Fifty years ago today, a coarse, egotistical, mean-spirited, (probably) irredeemably-corrupt asshole demonstrated at least some commitment to distinguishing himself from the office he held. At least some understanding that the exercise of power through sycophants who did not actually speak truth to power — all later "rehabilitation" of the White House Counsel and others to the contrary — had limits.
The Republic was saved…
…for a while. A hair short of half a century later, sycophants denied (PDF) almost every significant aspect of the distinction between "office" and "officeholder," among "policy objective" and "official duty" and "acceptable means of asserting either."
The Republic is in jeopardy. And on 05 November, all American citizens eighteen years old and above (who have not been excluded from voting by aspects of felony convictions — which, curiously, includes a much higher proportion of "other Persons" than descendants of "free Persons") have three fundamental duties. And privileges.
- Register (on time) to vote; or, if already registered, confirm the accuracy of your registration.
- Consider both the policy preferences embedded in party designations and the characters of the individuals appearing on your ballot.
- Vote, including using write-in capabilities as provided by law and mandated by conscience and point 2 above.
I have my obvious preference at the top of the ballot: That we do not have our own Glorious Revolution, reify another House of Orange via Divine Right, and set the stage for another revolution. But I will engage only in peaceful persuasion — not violent insurrection or slightly less overt voter intimidation.
All the while, I will curse the disloyalty of six sycophants to power. That, however, is all that I will do, because means used shape the ends achieved. Would that those six individuals had paid attention to TV screens (during school holiday periods, no less) half a century ago, when a member of their own partisan faction/tribe displayed that he had at least some [expletive deleted] understanding of that.