The Deep Breath

The need for discernment in the days ahead will be greater than ever. To paraphrase Tolkien from Return of the King, “It’s the deep breath before the plunge… the board is set; the pieces are moving.”

I believe the United States currently faces its greatest crisis since 1861. Yes, we’ve fought against Nazis, Soviets, etc, but as Abraham Lincoln put it more than 20 years before the Civil War, “if destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher.” As things currently stand, no matter who is inaugurated January 20, roughly half the country will consider him an illegitimate president. Trump supporters have good reasons to believe the election last month was manipulated to produce a Biden victory. But should Trump’s challenges prevail in the state legislatures and courts, and overturn that verdict, the unprecedented chain of events will seem equally shady to the Left, who simply cannot abide the Bad Orange Man.

Unless there is indisputable evidence the public can see and easily understand, I don’t see how this situation resolves without a high probability of the two factions resorting to blows. Not one, but two retired three-star military officers have suggested publicly that Trump use some form of martial law, during which the military would oversee a new election — one supposedly safeguarded against the chicanery that appears to have occurred in November. As a retired military officer, who swore to uphold the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, I’m instinctively appalled at any suggestion the president take such action. Suspending standing law during an ’emergency,’ real or perceived, has often been the first act of a would-be tyrant. Regular readers of this blog know I have been a Trump supporter, and believe his actions and agenda have been largely good for the country. But I’ve also noted more than once he is a flawed character, and his public displays reveal a temperament that needs external moderation and governance. Unbound, even briefly, by the framework carefully crafted by our nation’s founders, it is not clear what sort of executive he might become.

And yet… is that more dangerous than the real possibility of a Leftist cabal seizing unchallenged power (including the Senate, which is still up for grabs) through what appear to be constitutional means, but are in reality a sham version of what is supposed to be an expression of the people’s will? If the president has conclusive evidence the election was severely compromised, and neither the State legislatures nor the courts will intervene, what does the president’s own oath to the Constitution require in response? Faced with large-scale (and, after Ft. Sumter, violent) rejection of Federal authority in 1861, Lincoln did not hesitate to act, suspending the right of habeas corpus, and issuing a call for 75,000 militia — in essence, preparing to apply martial law in the States attempting to secede. Lincoln’s actions were controversial then (four additional States — Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Arkansas — seceded rather than comply) and debated today, but there is no question they helped achieve his stated purpose: to enforce the Union.

In issuing his call for militia, Lincoln cited “combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, or by the powers vested in the Marshals by law.” Is it possible today, as some accuse, that not only Democrat, but some Republican officials, are unwilling to consider evidence that would vindicate the president? That they would rather see him defrauded of office, because he is not of their globalist/corporatist clique that crosses party lines? Possibly. We foolishly like to think “it can’t happen here,” but history certainly provides ample exhibits of the complete corruption of legal and governmental structures. Would such deliberate derelictions of duty constitute “combinations” that justified the president to act outside the Constitution in an effort to save it?

That such a case is being voiced — loudly — in some quarters shows the peril we are in. I only know this: if Trump “crosses the Rubicon,” as some are urging, he’d better be prepared to show indisputable evidence of its necessity, including complicity in an election scheme by all the normal entities (legislatures, courts, etc) that should have blocked it. Otherwise, any legitimacy he has will be forfeited in the public’s mind, and that is where the real battle is always fought.

Precipitous action without ironclad evidence will likely destroy the barely United States — and may do so even with it. Our republic has been sick for a long time — some would argue since the end of the War Between the States. Like ancient Rome, we have our patrician families: Clinton, Bush, Kennedy, and other, more regional surnames that recur every election. They jostle for power with public consequences, just as their counterparts did centuries ago. The personal ambitions that subverted the celebrated virtues of Republican Rome, and eventually its society, are the same sinful ones present in our own.

Pray, fellow patriot. For wisdom, clarity and discernment for all our countrymen. For selfless statesmanship of a kind that occasionally manifests and diffuses explosive situations. For decisiveness by those who may be called upon to act in extraordinary circumstances. And most of all, for a turn to Christ, who alone can bridge the wide fault lines that have grown dangerously active in this country. Pray, and pay close attention, for in these circumstances, deception abounds.