Our Founders, who engineered the preparation, initial amending, and passage of the Constitution were wise men; albeit wise white men, two historical sins in the present climate, but wise all the same. They were wise because they purposely designed our Constitution to blunt and protect us -- all of us -- from the triggered passions of a panicked populace and from elected representatives whose stances (and courage) spin like splinters of driftwood caught in the maelstrom of public opinion.

Which brings us to our present state of affairs. Boarded up and masked for months, a particularly vociferous, virulent and violent strain of humanity has been unleashed and busy:  calling for dismantling law enforcement (coincidentally the public servants who have sworn to uphold and protect the law and law-abiding citizens against mob violence); taking over entire neighborhoods of American cities to institute “racial equality,” a mission which apparently includes shaking down business owners and serving up “justice” in the form of beatings, rape, and murder; tearing down statues of racist, fascist war criminals like Abraham Lincoln and U.S. Grant; and, making persons disappear professionally who now, or at any time, have acted in a fashion, or even expressed an errant thought, that does not completely comport with the present mores of a woke 2020.

“Not so!” exclaim the empty suits fronting for failing corporate media conglomerates.  They would have us ignore the multiple scenes of violence and misplaced anger displayed through more objective and independent sources. The protests were “mostly peaceful” chirped CNN, even as a crowd broke the glass of its Atlanta headquarters and ransacked it.  The real troublemakers were not the legitimate protestors, MSNBC reassured its remaining viewers, but actually white supremacists who had deftly infiltrated Black Lives Matter protests in a dozen plus cities to spread violence and wreak havoc. Pay no attention to the extensive video footage showing protestors of all stripes and colors performing stupefying acts of vandalism.  

Although most of the major media outlets long ago ceased dispensing accurate information to the American citizenry, they nevertheless have retained just enough viewers to help fan the flames of this 21^st-century Bonfire of the Vanities. They also continue to press and fold weak-minded politicians like threadbare laundry. Cue the platoon of white, geriatric Democratic congresspersons skittering over to the Capital to genuflect in Kente robes in what may well have set a new Guinness world record for the largest demonstration of zero self-awareness ever recorded on video.  Joe Biden has proven to be every bit the pandering appeaser to radical fringe groups by failing to strongly condemn the violence they have wrought and the extralegal tactics they employ. Acts of violence by protestors?  Nonsense! According to Biden, the violence we need to be vigilant against is “the violence that’s being done by the incumbent president to our democracy and to the pursuit of justice.” 

It isn’t just politicians on the left who are eager to toss the country overboard to curry favor from the frenzied mob and their media cheerleaders. Certain politicians on the right have recently displayed a backbone commensurate to a glass noodle.  In the all-too-well established tradition of the squishy Republican who is more comfortable in the swampy green rooms and cocktail parties of Washington D.C. and New York than amongst their constituents, certain Republican senators from Oklahoma and Wisconsin have proposed replacing Columbus Day, a holiday celebrated in the American colonies as early as 1792, with “Juneteenth,” a date commemorating the emancipation of slaves in Texas. 

Are these Republicans actually under the delusion that their constituents are not only regular readers of, but set their internal politics to, the New York Times?  Perhaps. Too many of our politicians have too readily lost their heads at the slightest twitch in opinion.

Fortunately, we have the Constitution to protect us from spineless politicians and, more importantly, the worst angels of our nature.  Our Constitution was not meant to merely provide a rough scaffolding for government bureaucracy, but rather was created to provide the American people with a stable representative government that responsibly governs in the long-term best interests of all citizens.  The Constitution by its very design requires multiple elections spread over two houses of the legislative branch and the executive branch to effectuate any monumental shift in the judiciary branch, to government policy and upon our society-at-large. 

Detractors, especially those on the left, will say that this is a bad thing, that government must immediately respond to every wake, eddy, current and break in public opinion.  The framers of the Constitution wisely disagreed.  James Madison perhaps best addressed this point in Federalist No. 63:

“[T]here are particular moments in public affairs when the people, stimulated by some irregular passion, or some illicit advantage, or misled by the artful misrepresentations of  interested men, may call for measures which they themselves will afterwards be the most ready to lament and condemn."

Major media outlets are those “interested men” employing “artful misrepresentations” in sympathy with historically illiterate “progressives” eager to burn centuries of representative government for a vaguely defined, ethereal notion of “progress.”

How does all of this connect to Trump and the election of 2020?  When Democrats win presidential elections, they smear Republicans in the legislative branch who legitimately oppose their policies as self-interested elites, obstructionists, and even racists.  They use these smears, aided and abetted by friendly media outlets, to rationalize shotgunning out sweeping executive orders that deliberately circumvent the legitimate constitutional process.  President Barack Obama famously stated: “Where they won’t act, I will,” declaring his intention to usurp a Republican elected majority in the legislative branch -- and so he did! 

Imagine the danger of a President Joe Biden employing these tactics in the shameless pursuit of support from every fringe group squawking about a litany of perceived wrongs, real and imagined, that must be immediately “righted” -- regardless of cost. President Donald Trump is not perfect. He is quick to tweet and couldn’t exercise restraint if handed a blowtorch in a fireworks factory. President Trump has also appointed two hundred federal judges, confirmed by the Senate, who can only demonstrate a greater respect for our Constitution and faithfully discharge their oaths thereunder, including two Supreme Court justices. With his judicial appointments, President Trump has demonstrated a level of appreciation for the Constitution we could never hope for from a President Joe Biden.

The Constitution will protect us, but we must act to protect the Constitution in the voting booth in 2020.