Vice President Mike Pence is an honorable gentleman.  We know from Jenna Ellis, a constitutional law scholar and Donald Trump's legal counsel, that he is fully aware of the unconstitutionality of the Electoral Count Act.  He is also fully aware that he has the authority to call on the contested states of AZ, GA, MI, NV, PA, and WI to have their legislatures revisit the certification of their electoral votes before allowing them to be counted.  And yet... nothing.

Joe Biden will be our next President. He didn't win, he stole the office. Or more accurately, it was stolen for him. Trump's trusted ally, Mike Pence, has refused to fight.

To Pence's name we must add a legion of other subsea invertebrates with "R" after their names.  So-called "Republicans" have in large measure become pale versions of their political counterparts across the aisle.  One wag put it this way: Republicans are Democrats, just twenty years late.  Translated into plain English, our frustration with D.C. is with almost all those who have official chairs in the Congress, the White House, and supporting agencies.  Those people serve themselves, with complete disregard for those of us who live outside the Beltway.  The stolen election has lit a match.

Donald Trump will change his address within a couple of weeks.  He will still have a voice, but the swamp and fake news media will feel free to ignore him unless the Democrats in power decide to prosecute him as an example for any who might ever again deign to think or speak freely.  The Republican Party will happily disregard him as an uncomfortable interlude in their peaceful slide into irrelevance.

If America is to have a future as something other than a vessel for the aggrandizement and enrichment of the privileged few, Donald Trump is probably the only figure large enough to create an organization with the size and sway to elect officials who are committed to the idea that the people are the rulers of America, as he said in his inaugural address.

Just as Make America Great Again captured the imagination, this new party needs a name that grabs us.  I propose that he should call it the "Great American Party."  Every true patriot would be welcome to join.

Next, it needs a permanent clear statement of principles, or it will immediately be taken over by hungry, corrupt people.  To that end, this could be a starting list:

• The purpose of government is found in the Preamble to the Constitution: to "secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity."  To that end, Thoreau's statement, "That government is best which governs least," should be our lodestar.
• The first purpose of the Department of Justice must be to find and prosecute all corruption in government, regardless of party.  The higher the official, the more important the investigation.
• Government's only purpose is to do those few things that the general public simply cannot do for themselves.  Police and the military come first.  The purpose of the police is to protect American citizens.  The purpose of the military is to protect America, not "America's interests." Foreign military adventures must be limited and in the context of declared war.
• The federal government must operate on a balanced budget.  "Continuing resolutions" are an excuse to do nothing.  Every Cabinet-level department must be funded in a completely separate act of Congress.  "Omnibus" bills are an abomination and must not be tolerated.  Aid to foreign governments must be ended.
• Laws must be interpreted according to their original understanding, with the original meaning of the words firmly grasped.
• Anything the Congress declines to adequately define in a statute must not be left to any administrative agency.  Further, an "independent agency" is an unconstitutional animal that should be killed and mounted as a trophy.
• Every action of government should be to increase freedom.  In particular, it should be cognizant of the true American Dream: the idea that you are free to bust your butt to make a better life and not have it stolen from you by anyone, not even the government.  The government must not take what you have busted your butt to produce and give it to someone who won't get off his own butt.
• All elections must be free and fair.  All ballots and other records pertinent to elections are public records and must be freely available for examination.  All ballots and records must be stored in an indelible form until the next regular election.  All processes must be completely transparent and arranged to allow intensive real-time monitoring by all interested parties.  No electronic vote-counting equipment may allow the changing of any vote, and no such equipment may be in two-way communication with any outside agency.  Votes must be officially tallied only within the jurisdiction in which they are cast.  Funds for campaigns (and interested PACs) must exclusively originate within the district (or at least the state) to be represented by the candidate.  All votes must originate with an eligible, properly registered voter who has voted in the time and manner specified by the Legislature.

I'm certain that these are just the beginning of a "more perfect" list. But unlike political parties that pass "platforms" that survive only as long as the convention in which they are adopted, these must form the permanent Constitution of the new Party.  Any so-called party leader who stands opposed to any of these must be removed.  Anyone willing to honestly subscribe to them would be welcomed.

If Donald Trump were to engage in such an adventure, it is virtually certain that it would rapidly gain traction.  Recall that in an era with much slower communication, the Republican Party went from an upstart in 1854 to electing Abraham Lincoln to the presidency in six short years.

Image: Gage Skidmore via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.