May 8, 2019
Even by the standard set by last two years, the last forty-eight hours have tested the strength of our commitment to our democracy or even our sense of shared humanity. The events of the last two days should shake even the most complacent of us out of our torpor. Yesterday, mere days after the shooting at UNC Charlotte that left two students dead, we learned of another shooting at a Denver, Colorado high school that left one student dead and eight others injured, (Source: “1 student dead after shooting at Denver school,” by Susan Svrluga, Perry Stein and Nick Anderson, The Washington Post, 5/7/19).
The muted reaction to this latest incident shows how inured we have become to murderous violence in our schools. Since the Parkland mass shooting 15 months ago, a school shooting has occurred once every twelve days, on average. There have been 115 mass shootings in 2019 alone, according to the Gun Violence Archive. The frequency of mass shootings is such that we treat them like annoying background noise, part and parcel of the cycle of man-made destruction that we are too obtuse and too violent to stop. Not satisfied with merely condemning one million plant and animal species to extinction, we seem hellbent on destroying ourselves.
Meanwhile, the authoritarian criminals in the Republican Party are accelerating their push to incinerate the Rule of Law. Monday, Steve Mnuchin refused to turn Trump’s tax returns over to the House Ways and Means Committee Chair, in violation of a clear statutory requirement. 26 U.S.C. 6103(f)(1), which was passed in 1924 in the wake of the Teapot Dome Scandal, explicitly states that the Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee can “obtain any taxpayer’s tax return information by asking for it in writing,” (Source: “How to Get Trump’s Tax Returns – Without a Subpoena,” by George K. Yin, Politico.com, 5/4/19). The language is unambiguous and says that the Treasury Secretary “shall furnish” said return upon request. By his sneering disregard of the law, Mnuchin is daring Congress to hold him in contempt.
Yesterday, the White House’s informed Congress that it was asserting “executive privilege” and directing former White House Counsel, Don McGahn, not to comply with a Congressional subpoena for the voluminous notes that he already turned over to the Special Counsel, (Source: “White House invokes executive privilege to bar former counsel from turning over documents to Congress,” by Rachael Bade, Carol D. Leonnig and Josh Dawsey, The Washington Post, 5/7/19). The White House could care less about quaint concepts like three co-equal branches of government. This administration and its supporters are torching every Constitutional precept, every statute and every norm in their zealous pursuit of authoritarian white minority rule.
If we care at all about preserving the “American experiment;” if the words of the Constitution mean anything to us; if we simply don’t want to be ruled by a group of people whose defining characteristics are racism, stupidity and greed, we have to use every means at our disposal to fight these people. Full throated condemnation is good, but we have to do more. We must demand that Congress hold every person who flouts a subpoena in contempt. We must demand that our representatives consider impeachment proceedings not only for Trump, but for Barr and any other toady that violates his oath of office and evinces a flagrant disregard for the Constitution and the Rule of Law. If we’re being honest, though, we know that the likelihood is none of these measures will deter Trump. In that case, we must be prepared to take to the streets in protest and grind this country to a halt. Our democracy and our very humanity, may demand it.