20 Simple Truths About America
Two plus two equals four. There are twenty-four hours in a day. And the following are not opinions. They are not hot takes. They are not partisan talking points. They are foundational truths about how American government is meant to function—truths that we must now repeat, defend, and hold to like torches in a gathering storm.
The president cannot defy the Supreme Court.
When the Court issues a ruling, it becomes the law of the land. The president is not above it. Defying the Court is not a political dispute. It is an attack on the Constitution.Officers of the executive branch must obey court orders.
U.S. Marshals, law enforcement, agency heads—their loyalty is to the Constitution, not the occupant of the Oval Office. They are deputies of the law, not of the man.The president is required to faithfully execute the laws.
That's not a suggestion. It's a directive in Article II, Section 3. Refusing to enforce laws passed by Congress or rulings by the courts is unconstitutional.The three branches of government are coequal.
They check and balance each other. The executive is not superior. It is not the “ruling” branch. It is the enforcing branch.The Constitution is not a suggestion.
It is not a menu of options. It is binding law. All officeholders swear an oath to uphold it. That oath means something.The separation of powers is not a technicality.
It is the very design of our freedom. Erode it, and you erode the republic.No one is above the law.
Not the president. Not billionaires. Not judges. Not senators. That's not left-wing. That's American.The rule of law depends on enforcement.
If laws are not enforced, they do not exist. If court rulings are ignored, the system fails.There is no such thing as a “loyalty oath” to an individual in a republic.
Loyalty is to the Constitution, the rule of law, and the people. Anything else is monarchy or worse.Patriotism means defending your country from those who would rule it without constraint.
Love of country is not love of power. It is love of principle. There is nothing patriotic about autocracy.Constitutional crises are not metaphors.
They are real. And we are in one.A president who defies the courts is not controversial. He is unlawful.
We must call this what it is: authoritarianism in real time.A lie told with confidence is still a lie.
Truth does not yield to spectacle. It must be asserted clearly and consistently.Political power does not confer moral legitimacy.
Winning an election does not entitle someone to ignore the law.Democracy requires more than voting.
It requires institutions, constraints, norms, and the courage to defend them.The president is not the government.
He is one part of it. He is not the law. He is not the Constitution. He is its servant.Militarizing the executive branch is a precursor to tyranny.
If federal agencies become political tools, democracy becomes theater.Checks and balances only work if people honor them.
They are not self-executing. They depend on people choosing to uphold them.Civic courage is not optional.
Every generation must decide whether the American experiment lives or dies. This is our test.The center must be held—not because it is easy, but because it is ours to hold.
This republic will not save itself. But it can still be saved, if enough of us remember what it is we are defending.
These truths are not radical. They are foundational. They are what we have always claimed to stand for. To abandon them now is not just a political mistake. It is a moral failure. And we cannot afford that.
Not now. Not with this much on the line.
Go forth. May God keep you. May coherence hold you. May truth light the way. And may love carry you home.
I think the most interesting point here, Mike, is:
18. Checks and balances only work if people honor them.
They are not self-executing. They depend on people choosing to uphold them.
A major part of my frustration with where we find ourselves is that there seems to be little accountability. There are laws for the common person that are heavily enforced (witness the massive number of incarcerations we have). For white color crime they are often enforced less. But then if you are the current President they are not enforced at all. We do not have clear mechanisms to ensure there will be a balance among the 3 branches of government, or that the President "presides" but does not dictate. I do not know what the mechanisms should be but we need them. This spot appears to be the "weakest link" right now in the chain that holds democracy together.
Notably when Obama needed to fill a SCOTUS position with a year to spare he could not because there was no clear mechanism to ensure that would happen. WTF.
“America was waking up, as Germany once did, to the awareness that one-third of our people will kill one-third of our people while one-third of our people watches.”
― Harlan Coben, The Boy from the Woods
I don't like the odds here... With 2/3 of the population either in denial or armed and out for "retribution", that leaves an out-gunned, disempowered minority scrambling for a solution other than head-on violent confrontation.
During the January 6 Insurrection, we witnessed what Trump and his cult are capable of, even without the full power of the presidency. We watch in horror and shock as individuals are snatched off the streets and sent to hellish gulags without due process. Imagine what happens when words turn to action and the full force of the MAGA furies are released.
Congress has been castrated, and the judiciary has no means of enforcement of the law. It is time to imagine actions to take if a domestic terrorist autocrat tears up the Constitution and replaces it with the "Project 2025" manifesto. I am open to suggestions. Will the cavalry arrive to "save the day" and would that need to involve a full military coup? What are our options?