I discovered this commentary, in several variations in different contexts, after attending the Poughkeepsie No Kings protest last weekend:
You are allowed to say, at any point, “I can’t support this”.
Even if you did.
Even if you were unsure.
You can say, at any point, “This has gone too far.”
And, while the best time to say that was earlier, the second best time is now.
That is relevant, because the Executive branch of the United States government has internalized two facts:
- There are no rules
- There are no consequences
The President and the Executive branch now act with the knowledge that the separation of powers, the checks and balances, and the restrictions written into the US Constitution no longer apply.
Justifications based on Constitutional hairsplitting are irrelevant. The Founding Fathers did not intend the Executive branch to operate as it does now.
Justifications based on “But what about …?” are irrelevant. The scale of current malfeasance dwarfs all precedent; there are no valid comparisons.
Justifications based on “But Congress is dysfunctional!” are irrelevant. It takes only one to dysfunction and the parties have been swapping irresponsibility for decades.
I commend to your attention the Army Talk Orientation Fact Sheet 64 from March 1945. It is straight-up US WWII propaganda with a rosy view of the Soviet Union, but you should fact-check all items in the section “Can We Spot It?” on page 4 against current events.
Should you think your particular identity, institution, tradition, behavior, property, possessions, protection, legality, or beliefs will remain untouched because you’re in a particular group, you are incorrect.
I changed my voter registration to “No Party” several decades ago, when it became evident the Republican Party had lost interest in whatever small-government / low-deficit / personal-responsibility principles it may have once had; thinking it had those principles was likely a misunderstanding on my part.
I cannot support many planks of the Democratic Party’s platform, either, but they remain based in rule-of-law and have some appreciation of what functions a government should perform.
I still vote in every election and intend to continue doing so.
WordPress likes images and this seems appropriate:
The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning 
Comments
6 responses to “No Kings”
Thank you for speaking out and doing it so concisely and eloquently.
It was hard to tell where you stood on political matters in the past, since you seemed careful not to let them distract from the technical focus of your blog. I’m glad to see some sanity in the world. Bravo.
I just don’t know what we can do to get out of this mess. It seems like it’s just going to get worse. Now that the “checks and balances” have been overridden, they’re going to make it harder and harder to restore balance.
As a young person, this is as worst as I’ve seen in my lifetime. What worked before?
This may seem trite, but vote. Only 2/3 of eligible citizens voted in the 2024 elections, so your vote really will matter.
What’s new & different nowadays: a nontrivial number of people denying both commonly accepted facts and all evidence supporting those facts. Whether they are sincere or trolling for lols is impossible to know, but discussions with them are fruitless. Knowing such folks control much of the Federal government suggests repairing the consequences will require generations.
“repairing the consequences will require generations”
So it goes.
I am blessed to live in a country with 23 political parties.
If the prime minister misbehaves, he is kicked out and there are new elections.
We have a king, but we don’t have your kind of king, which is more an emperor.