MAKING WAR AGAINST DEMOCRATIC MAYORS: ANOTHER GEORGE III ?
In the late 1760s and 17770s the British Parliament and George III, King of England pursued a policy of “law and order” in the cities of his colony, America. When a group of unruly colonials who had been protesting unequal treatment as British citizens and dumped a shipload of tea into Boston Harbor, the loss of fortune angered him so that he sent British troops to Boston and closed Boston Harbor. The harsh treatment by British troops escalated tensions. further, leading to more unrest. He began confiscating their weapons and arresting the protest leaders. This infuriated the colonials and the march to Lexington and Concord to subdue Massachusetts colonists led to “the shot heard round the world” (Ralph Waldo Emerson).
We have president who believes he has unlimited powers of a monarch or despotic leader. A president who follows the lead of authoritarians of Russia, N. Korea, and China. His “best friends” and “very strong leaders” and “briliant” people. We have a president who does not recognize the freedoms assured our citizens under our Constitution. We have a president whose only interest is in consolidation and retention of his power as president, supported by a Republican Party with the same goal.
And now, he threatens war against cities led by Democratic Mayors. Republicans allow him to attack their political opposition, the Democratic Party. In Georgia, with Republican governor at the helm, a Republican governor has sued the Mayor after she mandated masks. She followed CDC and WHO guidelines, to save the lives of Atlanta residents she has sworn to protect from the covid pandemic rampaging her community. In Portland, lacking local Republican leadership, our George III sent in camouflaged secret police, using them as a private army, to enforce his will, and suppress the citizens protesting racist and unequal treatment as our colonial ancestors did in 1770s.
In response to King Georg III and the British Parliament Thomas Paine wrote a pamphlet titled COMMON SENSE in which he rejected the monarchy and called George III a “royal brute.” He argued that the colonials create an American Republic, a state without a king. And they did. The new country’s political philosophy, as defined by Thomas Paine and enshrined in our Constitution and laws holds that elected representatives, not a monarch, should govern the ship of state. Citizens decide who governs them, and decide other issues, on the basis of majority rule. And perhaps most importantly, Paine’s theory of “republicanism” demanded adherence to a “code of virtue” which became a guiding principle of the patriots/protesters conduct. This concept of adherence to a code of conduct established the norms of government, and its purpose was to establish a common good for all those living in the new republic.
The Republican Party in leadership today, and the president/despot they support, refuse to adhere to the code of conduct and norms adopted by our founding fathers. They jeer when a Democratic Senators, Congresspersons,Governors or Mayors adhere to the code. They shame citizen protester/patriots who insist upon the code and the promised freedoms of our Constitution, using words like the profane “libtards”.
We have a president and Republican leadership which creates chaos and then implements “law and order” strategy to suppress the opposition in the streets of our cities, and to suppress the vote of its political opposition. Just as the British Parliament supporting GeorgeIII did so long ago.
annarino writes 