The natural manure of liberty

Thomas Jefferson wrote, “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.”

Now appears to be the time for such a refreshing.

Before I begin here, however, a disclaimer. I am not, like many of my neighbors here in St. George espouse themselves to be, a constitutional scholar. I do not believe that the after-the-fact baptism of the founders somehow channels divinely inspired intellect into my brain enabling me to see clearly the superiority of God’s law over man’s.

I am simply a citizen. By way of military service to my country, I could be considered a patriot, but I am not blind to the notion that service to country does not in any way imply intelligence or honor. Such things must be earned and proven even in the line of duty. Any one who has served knows this.

I digress.

Jefferson may well have been referring to the necessity of occasional chaos or upsetting of the status quo to reset the system. The blood of patriots would be spilled whilst spilling the blood of tyrants and those who support and empower them. And while Jefferson was being quite literal, no doubt, this is waxing metaphorical.

And as it happens, it would appear that Donald Trump is shaping up to be one such tyrant.

Wisconsin and North Carolina federal judges have ruled the gerrymandering done by the Republicans unconstitutional. The latter of the two has ordered a re-election. It will probably go to the Supreme Court and it is likely there will be more states following suit.

It has been reported by the Central Intelligence Agency that the Russians interfered with our election to the point that they perhaps had a sizeable effect on the outcome.

These two facts, aside from an entire host of maniacal megalomaniac type behavior demonstrated by Trump, should be of great concern to all Americans.

That’s right, all.

Our political system has been hijacked not only from within but from without, and by default so has our system of governance.

I am of the notion that the takeaway for the Democratic party is a serious need to reform itself and demonstrate its commitment to all Americans, not just the coastal and swing states.

But more important is the need to address this faction that has hijacked the Republican party, which is anything but a conservative party at all but rather the party of the billionaire reactionary club.

Donald Trump is not the president yet.

Yet.

See you out there.

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