While we are all consumed by Trump antics and constant battles with Republicans over basically disconnected “minor issues”, a monstrous threat quietly looms: the possible, complete constitutional takeover, including any desired amendments, where Democrats and the left have absolutely no ability to stop them. Historically, every amendment has originated from Congress (with eventual approval of 2/3 of the states), but that could soon change. Republicans now control 32 state legislatures and if they can gain control of 6 more they could force a Constitutional Convention allowing them to create any amendments they desire without any approval of Congress or censorship from the left.
This scenario has seldom, if at all, been discussed by any of our media sources. Today however, I found a very disturbing yet enlightening article on the AlterNet, by Les Leopold. This article/idea should be a wake up call for each and every Progressive and true Democrat. We are so much closer to the abyss than most of us realize, it is mind boggling. As Leopold says: “they will have the frightening power to amend the Constitution into their own authoritarian image…or Ayn Rand’s.”
What drastic actions they may do is debatable, but Leopold gives several probabilities and even a few of these would be devastating.:
- “end collective bargaining,
- outlaw abortion,
- forbid progressive income, estate and Wall Street taxes;
- prohibit class action law suits,
- privatize social security,
- guarantee “free choice” in all school systems,
- outlaw the New Deal and its social democratic programs,
- if they get crazy enough, they could end separation of church and state and undo other portions of the Bill of Rights.”
Leopold’s article then goes on asking “How did we get here?” He sites many reasons for the failure of Corporate Democrats (Neo Liberals):
- Their inability to effectively succeed electorally,
- Their support of trade deals such as NAFTA, CAFTA, TPP, et.
- Their move away from working people, unions, etc.,
- Their embrace of financial and corporate elites such as Goldman Sachs,
As “Jamie Galbraith put it, ultimately it is not possible for the Democrats to be both the party of the predators and the prey.”
The progressive message is scattered. Leopold says “progressive organizations have shied away from big-picture organizing around economic inequality. Instead we’ve constructed a dizzying array of issue silos: environment, LGBQ, labor, immigration, women, people of color, criminal justice and so on. We are fractured into thousands of discrete issues, enabled by philanthropic foundations that are similarly siloed.” There are all kinds of things we didn’t do while we fought these many disjointed issues, but “we didn’t connect the dots.” We failed to narrate or maybe even “grasp how runaway inequality was alienating millions of working people who saw their incomes decline, their communities whither and their young unable to find decent jobs.”
People reacted to this seeming abandonment, beginning with “Occupy Wall Street”, then the Bernie Sanders Democrats and Progressives began to see that a change of course was being demanded by it’s followers. It was very hard for many within the Corporate Democratic party to accept these demands for change, at least quickly. Many “large unions and liberal issue groups committed early to Clinton, thinking she would win easily” and so change by much of the party was timid at best. People are not dumb, however, and they saw this as their frustrations continued to erupt seeking an alternative.
Leopold finishes asking: “What now?” Here he suggests that “we need to turn the marvelous anti-Trump resistance into a common national movement that binds us together and directly confronts runaway inequality. We need to come out of our silos because nearly every issue we work on is connected by growing inequality.
He goes on the give some plan specifics that I will only mention here. He says we need:
- A common analysis and agenda
- A common national organization
- An education infrastructure
- A new identity
Read his entire article and remember that the right is very close to having it all and could soon be able to do whatever they want, whenever they want, from now on.