting in, primarily because our ships were being threatened, all about our wallet. It was about money, not principle. You’ll be happy to know the phrase was used by the KKK in the 1920’s.
Today, we have the America First Policy Institute, kissing cousins of the ultra conservative Heritage Foundation, authors of Project 2025. This thread through our history was a kind of an early warning device, regarding the excesses of a truly claustrophobic view. It demeans the intent behind the creation of this country with such extraordinary promise.
Man, this is really complicated and I am certainly no expert in these matters. The original idea was not getting involved with wars that don’t pose any threat to us or our borders. Sure, I think it works to a point. I also even feel like a bit of an idiot, talking about war at all. Violence doesn’t solve a goddamn thing, other than breeding more of it. Of course, that has never mattered throughout our human history, even our Neanderthal predecessors clubbed each other.
It would have been really interesting if we used our immense power to mediate, rather than reacting to or initiating violence. We really got filled with ourselves back then and it has sure carried over to this very moment. There is a reason pride is called one of the Seven Deadly Sins. It is possible to have a high opinion of yourself, without thinking you are better than everyone else. Now, an individual can do that, but not without a good deal of work, because of the damn temptations.
Pride+Power is a deadly combination, the maximum perversion of simply loving yourself for who you are. I am familiar with that particular idea. I’d have to say it has become my life’s work at this increasingly, rarefied chronological time I am trying to bask in. OK, enough about me, let’s return to the shit show that is now.This poisoned brew of the Spirit of America has been percolating for quite some time.
Even I was a little too young to understand the Army-McCarthy Hearings in the early fifties, when the reckless persecution of innocent Americans ran wild. Fear is a powerful stimulant, especially in the hands of a government, any government. I do kind of remember the John Birch Society, which took hold a couple of years after those hearings. It was fear once again doing its dirty work. Amongst other things, it launched the whole idea of conspiracy theories, alive and well today. Nothing was as it seemed and there were sinister forces at work trying to undermine the system. Now, does that sound at all familiar?
These are very dangerous times for our country and the world, because we are not an isolated country, as many would like to have it. In many places around the world, we were actually a force for the betterment of the lives of others. As flawed as we have always been, we used to think of ourselves as a force for good. Sure, the dark side always sat right behind the light. Withdrawing aid will increase human suffering, which is incredibly tragic. Today, the light is fast being extinguished by the despot and his minions. They cannot see past themselves, because their rabid egos fuck up the view.
You know, the heart of the streets have brought down the powerful before. Even President Lincoln understood that to be the last resort for a free people. When the rule of law is getting castrated right before our eyes, what is the recourse, “but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution”?
THIS COUNTRY BELONGS TO ALL OF US
LISTEN TO IT RIGHT HERE:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/admin/1292459/episodes/16832089-stinkin-rules