Damon Root - In an interview on the CBS show 60 Minutes, Donald Trump was asked about the fact that his running mate, Mike Pence, once described Trump's call to ban Muslims from entering the United States as "offensive and unconstitutional."
Trump's response? "You know−the Constitution−there's nothing like it. But it doesn't necessarily give us the right to commit suicide, as a country, OK?"
There you have it. Trump freely admits that he won't let the Constitution and its pesky limits on government power get in the way of his agenda.
The idea that the Constitution "is not a suicide pact" has always been the last refuge for the worst sort of censors, warmongers, and authoritarians throughout U.S. history. Just think about all the ways in which this line of thinking might be used to obliterate constitutional rights:
- Mr. President, you can't declare war unilaterally. That power resides in Congress. "The Constitution is not a suicide pact."
- Mr. President, you can't censor the internet. "The Constitution is not a suicide pact."
- Mr. President, you can't forcibly shutter houses of worship. "The Constitution is not a suicide pact."
- Mr. President, you can't outlaw the private ownership of guns. "The Constitution is not a suicide pact."
- Mr. President, you can't take private property for public use without paying just compensation. "The Constitution is not a suicide pact."
- Mr. President, you can't order American forces to commit acts of torture and other war crimes. "The Constitution is not a suicide pact."
2 comments:
I guess no one said that last one to George W. Bush, huh?
The trashing of the Constitution is the Court's power, jealously guarded. But ever since the US absorbed the Axis and adopted anticommunism under Truman the secret government has operated outside the Constitution. It conducted it's own elections in 1963 and 1968 using bullets not balllots. But Trump will never see the inside of the White House because the Clintons have left nothing to chance, as demonstrated in their control over vote count in the primaries.
Post a Comment