Category Archives: Constitution

All Posts, civil rights, Constitution, ethics, north carolina, race

Should we stand for our national anthem?

After months of complaints from the political right about PC limitations on speech and discussion, it is ironic that those same right wingers see a national scandal  in Colin Kaepernick’s refusal to stand for our national anthem.  Like Muhammad Ali and Olympic Athletes of 1968, he is using his celebrity status to bring attention to what many see as American racism.

Kaepernick’s voice is but one in a crescendo criticizing the “land of the free”.  Leaders from African American and Latino communities have politely spoken their minds on voting rights, law enforcement, criminal justice, public education and income inequality.  Not much happened.  If quiet and polite voices are ineffective, louder ones are to be expected. Whether it is an NAACP Chapter, a Latino Coalition, Black Lives Matter, the American Civil Liberties Union or  some other organization, their list of unaddressed concerns is long.

Since passage of civil rights laws in the 1960s, many Americans, believe that we live in a post-racial society.   We don’t.  Our problems extend to the heart of democracy, consent of the governed.

It is with those thoughts in mind that I looked into the controversies surrounding North Carolina’s new voting law as one example among many concerns.  For a more complete account, read Appeal-16-1468 published by the Fourth Circuit United States Court of Appeals.  It overturned portions of the law because of its discriminatory intent.

The court found that the law was specifically designed to target African Americans and said, “…by 2013 African American registration and turnout rates had finally reached near-parity with white registration and turnout rates. African Americans were poised to act as a major electoral force. But, on the day after the Supreme Court issued Shelby County v. Holder, 133 S. Ct. 2612 (2013), eliminating preclearance obligations, a leader of the party that newly dominated the legislature (and the party that rarely enjoyed African American support) announced an intention to enact what he characterized as an “omnibus” election law. Before enacting that law, the legislature requested data on the use, by race, of a number of voting practices. Upon receipt of the race data, the General Assembly enacted legislation that restricted voting and registration in five different ways, all of which disproportionately affected African Americans.”

The court also found that, “Although the new provisions target African Americans with almost surgical precision, they constitute inapt remedies for the problems assertedly justifying them and, in fact, impose cures for problems that did not exist. Thus the asserted justifications cannot and do not conceal the State’s true motivation  … the State took away [minority voters’] opportunity because [they] were about to exercise it. … Faced with this record, we can only conclude that the North Carolina General Assembly enacted the challenged provisions of the law with discriminatory intent.”

Here are a few examples of discrimination that the court found in the law.  In deciding which forms of identification would be acceptable for voting, the legislature used racial data to select IDs that whites are more likely to have than minorities.  They used racial data to eliminate voting opportunities that were used more heavily by African Americans than whites.  Similar processes were used to determine early voting days,  eliminate same day registration, and eliminate out-of precinct voting.

North Carolina’s law was crafted by Republican leadership in secret sessions with advice from consultants employed by attorneys so that documentation of their work would not be available to the public.  The court found that “… after the General Assembly finally revealed the expanded (law) to the public, the legislature rushed it through the legislative process…in three days: one day for a public hearing, two days in the Senate, and two hours in the House.”

The law passed by party line vote.  Every Republican legislator supported it.  I don’t think they are all racists.  Instead, I think they are much like the Democrats who passed racist laws in the Jim Crow era.  They bowed to pressure to win elections and one way to win elections is to keep the opposition from voting.  That’s what they did, and it is an example of 21st century racism in operation.

Because of laws like this one and other grievances, some people don’t honor our national flag and anthem.  Would you honor the flag of a nation that did such things to you? I’ll continue to pledge allegiance because our courts generally overturn unjust laws and because we’re free to replace those who passed a racist law at our next election.  It’s time to have a record voter turnout.

 

All Posts, American Foreign Policy, campaign finance, Congress, Constitution, justice, north carolina, war

PRESIDENT WASHINGTON’S ADVICE TO AMERICAN VOTERS

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CLICK HERE to read George Washington’s full farewell address

I’ve invited an old friend of our nation to compose most of this column.  George Washington served with great distinction as leader of our military forces in the war for independence then gave another eight years of service as our first President.   Approaching the end of his second term in 1796, he published a farewell address that included his assessment of our history and his advice about the future.  Here are some of his words and some questions to ponder.

“The unity of Government, which constitutes you one people, is also now dear to you. It is justly so; for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquility at home, your peace abroad; of your safety; of your prosperity; of that very Liberty, which you so highly prize”… “For the efficient management of our common interests, in a country so extensive as ours, a government of as much vigor as is consistent with the perfect security of liberty is indispensable.” That hasn’t changed but our perception of who is entitled to the benefits of liberty has expanded to include people regardless of race, sex, or other personal characteristics. Why do so many among us now see government as our biggest problem?

President Washington said that by maintaining our national unity, we could “…derive from Union an exemption from those broils and wars between themselves, which so frequently afflict neighbouring countries not tied together by the same governments…” thereby avoiding … “the necessity of those overgrown military establishments, which, under any form of government, are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as particularly hostile to Republican Liberty.”  Why do we have armed forces stationed all over the world and why have we been at war so long?

Regarding relationships with other nations, he said, “nothing is more essential, than that permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular Nations, and passionate attachments for others, should be excluded; and that, in place of them, just and amicable feelings towards all should be cultivated…The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign nations, is, in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connexion as possible…”  Why are we continuously involved in trying to change the internal affairs of other nations?

Washington wrote, “In contemplating the causes, which may disturb our Union, it occurs as matter of serious concern, that any ground should have been furnished for characterizing parties by Geographical discriminations, Northern and Southern, Atlantic and Western; whence designing men may endeavour to excite a belief, that there is a real difference of local interests and views.”  In North Carolina, Republicans designed legislative districts to guarantee their continuous hold on power.  To benefit themselves, they divide citizens rural and religious against urban and secular.  The situation in Washington is similar.

Speaking of associations and political parties, President Washington said, “…they are likely, in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people, and to usurp for themselves the reins of government; destroying afterwards the very engines, which have lifted them to unjust dominion.”  Could anyone better describe how political parties and PACs serve the interests of the very wealthy, huge corporations and other special interests?

Still speaking of factions and political parties, President Washington told us that “The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries, which result, gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of Public Liberty. It serves always to distract the Public Councils, and enfeeble the Public Administration. It agitates the Community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms; kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection”

Please think about it.  Need I say more?

CLICK HERE to read George Washington’s full farewell address

All Posts, Constitution, justice

POPULISM VS THE CONSTITUTION

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“The Constitution says what it says, and it doesn’t say anything more.”   “The judge who always likes the results he reaches is a bad judge.” –  Recently deceased Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia

“(The President) shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Judges of the Supreme Court…(and)  shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session.” –  US Constitution, Article II, Section 2

“Except when it would make us unpopular with our constituents or donors” – This is not a quotation.  It is a conclusion based on the behavior of elected officials.

President Obama says that he will follow the constitution and do his job by nominating someone to fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by Judge Scalia’s death.  Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell says that he will not allow a vote on any candidate nominated by President Obama.  McConnell is backed by other Republican leaders who have pledged not to meet with nominees or hold hearings to consider them.  They argue that the nomination should be delayed until after the next Presidential election so that voters can influence the matter.  But voters have already spoken.  We elected a Republican majority to the Senate and a Democrat as President (twice).

In this matter the President is following the Constitution and Senate Republicans are not.  Republicans accurately respond that Democrats have done similar things, including seeking to delay nominations to the Court until they had a chance to win a Presidential election.  We could reasonably ask leaders of both parties, “Didn’t your parents teach you that two wrongs don’t make a right?”

Which ones have been doing their jobs and serving the nation?
Which ones have been doing their jobs and serving the nation?

The behavior of both parties is particularly onerous when they attempt to manipulate the composition of the Supreme Court in order to influence its decisions on specific issues.  Most Republican officeholders interpret the Constitution as allowing state or federal laws that ban all abortions while Democrats think it protects the rights of women to make decisions about their own bodies.  The battle lines over marriage equality, regulation of gun ownership, immigration and other social issues are drawn in approximately the same place.

On each side of our hot social issues there are powerful advocacy groups with vocal supporters demanding that elected officials do whatever it takes to win the day.  They often insist that office holders ignore constitutional obligations if that will help their cause.  Anyone who doesn’t comply is likely to face well-funded opposition in the next primary election.  That is how populism works.

Populist behavior is as old as our nation and its constitution.  President Andrew Jackson and the Congress provided an early and extreme example.  The United States agreed by treaty that The Cherokee Nation was independent, with its own legal boundaries but white settlers (illegal immigrants) persisted in occupying Cherokee land.  When Cherokees removed some white settlers forcibly, they demanded military protection. Then gold was discovered on Cherokee land and the problem quickly escalated.  States passed laws banning meetings of the Cherokee legislature and argued that the federal government had no right to intervene in state affairs. The US Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Cherokees but American voters and powerful interest groups wanted the gold and the land.  President Jackson, with support of the Congress, defied the Supreme Court and allegedly said of the Chief Justice, “John Marshall has made his decision.  Now let him enforce it.”  Jackson dispatched the Army to remove the Cherokees from their land, sending them on a journey to Oklahoma that we now call the “Trail of Tears”.  If ever there was a time when a Congress should properly have impeached a President and removed him from office, this was it.

When you hear the word “populist” used to describe a politician, it may refer to someone who will do whatever it takes to implement the will of his hard-core constituents, even defying the Constitution, courts, and laws to the extent that he can.  Andrew Jackson, George Wallace, Joe McCarthy, and Donald Trump are a few examples.  They are very dangerous because they are willing to sacrifice the principles of a free nation on the altar of one special cause if that will get them elected.  If you notice one of them running for office, I hope you’ll vote for someone else.  I plan to.

CLICK BELOW

to hear Harold Thom and the Cumberlands sing the story of Cherokee Chief Junaluska,  who saved Andrew Jackson’s life then lived to regret it after walking The Trail of tears.