Friday, June 23, 2023

A tale of two political “witch hunts”: Boris Johnson and Donald Trump

 

Gordon L. Weil

It looks like the same thing is happening on both sides of the Atlantic.  Or maybe not.

In the U.K., the country’s political leader has been forced from office for lying about his own lawbreaking.  In the U.S., the country’s once and possibly future political leader faces criminal charges for lying about his own lawbreaking.

As similar as the situations may seem, there are a couple of major differences.  In the comparison, the U.S. seems to come in second to the Brits.

When he was prime minister, Boris Johnson laid out strict rules for responding to the Covid pandemic.  They prohibited large gatherings and required social distancing.  The result was that when Covid killed a parent, the children could be banned from holding a funeral.

While the public obeyed, the prime minister and his government staged parties and ignored the rules. When their partying was revealed, for the first time ever, a prime minister faced police punishment and paid fines for attending.  But he repeatedly assured Parliament that, despite his behavior, no rules had been broken.

Strong evidence revealed that his statements were dubious.  A neutral government review official found he had broken his own rules, and he was forced to step down as prime minister.  He remained a Member of Parliament, primed to make a comeback when, as he expected, his successor faltered.

A special parliamentary committee then looked into whether he had lied to the House of Commons. The committee included a majority of his fellow Conservatives and was chaired by a member from the opposition Labor Party.

In its unanimous report, the committee found that he had lied to Parliament and recommended he lose his seat. He promptly resigned from the House, while attacking what he called the committee’s “witch hunt.”  In an overwhelming House vote to approve the report, many in his party joined the opposition parties in condemning him.  Only seven opposed the report.

Most Conservatives did not vote.  While not formally opposing Johnson, the nonvoters also declined to support him.

The Conservatives who voted placed loyalty to Parliament ahead of support for their former leader.  They acknowledged that he had lied, even though he had led them to an overwhelming victory in the last elections.  His own party probably killed any chance for his comeback.

The decision to protect the integrity of the House was made by the House itself.  The political system could restore itself, when it set aside partisan politics.  Johnson’s few supporters vented, because they knew they could not win.

In the U.S., President Trump was twice impeached by the House of Representatives, but not convicted by the Senate.  In the second case, focusing on Trump’s role in the January 6 Capitol insurrection, for the first time in history any senator of an impeached president’s own party voted to convict him.  Otherwise, pure partisanship prevailed.

Out of office, Trump has been criminally charged with taking with him after his term highly classified documents and falsely claiming that he had returned them all.  He has attacked the Special Prosecutor handling the case, calling it a “witch hunt.”  He may face additional charges of having caused the insurrection and using illegal methods to overturn his election defeat.

Like Johnson, Trump has taken no responsibility for his actions and repeatedly was misleading about them.  Unlike Johnson’s Conservatives, Trump’s Republicans will not put aside partisan support for their celebrity leader and accept the political risk, even if such action would protect the integrity of Congress and the presidency. 

In Britain, Parliament provided a political solution to a political problem, but partisanship makes that impossible in the U.S.  Now, facing charges in court, Trump and his allies seek to politicize the independent judicial system by falsely accusing President Biden of directing the Justice Department to prosecute the former president.

In short, Trump’s Republicans block political solutions made by political institutions while trying to discredit the judiciary by claiming the legal process is itself political, though without any evidence.  If they can succeed, they could undermine trust in government.

The three branches of government are meant to keep a check on one another.  That process is supposed to promote public confidence in the constitutional system.  If government is now boiling down to control by the supporters of a single person with authoritarian views, public confidence will erode.

Public opinion seems to have lost respect for Congress and is losing respect for the courts. The American system was intended to prevent the domination of an unquestioned leader through a system that would protect a broad and diverse public interest.  Yet Trump asserts his right to almost unlimited power.

In Britain, the target of the American Revolution, Parliament appears to have accepted the idea of government accountability found in the U.S. Constitution.  Americans risk losing it.


Friday, June 16, 2023

Trump in trouble: undeniable facts and unanswered questions


Gordon L. Weil

Paradise for pundits and partisan politicians.  That’s the federal case charging former President Donald Trump with keeping classified documents.

His indictment has also launched attacks by Trump’s supporters against anybody they believe seeks to disrupt their leader’s way back to the White House.

The Republican Right, which now dominates the GOP, and the former president go after the prosecutor and President Biden, who they say is the power behind the indictment.   For them, the best defense is counterattack.  The Democrats, fearful of offending anybody, have done little to defend themselves, letting the case speak for itself.

Despite the counterattacks, some facts are beyond doubt.  Despite the fervor of the GOP Right and the hasty analyses of the armies of pundits, many questions remain to be answered.  Here are some known facts and open questions.

Trump took classified documents with him to Mar-a-Lago, the Florida resort he calls home, when he left the White House.  These documents, listed in the indictment, contain sensitive intelligence.  That makes his actions and the pursuit of the documents more than a mere paper chase.

Evidence that Trump knowingly kept sensitive documents and tried to keep them from the National Archives has come from his own aides, people helping him in these efforts, not from his opponents.

Jack Smith, the federal prosecutor, has proceeded in a systematic manner.  He has sought the indictment in the federal District Court closest to Mar-a-Lago, even accepting the risk that he would draw the judge who has previously been blatantly favorable to Trump.  Smith is a professional prosecutor not a political appointee.

There is no evidence that either Biden or Attorney-General Merrick Garland gave instructions to Smith.  As Special Prosecutor, he was meant to be insulated from political pressure.  It may seem logical to the right-wing GOP that Biden is behind the indictment, but partisan logic is not enough.  Evidence is needed.

Possibly to minimize the problem, Trump has suggested that he could declassify documents merely by thinking they were declassified.  Otherwise, why would he do that?  Also there is a formal declassification procedure, because the documents would have become public.  But if only he knew, how would people learn they were now open?

His reasons for keeping the documents remain unclear.  He kept them for many months after his term ended and did nothing with them during all that time. Why risk indictment if there is no good reason for holding the documents?

Trump claims that the charges are a Democratic effort to undermine his reelection campaign.  Should the Justice Department never bring a criminal case against a person who has announced their candidacy for public office?  Or just for president?  Or just Trump?  Exempting candidates could mean a person could avoid criminal prosecution by continually running for public office. 

Assuming the indictment is politically motivated, does that mean the serious charges should not be pursued?  Unlike Smith, some prosecutors are elected and may act out of partisan or personal bias. The same is true for some judges, whether appointed by politicians or elected.  That’s one reason the judicial system includes juries, composed of average people who don’t make a career of it.

In the current situation, Trump has tried to expand the bounds of the judicial process by making personal attacks.  At the outset, he questioned whether Jack Smith was the prosecutor’s real name.  What was he implying?  He has resorted to labeling Smith a “thug,” perhaps because Trump thinks he’s too tough.  It’s doubtful he’ll be that critical of his friendly judge.

The main argument used by Trump and his supporters is that the Justice Department and the FBI discriminate against him and let Democrats off.  The message is that Democrats get away with illegal acts, so Republicans ought to be allowed to do the same.  There’s no point in trying to distinguish the facts of each case; the generalization is as far as we need to go.

This reaction to being criticized or charged has come to be called “what-about-ism.”  In fact, it is based on the belief that “two wrongs make a right.”  That’s contrary to much traditional religious and family teaching.  It is also the way to completely destroy the judicial system.  If crimes must go unpunished because somebody else got away with them, where does this end?

In case after case, Trump stirs conflict by using political and personal attacks to minimize the charges.   He and his supporters resort to lying, mob action, or what-about-ism.  Possible criminal action should be judged according to law.  Period. That’s the case the Democrats could be making a lot more forcefully.

This case and its opponents place the judicial system itself in grave danger. It may not be perfect, but mob rule isn’t better and, despite its claims, it isn’t democracy.

  

Friday, June 9, 2023

Biden, Trump too old to lead the U.S.

 

Gordon L. Weil

I like old people. I am one.

But I believe that we should not run the government.

Do seniors have the ability to govern?   From meeting the job’s formal requirements to helping constituents to raising campaign funds to political travels, the work is demanding and requires both physical strength and mental resilience.  No matter who you are, you lose some of that over time.

The two leading candidates for president raise legitimate concerns about aging and its effect in their possible next term.  Neither seems worried, having the outsized egos required of presidential candidates and the misplaced belief that they won’t decline further in the next few years, let alone die.  Both are in denial about all they have so obviously lost.

For people who would lead a great power like the U.S. in facing incredible challenges, their self-delusion is impressive. Still, no voter should accept the assurances of geriatric candidates, when such assurances fly in the face of the obvious deterioration common among our age group.

Sometimes, seniors in government can be both worrisome and dangerous.  California Democratic Sen. Diane Feinstein, 89, has a solid legislative record.  Her term runs through 2024, but she recently spent months ill at home and not at the Senate.  Her absence affected the urgent consideration of judicial appointments.  Yet she still clings to office.

Her actions recall Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.  Though an historic member of the Court, she remained on the bench as her health failed when she could have given President Obama the opportunity of replacing her with a jurist sharing her philosophy.  Instead, she held on until her death, allowing President Trump to name a conservative successor.

As these cases show, geriatric control of the levers of government extends far beyond the presidency.  Senior Senate leaders are aging.  Maine Sen. Angus King, 79 and seventh oldest senator, is thinking about a third six-year term.  Sen. Susan Collins, 70 and 34th oldest, is in her fifth Senate term.

The choice of running mates has become more critical for the two leading presidential candidates as their ages raise the risk they might not live out their terms.  

In 1944, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt looked unlikely to last four more years, Democratic leaders picked Harry Truman, not one of FDR’s favorites, as his running mate.  Biden and Trump will handpick the vice presidential backups for their parties and the country.  They’re not likely to let the parties’ convention delegates choose rather than acting as though they are immortal.

But there is another concern about leaving control to the oldest generation.  The pace of social and political change in the U.S. speeds up.  Listen to popular music.  Compare the ballads and rock of Biden’s youth with today’s hard-edged rap.  Or look at currently acceptable language or concepts of morality.  Old politicians are probably out of touch with much cultural change.

Politicians often talk about trying to improve life for the coming generations of children and grandchildren.  They may fail to recognize that these generations are now adults.  They are not only capable of making decisions for their futures, but they really should take on that responsibility. 

Obviously, experience matters, but it can also hamper imagination and experimentation.  Younger people with new ideas should have greater influence on their country and their futures.  While politicians exert much energy on current battles, that short-term focus draws attention away from looking long-term at future needs and desires.

Senior control is undemocratic.  Only about 16.5 percent of Americans are 65 and older. About half the Senate is at least 65.  Biden and Trump top that age by far.  The country is more gerontocracy than democracy. 

Voters won’t make the adjustment themselves.  Candidates need to regard office as a public trust, exercised for a limited period, not as a job to be held until death or senility.  A little modesty would help.  Term limits make sense to discourage senility in office, if for no other reason.  People can keep contributing to their country without holding public office.

For the moment, the age question comes down to Biden and Trump.  Each is almost certainly too old to assure us they could satisfactorily serve another term.  The lack of alternatives is one more sign the political system is broken.

They could walk away from the campaign, which might well enhance their place in history.  Or they could be challenged by primary candidates whose key issue is the need to limit the age of our leaders.   Or they could throw the choice of their running mates, each a potential president, to the primaries or the national conventions. 

As an old guy, I’d bet on one thing.  Based on our experience, a great many of us in the Biden-Trump age group think that neither of them should run.


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Friday, June 2, 2023

Debt ceiling crisis is political theater

 

Gordon L. Weil

America, hope you enjoyed the political theater.

Because that’s what all the anguish over the debt ceiling amounted to.  In the real world, relatively little has happened.

Congress had voted for public spending, but the outlays could only be covered by new borrowing, because tax revenues wouldn’t be sufficient.  That would boost the national debt.  But there is also a ceiling on public debt that Congress mostly ignored.

Then, last November, the Republicans won a slim majority in the House of Representatives.  The GOP right-wing hoped to use the debt ceiling as a way of reversing spending they had opposed and even some they had supported.

The GOP would take control of the House in January.  Before then, President Biden and the lame-duck Democrats could have put through a bill increasing the ceiling.  He might have been forced to make some concessions to conservative Democrats, but that would have been easier than dealing later with the Republican House majority.  He did not take the opportunity.

Or he could have ignored the debt ceiling on the grounds that it is banned by the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution.  But Biden was worried that the matter would end up being resolved by the courts.  Then, the House GOP passed their own budget-slashing version of a debt limit bill, and forced him to negotiate.

Failure to raise the debt limit supposedly meant that the federal government would not have enough money from taxes for its debt payments.  It would default, the pundits warned.  Interest rates would rise, their effect rippling through the economy.  Government spending cutbacks would kill growth.  Jobs would be lost and the stock market would fall sharply.

Possibly the greatest harm would be to the role of the American dollar, the reserve currency widely used to finance world trade and investment.  As other counties lost confidence in it, U.S. influence would decline.

The Treasury Department said federal income would no longer cover all the bills on June 5.    Panic, hyped by the media, gradually appeared.  Default loomed.

Only it didn’t.  The Treasury receives enough tax money to pay debt service, though some government spending would have to be cut or even halted.  Social Security and Medicare have sufficient reserves to cover many more months of outlays.

Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy engaged in desperate negotiations to avoid default.  Each tried to attach blame for a possible default on the other.  That was the essence of the negotiations.  If there were a deal, each would need to declare victory.

They reached a deal to send to Congress, so both must have won.  McCarthy got mostly symbolic caps and reductions from slightly lowering planned spending over the next two years, and Biden saved his major initiatives.  Sensibly, unspent Covid relief dollars were recovered.  The debt ceiling was lifted until after the 2024 elections. 

Here’s an example of why not much happened.  Biden and the Democratic Congress had passed $80 billion for the IRS over an eight-year period to collect unpaid taxes from the wealthiest taxpayers.  The GOP falsely claimed that taxes would be raised on average people. 

The two-year debt ceiling deal appears to cut this amount by $10 billion.  The IRS has its plans in place.  If necessary, it can shift money forward from future years and keep pursuing improved collection limited to people with incomes over $400,000.  Nothing in the deal prevents Congress from restoring the full spending three or more years from now.

As for the dollar’s world role, it’s already waning and with it American prestige.  “America First” policies, previous debt ceiling crises and the rise of China’s yuan have been reducing U.S. economic power.

Strong House GOP conservatives and many progressive Democrats dislike the deal.  The conservatives think McCarthy got too little and oppose it, knowing that passage does not need their votes. The progressives think Biden should have made no concessions.  Few want responsibility for a default.  In the end, both sides will enjoy the illusion of a political victory.

Can this situation be avoided in the future?  The House once had a rule that whenever it passed a bill requiring debt to pay the cost, the debt ceiling would be automatically increased.  The losers would not get a second bite of the apple through a later battle over the debt ceiling.  That rule should be revived.

Congress should never spend money without deciding where it will come from. That principle is rarely observed, because it’s a lot easier simply to spend, while shielding voters from the cost.

Not all future spending has to come from driving the country deeper into debt, making new debt ceiling clashes and default a real possibility.  When Congress increases spending, from adding military hardware to boosting renewable energy, it should exercise greater leadership and cover the costs by combining debt increases with tax increases. 

Otherwise, it’s political theater.


Friday, May 26, 2023

‘No Labels’ party could be conservative plot


Gordon L. Weil

Voters seem to be worried about the leading presidential candidates.

They worry about how far Donald Trump would go in departing from political norms. They worry simply about how far Joe Biden would go.

Because both the former president and his successor appear highly likely to be the major party nominees, the election might not do much to close the nearly even political divide.

Along comes the “No Labels” party, its name designed to show that it is not affiliated with either the Democrats or the Republicans.  It may propose an “independent” candidate, who could appeal to “the center” that is ignored by the two major parties.

No Labels should be a nonstarter.  It is both misleading and misguided.

It relies on polling to show both the lack of enthusiasm for Biden and Trump and the presence of a large number of moderates who might prefer a middle-of-the-road candidate.  To build a third party relying on polls may be a mistake.  Many people refuse to participate, and it’s possible that those who reply do not provide complete or wholly honest answers.

The word “moderate” itself may not mean neutral between the parties as much as “pragmatic” in wanting government to work, through compromise if necessary.  But what would be an acceptable compromise?

Maine Democratic Rep. Jared Golden tried.  He proposed a compromise to the debt ceiling deadlock.  It was hailed in the Washington Post.  It was completely ignored even by so-called moderates in Congress.  The partisan war continued.

The No Labels group takes credit for helping create the bi-partisan House “problem solvers” caucus, supposedly bringing together moderates from both parties. But, does it work?  It has been silent on the debt ceiling, except for Golden, a member.

Third party presidential candidates, no matter how well intentioned, may serve as “spoilers,” potentially depriving a major party of enough votes to tip the election to the other side.  It’s impossible to know how the third-party backers might otherwise have voted, so spoiler status is a possibility not a certainty.

Yet it may have happened when Bill Clinton defeated George H.W. Bush in 1992. Independent Ross Perot could have taken GOP votes away from Bush.  Maybe Ralph Nader caused Al Gore’s loss to the younger Bush in 2000.

The presumed answer is that No Labels will put together a president-vice president ticket with a representative of each party.  That would be meant to deal with the spoiler issue.  But the presidential nominee would be the only candidate that mattered.

Who is backing No Labels?  Knowing that would tell us a lot about the kinds of “moderate” policies it would support.  For example, how would it balance Medicaid spending with tax cuts? People with enough money to fund No Labels are likely to have strong opinions on such a choice.

The organization is using a tax law that allows it to keep its donors secret until it becomes a political party.  At the same time, it is trying to qualify as a party.  Maine’s Secretary of State questioned if it was trying to mislead people.  Voters are asked to give it a political blank check.

Here’s a way to test its politically neutral intentions, taking it at its word that it backs moderates.

It should support a moderate challenger in the presidential primaries in each party.  The appeal of both Biden and Trump would be tested.  If both of its preferred candidates won, its work would be done.  If only one of them was victorious, No Labels should throw all of its support to that candidate.  If both lost, it would have been proved wrong.

If No Labels participated in this way, it could still keep its financial backers secret.  But that secret would discredit a group trying to promote good government. 

To counter the sizeable, hard-core support for Trump, No Labels looks like a crypto plot by traditional GOP business backers to produce a conservative ticket without Trump. The first step would be to nominate a traditional GOP conservative or a right-leaning Democrat. 

The second step would be to peel away Democrats who think Biden has caved in to the progressives.  If No Labels ran a renegade Democrat, it could re-elect Trump.

The weakness of this ploy is the reluctance among all but a few Republicans to take on Trump. They still worry about the ability of his troops to unseat them.  Just look at the silent Republican “problem solvers.”

At the same time, they ignore the new-found unity of the Democrats.  Across the spectrum, they like Biden, even if some grumble.  Almost all accept him as their leader and understand they must remain unified to have a realistic chance of governing.

In the end, the presidential election could well be all about Trump, and No Labels can do little about that. 


Friday, May 19, 2023

Trump remains faithful to the 'Big Lie' strategy


Gordon L. Weil

Because Adolf Hitler operated so far below civilized bounds, it may seem unfair to say anybody else is like him. But some people continue to use his strategies.

In Germany, when Hitler came to power after his Nazi Party won a minority election victory in 1933, some believed he would fade at the next elections.  They did not imagine that he would acquire dictatorial power to ensure there would be no more elections, but he did.

Hitler is considered as the inventor of the Big Lie. It amounts to stating an untruth so enormous that people accept it because they think nobody would assert anything so completely unbelievable unless it were true.  Strange as that seems, it works.

Former President Donald Trump uses the Big Lie. Most of his public speaking consists of a flow of outright falsehoods with a sprinkling of half-truths.

The American political system, with a right of free speech that is the standard of the world, willingly tolerates anybody saying just about anything.  That’s both amazing and good. But it invites abuse and sometimes that abuse might threaten the very system that allows it.

While the situation is far less dire in this country than it was in Nazi Germany, the U.S. faces a political leader who willingly exploits the rights from which he benefits to undermine and potentially destroy them.  Because many people believe that the system is stronger than he is and can protect itself from extreme threats, they accept his extravagant abuse of it.

The time has come to accept that such an act of faith is no longer justified.  It is time to confront this threat, not by adopting the same tactics, but by fighting the abuse.  It’s time to stop treating Trump as either a truth-teller who must be cheered or as a destroyer who must be bitterly tolerated.  He deserves to be treated as a danger to the U.S.

Some Trump supporters agree with his distrust of government, his claims about widespread election fraud in 2020 and his warnings about the impending doom facing the country if the Democrats control the government.   

His opponents deplore his increasing the federal debt by a tax cut for the wealthy, his attempt to bribe a foreign leader, his false election claims and provoking the Capitol insurrection, and his cruel policy of splitting immigrant families.

Policy conflicts are a normal part of democracy.  Out of these differences may come sound policy.  But using the system that brought you to power to undermine it, even to the point of persistently promoting dangerous falsehoods, is divisive and destructive. Yet that’s what he does, apparently believing that is what enough people want to give him an election win.

Recently, Trump appeared on a televised town hall meeting with New Hampshire voters, produced by CNN.  The cable channel allowed an audience composed almost entirely of his supporters.  He consistently denied or distorted the truth throughout it.

CNN has been sharply criticized for providing Trump a platform for continuing to make false claims about the 2020 election and other events.  The channel defends itself by saying that as a responsible news organization it should provide a forum for a former president who is again seeking the office. It has no legal requirement to do so.

Media leaders argue that the press should report independently and as objectively as possible, leaving it to the people to reach their own conclusions. They are right in emphasizing the value of a news organization in a free society; it should provide access to all political views.

But there comes a time to recognize that by providing a platform to a person who seriously threatens that free society, a media outlet can be dangerously naïve. The Big Lie is not entitled to big coverage.

The Washington Post hosts the best journalistic fact checker, and it refuted Trump’s “fire hose” of false claims on the CNN show.  But it is impossible to keep up with his flow of falsehoods while he is speaking.  When the moderator tried, he talked over her and assigned to her his favorite anti-woman label, calling her “nasty.”

The media should stop treating Trump as if he is entitled to a level playing field and must continually demonstrate its innocence of his charges that it broadcasts “fake news.”  He has forfeited such consideration, and for the media, it verges on being suicidal.

In the same vein, the Democrats, while avoiding his destructive tactics, must be willing to confront him and to counter him as vigorously as he attacks them.  Simply believing you are better at governing and that moderates will someday recognize your merit is not enough.

The media and the Dems appear to worry about offending Trump’s supporters.  If they don’t oppose the Big Lie, they aid its promoter. 

Friday, May 12, 2023

Congress should order Supreme Court to adopt ethics code

 

Gordon L. Weil

As a newspaper correspondent, I was once offered a free trip to write an article about an event at a distant location.  The sponsors would pay for my travel and lodging. While I was confident I’d write an objective piece, it’s likely they expected a favorable report.

I asked my editor if I could accept the offer and produce an article for the paper.  He promptly told me to turn it down, because I could not report on an event for which the sponsor had paid my expenses.  I declined the invitation. 

I could have refrained from asking for approval and kept the editor in the dark.  I could have given him the impression that I had paid for my own travel expenses, perhaps while on vacation.  The paper could have allowed me to go.  In no case would the readers have known.  The reason none of that happened was a matter of ethics.

The paper observes journalistic ethics and expected the same of me.  It is not a government agency and its policies are not governed by law.  But the editors want to preserve public confidence in its fairness and independence.  They know that the newspaper has to keep the public’s trust and avoid endangering it in any way.

We are faced today with the same kind of problem with the U.S. Supreme Court. An unelected government body, it makes decisions that can affect everybody in the country.  Yet it lacks any known ethical code.  If it has an undisclosed code, enforcement or lack of it is left to the Court itself.

While Congress, the executive branch and all federal courts must meet ethical standards, the Supreme Court has no such requirement.  In light of recent disclosures and a long-running effort by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Congress has begun to question whether there should be publicly announced Supreme Court standards.

The discussion has almost instantly become partisan, because issues have arisen concerning conservative justices, including Justice Clarence Thomas, who received large, undisclosed gifts, Chief Justice John Roberts and possibly others.  Some Republican senators are reluctant to require a Court code, while Democrats seek some reform.

The situation reflects partisanship.  Republican legislators may not want to question the ethics of justices whose decisions they like.  Democrats may like challenging hostile justices.  This focus is revealed in the low headlight beams of short-term party politics without turning on the high beams to see what would be good for the American political system. 

Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL), the Judiciary Committee chair, invited Roberts to discuss the Court’s substituting a mere declaration for a real ethics code.  Roberts declined, based on concern about protecting judicial independence.  He seemed to assert that it could not be held accountable by Congress.  Checks and balances appear not to apply to the Court.

His attitude is consistent with the increasingly dominant role of the Court in the federal government.  He resists the kind of congressional role contemplated by the Constitution and takes extreme advantage of the respectful reluctance of the Senate to avoid meddling in Court decisions.

Senators Angus King (I-ME), who aligns with the Democrats, and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) jointly proposed legislation that would require the Court to adopt a public ethics code within a year.  Congress would not set the code for the Court.

The Court would be required to appoint an independent official to investigate complaints and to issue an annual report.  The Court would also be authorized to investigate ethical questions, a power that it probably believes it already has.

The investigator could become a magnet for complaints and an annual report might allow ethics violations to linger too long.  And what would happen with the report once issued?

This good bipartisan effort could easily be improved without affecting the Court’s judicial powers.  The Chief Justice could appoint a panel of federal judges to review complaints and make public its findings only if it uncovered possible violations.  A similar confidential court to deal with national security issues already exists. Its members are appointed for fixed terms.

If this panel found an ethics violation, it would report to Congress. The House could then decide whether to impeach the justice.  Federal judges (including one early Supreme Court justice) have been impeached and some have resigned before impeachment.  Finally, the Senate may convict or acquit.

Checks and balances work because judges, members of Congress or presidents may be charged by the House and convicted by the Senate only after a trial.  But the Supreme Court has chosen to be its own judge and has never in the 234 years of its existence disclosed a major violation of any confidential code of judicial ethics.

Roberts should not overly insulate the Court, one of the three equal branches of government, and let checks and balances work. 

 


Friday, May 5, 2023

Is U.S. becoming more Republican? Probably not

 

Gordon L. Weil

People from the blue states are flooding into the red states. 

That may be the impression left by alarmist reports of people leaving Democratic states in the North for Republican states in the South and West.

If true, that could mean growth in the population supporting Trump Republicanism and the decline of liberal Democratic states.  To make sure that the blue state migrants don’t infect red states, the ever-zany GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene suggests they should not be allowed to vote in their new home states for the first five years. 

While the facts show that Republican-controlled states are growing faster than the traditionally Democratic states, don’t jump to the conclusion that those gains will benefit the GOP. In fact, the reverse might be true.

Why are people on the move?  Nobody knows for sure, but there is little evidence that politics are driving the migration. The reasons may include warmer weather and lower taxes.  Weather is undoubtedly an attraction. Taxes may be a factor but probably not the main reason for most people deciding to move.

Both low corporate taxes and pro-business labor laws attract business investment and create jobs.  People move to new offices and factories. 

But part of the GOP mantra these days is that the people moving south are fleeing the high crime rate in northern cities.  This claim implies that Republicans do a better job fighting crime than the Democrats.

The major problem with this assertion is that it is false.  The crime rate in northern states under Democratic control is lower than the rate in the destination states.  “The Northeast is the region with the lowest crime rates [for violent and property crimes],” according to USAFacts.  These are all Democratic states.  States in the South and West rank the highest.

Republicans make much of Democratic California’s population loss, supposedly due in part to the attraction of conservative Republican Texas.  Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida offers his Republican state with its millions of migrants as the model for America.

The GOP is closely linked to small town America.  In Maine, it does better in rural countries than in urban areas.  Predominantly rural states like Maine are rare.  The Census shows that people are leaving rural areas for the cities.   

Northern movers to red states do not settle in the rural and most conservative parts of those states.  The fact that the cities where people move are Democratic hardly discourages people from moving.  They head for the cities, and influence the voting behavior there.

There’s an old political saying that when people move from the North to the South, both areas become more liberal.  It’s possible that migrants from the North bring their moderate political views with them and they aren’t washed out in five years.

Look at Atlanta, Georgia.  That state has been reliably Republican since Democrat Jimmy Carter, its native son, was president.  But, in 2020, it voted for Democrat Joe Biden for president and later gave both of its U.S. Senate seats to Democrats.  The main reason was the influx of new voters into Atlanta, not a sudden change of heart in traditional, rural GOP areas.

The same appears to be true in Phoenix, Arizona.  The state had settled into being reliably Republican but now has a Democratic governor and two U.S. senators who align with the Democrats.  As in Georgia, Biden’s narrow win  over Trump led to loud but unsubstantiated claims of vote rigging in the Democrat’s favor. 

Migrants could be helping turn red states to blue.  Austin, Texas, Raleigh, North Carolina, and Orlando, Florida, are the fastest growing big American cities, and all have Democratic mayors. So does huge Houston, Texas.

This trend matters, because these states could swing presidential elections.  While Biden carried counties with 67 million more people than Trump in 2020, they were concentrated in fewer states.  California and New York will still vote Democratic even after an exodus but the people who move elsewhere could help tip the presidential electoral vote away from the GOP.

The political logjam that has given the GOP the power to veto change is likely to break only if the Democrats win more elections even by narrow margins rather than winning fewer elections by larger margins.

The Republicans focus on making it more difficult for Democratic voters to cast their ballots.  Apparently, they hope to preserve minority rule.  But demographics may be working against them. The migrants who bring their politics with them might one day simply outnumber the old-line GOP. It may now be beginning in Georgia and Arizona, and it might soon happen in Texas.

The population shift is neither party’s clever political plan.  Instead, the people are literally voting with their feet.  Watch where they go and what they do when they get there.

 


Friday, April 28, 2023

Here's why support for Supreme Court falls

 

Gordon L. Weil

In dissenting from the Supreme Court’s procedural order suspending lower court rulings on an anti-abortion drug, Justice Samuel Alito issued an historic tirade.

Alito blasted the Biden Administration and fellow justices and revealed both the ultimate outcome of the case and extreme judicial  partisanship.

The case began when a U.S. District Court judge in Texas overturned the Food and Drug Administration’s long-standing  approval of mifepristone, an abortion drug.  Then, a U.S. Circuit Court partially overruled the lower court judge, but cut the FDA authorized period for its use until it finally decides  the case. 

The Supreme Court temporarily suspended both rulings, allowing continued use of the drug as approved by the FDA.  Alito wanted to confirm the Circuit Court position.  Justice Clarence Thomas opposed the Supreme Court order without explaining his reasons.

Alito also claimed that limiting the drug’s use pending a final decision would not cause anybody harm.  His judgment seemingly ignored the sudden inability of some women to use a legal medication over what might be a period of many months.  It is difficult to believe he did not understand that.

In his dissent, Alito forecast that the Supreme Court would later support the FDA.  He interpreted the suspension of the lower court rulings as a message that the majority would reject any lower court attempt to overrule the FDA’s experts when the case came back to the Supreme Court.  Having participated in the Court’s private discussions, he was most likely right. 

Alito vented his frustration.  He attacked the Biden Administration, saying “the Government has not dispelled legitimate doubts that it would even obey an unfavorable order....”  When had the president disobeyed courts orders?  What made such doubts “legitimate” when they have never been raised in court?  Did he pick it up “doubts” from media speculation?

Supreme Court justices are expected to display a “judicial temperament.”  That means they should appear calm and thoughtful, giving people confidence in their hugely important decisions.  Alito blew it. 

The angry jurist also charged that the suspension amounts to a major decision being made by a procedural order.  This would be the so-called “shadow docket” that he had previously supported as part of a Court majority.  He attacked two justices who had earlier opposed it but who now used it, he claimed  Having lost, why shouldn’t his two colleagues accept his position?

But the Court was only issuing a procedural order doing nothing more than leave the FDA ruling in place until it finally decided. It changed nothing.  Alito believed the lone district judge’s unscientific decision was worthy of being observed, at least in part, until the case was finally resolved. That would have been the real “shadow docket.”

He also revealed his partisan bias.  Earlier, in opposing liberal lower court decisions, he had forcefully urged judicial respect for FDA expertise.  He had scorned a single District Court judge for issuing a nationwide order overruling the agency.  Now, when it suited him to second guess the FDA, he reversed course and supported the conservative District Court’s national ruling.

Alito’s dissent highlighted several reasons why public confidence in the federal courts has reached a new low point. 

The Court has allowed single District Court judges, like the conservative jurist sitting alone in Amarillo, Texas, who had made the mifepristone decision, to issue orders covering the entire country.  This power is not expressly authorized by law and is relatively new.  And the anti-abortion plaintiffs were able to cherry pick his court and be sure of getting a favorable decision.

Congress does not screen District Court nominees carefully enough and apparently  relies on trusting that bad or political judges will be overruled by higher courts.  Sen. Susan Collins was the only Republican senator to vote against the questionable Texas judge, who will hold office for life unless removed by Congress.

The Chief Justice has failed to exercise appropriate leadership.  Roberts was surely aware of Alito’s unusual attack on the executive branch before it was published.  He neither induced the justice to drop it nor expressed concern about it. 

Roberts seemed to ignore Thomas having received undisclosed annual gifts from a wealthy and influential conservative. The Chief Justice refused to testify at a Senate committee looking at the Court’s ethics following the Thomas disclosures.  Previously, Roberts had allowed only an in-house investigation by inexperienced staff of the leak of Alito’s ruling overturning Roe v. Wade.

Thomas and Alito are right-wing radicals.  Alito regularly flaunts his partisanship.  Thomas masks his bias in a dubious philosophy.  Roberts asserts a degree of judicial independence that ignores the checks and balances that supposedly are central to the government.

If presidents and senators insist on federal judges as political partisans with little ethical accountability rather than as independent and responsible jurists, the Supreme Court will continue to fall in public esteem.


Friday, April 21, 2023

Supreme Court ignores ‘checks and balances’; Congress should rein it in


Gordon L. Weil

The Supreme Court rules the federal government.

When it comes to judges, the checks and balances that are supposed to restrain each of the three branches of the government don’t work.   The Supreme Court composed of nine, unelected justices holding their positions for life have assumed virtually unlimited power.

When they seek Senate confirmation, judicial nominees declare they have no personal agenda but pledge to simply apply the law.  They give the impression that the law is clear and all they must do is measure each case against its standards.  They will set aside their personal leanings for the cold analysis they must make.

Although everybody knows their political philosophy and that they hold views consistent with those of the president who appointed them, they refuse to answer questions about how they see issues on the grounds that revealing their beliefs might undermine their proclaimed objectivity if they get a case to decide. That lets them get away with what everybody knows is pure fiction.

Just ask Sen. Susan Collins who wanted to learn if nominee Brett Kavanaugh accepted the Court’s precedent when it decided abortion was a constitutional right.  Of course, he wouldn’t simply tell her, so she was left to try to decode his veiled message.  She concluded he respected the precedent.  It turned out he didn’t.

Shouldn’t Congress cut out the sham and insist on real answers as a condition of confirmation?

How about Chief Justice John Roberts when he ruled for the Court that African-Americans no longer needed federal assurance of their voting rights and that states could be counted on to treat them fairly. True, he recognized that the section of the Voting Rights Act he was nullifying was a major reason they had gained voting access.  But enough was enough.

Within minutes of that decision, four states that had been under federal supervision began making it more difficult for Blacks to vote.  And that process has continued ever since. His Court majority was composed of Republican appointees; the states limiting access for African-Americans are under Republican control.

The arrogance inherent in an unchecked judiciary goes on. A lone district court judge in Amarillo, Texas decided that the Food and Drug Administration erred 22 years ago in approving an abortion drug.  He substituted his non-expert judgment for the work of many scientists over many years.  Using a process allowed by the highest court, he applied his ruling to the entire country.  It was appealed.

What’s the reasonable length of a congressional recess?  It might seem that Congress could decide that.  Instead, the Court has ruled it must be at least ten days to qualify as the recess period mentioned in the Constitution.

These decisions are obviously not simply a matter of determining what the law is, despite what the nominees say they will do.  This is legislation.

The justices rather than the Constitution have become “the supreme law of the land.”  They act to make sure that the popularly elected branches, Congress and the president, don’t get carried away exercising the people’s will.

The Framers of the Constitution may have been creating an innovative new democracy, but they didn’t fully trust average people.  The Court, ignoring over 230 years of change, would keep it that way.  But the elected branches and their voters have evolved, and the Court should concede the development of democracy and back off of its paternalism.

The justices need to be accountable.  If the chair of the Federal Reserve can be required to testify before Congress about the Fed’s actions and plans, the Chief Justice should have to explain to elected officials the decisions made by the Court.  The heads of executive departments testify and even the president shows up once a year.

There’s also the matter of personal accountability.  Every member of Congress faces ethics review and financial reporting.  They and the presidents face voters and the media.  Representatives and senators are censured and expelled.  Justices do none of that.

Supreme Court justices make financial reports, but Justice Clarence Thomas has failed repeatedly to do that.  No one can make him report accurately or completely. One justice resigned for taking gifts far less significant than those Thomas accepted. 

The justices have made themselves into untouchable demigods, and Congress has meekly agreed.

In 1803, the Court made itself the last word in the federal government.  An independent judiciary is an essential element of the three-part system that can only work if each branch observes the checks and balances.  Right now, the Court controls many checks and operates without balances.

The Constitution gives Congress the power to make “exceptions” to the Supreme Court’s powers and to set “regulations” for it.  It’s time for Congress to ensure that the Court operates within the constitutional system, but does not own it. 

Friday, April 14, 2023

One election reveals keys to Democratic recovery

 



Gordon L. Weil

Things are not going well for the Democrats.

GOP states unravel their policies, from abortion to education. Their voters are blocked. Courts legislate away their core policies. Republicans exploit apparent deadlock to threaten or even reverse a system that had mistakenly been thought to be permanent. The Democrats are on their back foot, as the saying goes.

A single recent election – for a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court – may have given them the formula for a comeback.

Until the Civil War, American political life reflected an almost simple faith in individual freedom, especially for the dominant group in the nation. It allowed only a limited role for government. Today, this is the philosophy of Republicans who control states from Florida to Wisconsin.

The Great Depression and World War II produced an alternative, offering a larger government to serve common interests as well as protecting individual rights. The public interest should no longer be dominated by a single group – white men. As Democrats, they once governed from Florida to Wisconsin.

American politics settled into a contest between conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats. The Democrats and their policies from Social Security to civil rights gained broad popular support.

Their gains sent a signal to Republicans that holding onto power depended on uniting against a growing government. Concerned about becoming a permanent minority, thanks in part to the wide availability of government benefits, they reacted strongly. In their war for political survival and renewed control, virtually anything goes.

Their conservative platform would restore much of the pre-Civil War system. Facing a growing non-white, non-male electorate, they try to change the rules to suppress voting by these groups. Financed by super-wealthy, anti-regulation economic conservatives, they seek to attract social conservatives, who oppose increased government tolerance of diversity.

The conservatives have achieved levels of discipline and finance allowing them to become the apparent political equal of the liberals. While that balance is said to cause stalemate, it is enough to allow the conservatives the ability to block change and repeal past measures. They work to make their gains permanent.

In pursuing their agenda, the Democratic Party’s liberals have seemingly believed that virtue is its own reward. By helping more people, they have assumed they will win elections. But many people are left to understand for themselves the value they derive from government action. They may face Republican efforts to suppress their participation.

All of this happened in recent years under a Republican governor and Republican legislature in Wisconsin. They rolled back progressive legislation and redistricted the state. Now, it is estimated that under the state’s extreme gerrymandering, the Democrats would have to gain the support of about 60 percent of the voters to regain a legislative majority.

A Republican member of the state elections board boasted that the number of Milwaukee voters in 2022 had been sharply cut “with the major reduction happening in the overwhelming Black and Hispanic areas.” That reduced turnout was greater than the narrow statewide reelection margin of a GOP U.S. Senator over a Black Democrat.

Efforts by Democrats to draw state legislative districts to prevent gerrymandering on the basis of race prevailed in the state Supreme Court, when a conservative judge broke ranks. But the U.S. Supreme Court sided with the GOP, reflecting its reluctance to reject any gerrymandering unless there is a formally declared intent to discriminate.

The conservatives are ready to exploit fully any advantage they gain and see no benefit in compromise. Liberals have a weak response. But the recent election for the Wisconsin Supreme Court seat reflects a better understanding of the challenges and their possible solutions. It could be the key to Democratic recovery.

This was the most expensive state judicial election ever in the U.S. Democrats are now able to mobilize money like the GOP. In American politics, money matters and more money matters more.

Backed by the Democrats, the judicial candidate was a woman, yielding an all-female liberal court majority. Instead of playing coy like most judicial candidates, she clearly announced her positions on key issues. She was as forthright on abortion rights as GOP-backed candidates have been.

Democrats stressed the importance of this victory, given the possibility of voting challenges after the 2024 presidential election. It was a statewide race, where a Democratic majority could produce a positive result that could not yet be achieved in gerrymandered legislative races. They got out their vote, and she received a stunning 55.5 percent.

The Democrats need to start winning by big margins. All across the country, they can learn from Wisconsin. Get off the defensive. Find women candidates. Run statewide. Focus on a few key issues, even if it’s risky, and hammer them home. Raise money. No matter the obstacles, get all your voters to the polls.

Friday, April 7, 2023

Stormy case deserves thoughtful review, not hype

 

Gordon L. Weil

Stormy Daniels never thought she’d be so famous.

Now, her alleged dalliance with Donald, the man who keeps reminding you he was President 45, has become the stuff of American history.

Trump nails down his place in history as the first former president to face a criminal indictment.  The indictment has unleashed the great American punditry and its flash wisdom.

Trump asserts that the charges are political.  His opponents drone on that “nobody is above the law.” He’s right and they’re wrong.  His goal in the case is to prove both points.

He’s right, because every important court case since life began under the Constitution has been political.  A lone federal judge in Texas, a Trump appointee whose courtroom was handpicked by the plaintiffs, has just banned parts of the Affordable Care Act nationally. People complaining that the Daniels case is political should check this out.

Trump promised to load the Supreme Court with justices who were openly opposed to abortion rights, and he did.  They killed Roe v. Wade.  That wasn’t a political decision?

Trump claims the true political purpose of the charges is to undermine his campaign for the presidency in 2024.  He may have hoped his early announcement would discourage any charges, leaving him able to claim they were politically motivated.  It could help him among Republicans, and it is a first-class money machine.

He is the master of using delay and similar tactics to forestall cases brought against him.  It seems that the New York County District Attorney thought he ought to act and try to avoid becoming entangled in delaying tactics after he decided he had enough evidence.

Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg also enjoys the kind of political isolation many other prosecutors, possibly one in Georgia, would lack.  He was overwhelmingly elected by voters who are obviously not big Trump backers. He is part of the New York State judicial system and the entire state government is politically impervious to Trump or Republican pressure.

He should also be safe from federal interference.  Under the Constitution, created by the states for the federal government, they retained jurisdiction over crimes committed entirely within their borders.  The wild attempt by House Republicans to investigate Bragg’s moves should go nowhere and violates the Constitution.  It’s political hype and will make noise.

The public may never know if Bragg consulted with other prosecutors dealing with the presidential papers case or the January 6 insurrection or his attempt in Georgia to have some voters switched to him.  But Bragg, in his position of relative safety, may have aided them by breaking ground in bringing charges and taking the heat for hauling Trump into court.

Give Bragg some credit. He is black and had to know that “the Donald” would skate around the edges of racism trying to discredit him. 

Because New York has acted, it is easier to foresee far more serious charges will bring Trump to trial.  In Georgia, a DA appears to be preparing charges that Trump illegally meddled in the vote counting process with the intention of finding enough ballots to overturn Joe Biden’s win there.

The federal Department of Justice is looking at his having kept presidential documents in open violation of the law and having caused the January 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection by his backers, who hoped to halt the presidential vote count.

But there is also good reason to question Bragg’s decision.  The first indictment of a former president on what is a comparatively minor matter may have weakened respect for the presidency itself. While Trump has already stripped the presidency of respect by using it for personal gain and scorning other countries, these charges may bring matters down to his level.

The charges would not have been grounds for impeachment and would probably not normally yield significant punishment.   The decision will be even more questionable if the proceedings look like a kangaroo court or the prosecution outright loses. The Trump campaign would probably be overjoyed and benefit from the outing.

The other risk from this prosecution is that, in this deeply divided country, it will pave the way for later prosecutors to bring legal actions, well founded or not, against future presidents.  Conviction after impeachment has become impossible, but this could be similar and much more easily used against an opponent.

To be sure, the threat of such cases could make future candidates and presidents more careful in how they conduct themselves to avoid serious embarrassment or worse. No longer can the aura of political celebrity serve as a guarantee against the consequences of regal behavior or illegal action.

In an age when social media passes as news reporting and pundits speculate irresponsibly, this is also a test to see if people can withhold their judgment until they have the facts.


Friday, March 31, 2023

Lawsuit against Trump could easily succeed; raised issue of government secrecy

 



Gordon L. Weil

Donald Trump’s Stormy Daniels hush money case has been getting prime media attention, but it matters far less than one potential federal case that could expose him to great legal jeopardy.

Some cases Trump faces may be relatively minor, hard to prove or purely political, but his holding onto presidential documents places him in what looks like a clear violation of federal law. The facts are beyond dispute.

Prime attention focuses on his keeping highly classified documents with inadequate safeguards. Trump’s hoarding may have endangered national security. The case has also raised new questions about just what information should be classified and kept secret.

Under the Presidential Records Act, a former president must promptly turn over to the National Archives all of his official papers. That allows his successors to know the policies and practices they inherit. The requirement was especially important when the outgoing President Trump prevented an orderly transition to the Biden administration.

The law requires turning over all documents, not only those labeled classified. The most sensitive files can include descriptions of intelligence methods, delicate data about foreign leaders and, worst of all, identification of secret American agents in hostile locations. Was any such information in Trump’s unlocked desk drawer? What did he keep and why?

Trump claims that he had the power to declassify documents, even if it only occurred in his own mind. Without proper public notice, that won’t wash. Could a citizen have obtained them through a Freedom of Information request? Of course not. People wouldn’t even know about their existence. Trump falsely implied his right to personalized declassification.

This case has raised questions about classified documents. Some of the documents found at Trump’s home and at sites controlled by Joe Biden and Mike Pence when they were vice president are undoubtedly routine and should not have been classified. But, in Trump’s case, some were obviously highly sensitive.

There’s no question that too many documents are classified, sometimes for reasons far removed from national security. And most of them never lose their protection, even after it is no longer justified.

Knowledge is power, and in their quest to demonstrate their key roles on major issues, some people in Washington like to create classified documents and keep others from seeing them. In a place where turf battles matter, the classified keep-away game is a major weapon. Or officials may classify to make sure their mistakes won’t be uncovered.

Government can use classification as a way of keeping secrets from the people on whose behalf it supposedly operates. Arrogant officials can make decisions affecting Americans based on information, possibly questionable, to which the public has no access. Without transparency, democracy suffers.

Here is where the media comes in. Its job is to reveal the secrets that threaten individual rights or cover up illegal actions. By definition, reporters are outsiders, so they may depend on whistleblowers to reveal the hidden truth. And they must be able to operate free from government control unless directly tied to national security or public safety.

The federal government claims to favor whistleblowers, but that promise is often broken. President Obama pursued them with a vengeance. Republicans tried mightily to uncover the whistleblower who revealed that Trump pressured Ukraine’s President Zelensky in hopes that he would investigate Joe Biden’s son during the 2020 presidential campaign.

Perhaps the most famous whistleblower was Daniel Ellsberg. In 1971, he gave to two major newspapers the Pentagon Papers, documents revealing the government had lied to Americans about the Vietnam War. The government tried to block publication, but the Supreme Court, recognizing press freedom, let the papers print. Federal charges against Ellsworth also failed.

Ellsworth is now dying and has been interviewed about breaking government secrecy. He says that classification “is a protection system against the revelation of mistakes, false predictions, embarrassments of various kinds and maybe even crimes.”

A critic claimed he undermined democracy by violating secrecy rules adopted by elected officials. He says those rules can protect those officials “from the possibility that their rivals will pick these things up and beat them over the head with it. Their rivals for office, for instance.” Could his concern explain Trump’s actions?

Long ago, Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis made a statement criticizing unwarranted secrecy that has been boiled down to the saying “sunlight is the best disinfectant.”

The First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech and a free press may be broader in the U.S. than anywhere else in the world. It helps protect the people from a government that would hide information from them. The American system supposedly depends on people making their own judgments after hearing both the truth and the lies.

Though not his intention, Trump’s documents violation may have brought new public attention to the use and misuse of government secrecy.

Friday, March 24, 2023

China-Russia summit highlights conflict over world order


Gordon L. Weil

The summit between China’s Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin amounted to a love fest between a power thirsty Communist and failed empire builder.

Xi has taken total control of his country, crushed self-rule in Hong Kong and resorts to obvious lies to justify his aggressive intent.  Putin faces an arrest warrant for kidnapping children, bombs to pieces a country that wants to face west and resorts to obvious lies to justify his aggressive intent. 

China’s boss makes two sharply conflicting claims.  He says that he wants to mediate a peaceful end to the Russia-Ukraine war.  Yet he favors Russia and won’t be visiting Volodymyr Zelensky in Kiev. Maybe a phone call. He is openly hostile to the extension of western style democracy, just what Ukraine seeks.

Upon arriving in Moscow, Xi stated that China and Russia shared the goal of multi-polar world not one under the American democratic model.  While China enjoys basking in the glow of American and European prosperity, by harvesting investments and pushing cut-rate exports, it opposes the system that makes that possible.

Nuclear armed Russia with vast territory and cheap oil for sale is becoming China’s junior partner.  Xi strokes Putin’s ego and backs his efforts to keep Europe in turmoil.  They may have differences, but their alliance, founded on hostility to the U.S., grows stronger.

Why does China seek to win a competition with the U.S.?  For one thing, there is power for its own sake.  Xi is tired of his country taking second place among world powers.  Thanks to its huge population, it will soon have a larger economy than the U.S.  For him, that is just the start.

Perhaps even more important may be Xi’s worry about the global spread of popular rule under variations of the American system of government.  China is controlled by the Communist Party with no dissent allowed. That control would likely end if the people were allowed free elections.  Preventing the spread of democracy and undermining its popularity is essential.

For Putin, China’s policy and his own anguish about NATO are just about the same.  While NATO has no designs on Russian territory, Putin harbors his country’s historical worry that Western Europe will invade the motherland. He wants Ukraine as Russia’s buffer, no matter what the Ukrainians want.

This is how the U.S. and its friends see the two major powers settling in as their long-term adversaries.  The divide may not equal the Cold War between the West and the Soviet Union, but it is a bitter rivalry.  Beyond a matter of survival, it is a no-holds-barred competition to subvert the other side and win dominance in Asia, Africa and even Latin America.

America and Europe plus Japan (the world’s third largest national economy), Britain, Canada, Australia and South Korea together are immensely richer and more powerful than China-Russia. They are beginning to respond.  For example, as Xi visited Putin in Moscow, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visited Zelensky in Kiev.

The success of the response to the China-Russia challenge depends on America and its allies acting as partners.  The U.S. must favor international cooperation over outmoded isolation.

As the West responds to the new challenge, it should recognize its vulnerability. Problems with democracy and free enterprise, despite their surpassing value, serve to help China and Russia to discredit them. It’s essential to see ourselves as others see us.

In what should be the world’s most prosperous country, homeless people struggle for shelter and the drug economy is practically a country within a country. In some cities, the police and the people are in conflict.  The problems of the third world and resulting massive immigration issues have so far revealed a leaderless and dumfounded system worldwide.

Freedom is abused by partisan politicians who undermine democracy in their own quest for power.  Imagine an attack on the Capitol to overturn an election or a presidential candidate who concludes the Ukraine war is merely a “territorial dispute” or politicians who tamper with voting to guarantee their permanent hold on office.

Big corporations and their wealthy ruling class avoid paying for their privileges and oppose reasonable regulations.  That leaves government strapped for funds to provide essential services and unable to prevent bank failures or nail tax cheats.  Greed overcomes loyalty, endangering the people the government is supposed to represent and serve.

To some degree, the biggest challenge comes more from ourselves than from our avowed adversaries.  I always remember the admonition of my favorite mythical presidential candidate, the long-ago comic strip’s Pogo Possum: “We have met the enemy and he is us.”

The Xi-Putin meeting unveiled their united hostility to Western values and their intent to defeat our hopes and ambitions.  It should also motivate the West to enhance and promote those values in deed as well as word.