The Treachery of Patriotism

The only difference between a “patriot” and a “traitor” is in which side wins the war. That is not to say that Trump is deserving of being called a Patriot or being branded a Traitor.

Who has Trump “betrayed”? What were the source and target of his “treason”? Was it the government or perhaps the office of the President? Even today, Trump enjoys the entrenched support of roughly one-third of the populace. Are their interests and opinions simply to be ignored or deemed irrelevant? Are those “deplorables” also to be deemed “traitors”?

We take no oath to support any particular or temporary incarnation of government. We do not swear allegiance to any particular President. Generally, our oath, as Americans, is to the Constitution of the United States, and we swear to defend the Constitution (not the government) against “all enemies, both foreign and domestic.”

This is more than mere semantics. That Constitution does not provide the framework for a federal government of industrial efficiency. Instead, it establishes a restrained state of limited powers, which necessarily defers to individual liberty and personal freedom. The objective of the Founders was not to eliminate tensions and competing interests, but to recognize and accept those things as inevitable and perhaps even necessary elements of a free people.

So, who is the bigger enemy of the Constitution? Who wishes to expand government beyond the limitations and confines of that venerable instrument? Who strives constantly to usurp power from the people in favor of an omnipotent state? Who seeks to erode individual liberties and to cancel personal freedoms while commanding compliance and subjugation?

I am confident that the Constitution, as originally conceived, is well capable of withstanding the challenges of a single rogue executive. I am exceedingly less confident that it can withstand a full frontal assault by hordes of zealots embracing the dogma of Statism.