Photograph by Nathaniel St. Clair

The historical pattern is clear and documented worldwide. When dictators decide to take over a nation, the first thing they do is purge their government of anyone that doesn’t kow-tow to their ideological mandates.  Then they target the intellectuals, the press and those who raise dissent over their loss of freedoms – including individuals, businesses, universities, and political opponents.

Then they turn the military against their own citizens to crush any thoughts of protest while weaponizing the government against any entities that resist the crushing jackboot on their necks.

If this sounds mighty familiar these days, there are far too many reasons to list in one column.  In truth, the American people are now largely in shock at what the historically unpopular president is doing to our country — and to the total disregard of the ethics and norms so many have taken for granted.

We have taken pride that our still very young nation was founded and operates on three “separate but equal” branches of government that are supposed to provide the checks and balances to contain abuse by any one branch.  But the supposed balance of the legislative, executive and judicial branches no longer exists.

Historically, the executive branch implements the laws and spends the appropriated funding as per Congressional intent.  Only now, through the administration’s legally dubious process of recission, billions in congressionally approved funds are being cut and/or redirected from their intended use. And in far too many instances, it’s being intentionally done as punishment for universities, cities, states, businesses or Congressional members’ districts that do not support the dictatorial mandates of the White House.

This week a federal judge ruled the White House illegally froze billions of dollars in research funds for Harvard, writing:  “A review of the administrative record makes it difficult to conclude anything other than that Defendants used antisemitism as a smokescreen for a targeted, ideologically-motivated assault on this country’s premier universities.”

And that’s just the tip of the abuses emanating from the executive.

In the meantime, the National Guard that was sent to Washington, D.C., from so-called red states to supposedly “restore order” is mostly picking up litter — at a cost to taxpayers of a million bucks a day with no end in sight.

Chicago is next on the list of “blue state” cities that will enjoy the freedom of having armed American soldiers on their streets based on the hyper-sensitized claim by the president that it’s “the worst and most dangerous city in the World, by far.”  But many other cities have higher crime rates and the shootings and homicides in Chicago are down by more than 30% this year alone — the fourth year of declines.

Following the dictator’s pattern, the press has been in the crosshairs with outrageous bribes being demanded by the administration.  Meanwhile, press and social media outlets are threatened with investigations, shut-downs, and lawsuits from their own government.  And those that publish news, facts, or positions unfavorable to the administration are the primary targets of retribution.

Montanans hold individual privacy a sacrosanct “Inalienable right” along with popular sovereignty, self government, individual dignity, freedom of assembly, religion, speech, expression, and press.  We likewise prohibit any random search and/or seizure of our citizens as well as their “papers, electronic data and communications, homes and effects.”

On the last day of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, Ben Franklin was asked: “What have we got a republic or a monarchy?”  He replied: “A republic, if you can keep it.”  Right now “keeping it” is a daunting and unprecedented challenge — and one at which which we must not fail.

The post We Cannot Fail to Uphold Our Constitutional Values appeared first on CounterPunch.org.

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