A republic...if you can keep it.

Can we???

On September 17, 1787, Elizabeth Willing Powell asked Benjamin Franklin what sort of government was being created during the Constitutional Convention. He famously responded, A republic madam, if you can keep it.

We seem to have forgotten that a republic is not self-sustaining unless the citizenry involved are actively committed to its constant affirmation. Never before, at least in my lifetime, has that question been met with a measure of supreme doubt as today.

I doubt that Dr. Franklin every imagined that the threat would emerge, not from some external threat but from one of the very institutions that was so carefully crafted to assure such a threat would never materialize. I am talking about the judicial branch itself.

Today in my home state of Wisconsin, a Circuit Court judge was arrested for allegedly actively aiding the escape of a defendant in a domestic assault case because, in her estimation, it was more important that he evade lawful arrest for his illegal entry into this country, as ICE agents were ready to take him into custody. In pleadings, the judge stated through her attorney that she regretted and protested her arrest, not her behavior that caused the arrest.

She is not alone. A former magistrate judge in New Mexico and his wife were taken into custody for allegedly hiding a Tren de Aragua gang member in their home.

Over and above these incidents are the scores of actions by unelected federal district judges in issuing nation-wide injunctions directed against the actions of the Trump administration regarding deportation of illegal aliens, job reclassification of members of the executive branch and efforts at stopping fraud and abuse in national spending. What the progressives could not achieve at the ballot box is now dictated by unelected and unaccountable members of the judicial branch. Truly, it seems as though we are controlled by an unelected oligarchy, only it is not the cost-cutters and fraud finders of DOGE and Elon Musk but the cadre of black-robed activists.

It is beyond my humble understanding to fathom how Joe Biden, or those who controlled the Autopen, could bring in hundreds of thousands of people outside our stated immigration system via Executive Order, but Trump cannot send them back with the same Executive Order.

We constantly heard these past years that nobody is above the law, but the reality of the situation seems exactly opposed to that high-sounding sophistry. It just depends on the political persuasion of those “bending” the law. Letitia James engineered a sham trial in which Donald Trump was charged, beyond the statute of limitations, with felonies that were manufactured from misdemeanors.

All throughout the Lawfare assaults, the progressives intoned that mantra that Nobody is above the law. Watch these YouTube clips if you can stomach the hypocrisy. How fitting it is to see Letitia James herself being referred for prosecution for allegedly falsifying information on mortgage applications.

Throughout all of this, I kept saying to myself that at some point the Supreme Court would finally realize they need to step in and stop the out-of-control judiciary. But then I began to wonder if I should be afraid of what I was wishing. Chief Justice Roberts has sided with the 3 stalwart progressives on several occasions. So have Barrett, Kavanaugh and even Gorsuch on occasion. Remember, the court has a member who thinks you need to be a biologist to know who a woman is. Another has asked questions which makes one wonder if true understanding of the issue is even there.

The Supreme Court seems more bent on threading the needle to prevent criticism rather than actual justice. They seem to favor process rather than true justice, obfuscation rather than clarity. If they had been in the position of Solomon, I sometimes wonder if they would have cut the baby in two….

We are closer than ever to losing it all. Pray. Pray earnestly and often! We literally could wake up one morning and see exactly what Dr. Franklin was warning against. But then it will be too late. The cost of complacency is much too high.