A republic if you can keep it

by James R. Olsen, Hamilton

When asked about our form of government, Benjamin Franklin said, “A Republic, if you can keep it.” Keeping our constitutional democratic republic is not so much what policy is pursued but how it is done. An executive branch that is allowed to take shortcuts and trample on rights for a popular policy sets a country on the road to perdition. 

Angry people fill the streets, marching, chanting, shouting, many with violence on their minds, burning, breaking, clubs swinging. The radical left, shouting the language of Marx and antifa; the radical right was convinced that the radical left, the back-stabbing elitists, had driven their country to ruin. The radical left and the radical right, the constitutional republic. 

A failed coup had been a setback. There was an attack on the capitol. But, the populist leader was undeterred as he promised the country would be great again. He was on their side, the workers with callused hands, the super conservatives that yearned for the old days of power and glory. They would be great again. He spoke with a drumbeat resonating with the crowd’s roars; he promised to annex their neighbor with its common language. The parades marched as he promised them new lands and glory. 

In the face of this, the cowering legislature gave up on democracy; they passed the Enabling Act, allowing the executive branch to pass laws by fiat in case of emergency. And, The Leader declared an emergency, a never-ending emergency.

This is how Hitler became a dictator.

The aspirations of the current administration are admirable to many, to bring back manufacturing jobs, reduce the deficit, and to control who lives in the country — every sovereign nation has claimed the right to determine the criteria for citizenship, including tribal nations. What is important is not what the government does, but how the government does it. 

Would it be constitutional if Congress passed an enabling act to transfer their duties to the President? Yet, instead of quick and violent events that surrounded the burning of the Reichstag, it has been a slow death by a thousand cuts. For decades, Congress has made laws that let the President make laws. This has gone on for decade after decade. The Congress is at fault, the Democratic Party is at fault, and the Republican Party is at fault.

Maybe it should be no surprise that a populist leader rushed to take full advantage of a long history of a lazy Congress and put his political agenda above constitutional limits — declaring emergencies that are not emergencies so the leader can legislate by fiat. Again, don’t get me wrong; this is not about the policies being enacted. It is about HOW it is being done.

The United States Constitution has NO authorization for the President to declare emergencies. Instead, over the years, Congress has legislated that authority into existence. Presidents of both parties have used them to push their agenda on the American people with no say by their representatives.

This is not a partisan issue. If the Congress wants to impose steep tariffs, so be it. Tariffs: Article I, Section 8, says, “Congress shall have the power to lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts, and Excises.”  

The word “President” cannot be found in this sentence; the words “Executive Order” do not appear anywhere in the Constitution. Illicit drugs crossing the border is not a foreign army invading America, it is not a sudden, new catastrophe. It is a fake emergency, no more than an excuse to legislate by fiat. It is not right; it is not constitutional; Congress needs to take back its power.

If Congress wants to set up a process for mass deportation, let them do it, with due process — not by continuous emergency, an idea lambasted by many Republicans when the emergency response to COVID-19 went on for too long. 

Deportation: Another fake emergency invoking a law, The Alien Enemies Act, which begins,

“Whenever there is a declared war between the United States and any foreign nation or government, or any invasion or predatory incursion is perpetrated, attempted, or threatened against the territory of the United States by any foreign nation or government…”

We are not at war, there are no foreign nations threatening to invade.

Deportation by software algorithm would be a comedy of errors if it did not portend every citizen’s worst nightmare — anonymous Feds disappearing people, a mistake that sends someone to a foreign prison, a warrant at the right address for the wrong people, US Citizens, teenage daughters in their underwear in the rain, in the dark, facing 20 men with weapons — who then toss the house taking phones and cash leaving them nothing — nothing short of a breaking and entering robbery — except they had a warrant for the wrong people. (https://www.kxan.com/video/texas-house-committee-changes-thc-ban-bill-allows-for-hemp-beverages/10686370/)

It is Federal overreach on steroids. It is not right; it is not constitutional; it is the road to perdition. 

Montana did not sign up for this when the compact was made with the United States when it became a state. Every elected official in Montana and our Congressional delegates swore to uphold the Constitution — now is the time to quit bickering over wedge issues; now is the time to honor your oath because the American experiment with a constitutional democratic republic has been a good one, over the years enfranchising more and more of its citizens. Now is the time if we want to keep it.

Given that we want to keep our Republic, we call on:

•  Congress, take back your power — Senator Daines, Senator Sheehy, Representative Zinke, Representative Downing — time to honor your oath of office.

• Every county’s board of commissioners, every city council, every sheriff, every central committee, every constitutional conservative, everyone who wishes to continue the American experiment in Montana to resolve:

—   Any person detained by any Federal Agency shall be informed of the agency and identify of all of the people who are detaining them, be informed where they are being taken, have their families and attorneys informed of their location, allowed visitation without undue delay, have a public administrative or judicial hearing as to their status. 

—   Any person detained by any Federal Agency shall be detained within the borders of the state until such hearing occurs and a judgment rendered.

—   Any person detained by any Federal Agency shall be treated with respect and detained with the minimal necessary force, and made whole for any mistakes with minimal delay.

—   No person shall be targeted based on their free speech, political loyalty to any person, party, or policy.

—   Citizens of Montana have a constitutional right to privacy, so any demand to share information or provide any Federal agent access to personal data shall be subject to Montana privacy laws and regulations.