October 3, 2018 – by Gregory Franklyn

It’s clear, to just about anyone who is paying attention, that we are living through abnormal times in the US. The very concept of truth is being challenged and things we thought we could rely upon for our national discourse, like language and propriety, are being undermined by a political party’s desire to take a more complete control over the affairs of State.

I’m talking about what currently passes for the Republican Party, of course, and it has become clear to me, over the last few years, that something is terribly wrong here. And, it isn’t subtle either. I believe that Conservatives in general and the Republican Party in particular, do not like the concept of a Representative Democratic Republic. (That’s what the US is, in case anyone is unclear on what that means). It is too messy and out of control for the Republican Party. There’s disagreement among the citizens, on a fundamental level, about how our collective business should be conducted.

Democrats, for example, favor a more open and fluid management style that includes everyone, while Republicans favor a more rigid and disciplined approach orchestrated by fewer people who, supposedly, know what’s best for the whole. The combination of the two is what was intended by the folks who set this whole thing up, so that neither would dominate the other and a common response to arising issues would become how the whole conducts its affairs. Republicans don’t like that idea very much. The Government is supposed to derive its power from the consent of the governed. However, Republicans don’t appear to trust “The Governed” to make prudent decisions in their favor.

I say that because of the Republican Party’s relatively new concepts of a “Unitary Executive” and a “Permanent Republican Majority”. They’ve been working towards those goals since about the Nixon Administration, but they injected it with steroids around the Raegan/Senior Bush administrations. This view favors a “Top Down” model, against the Democratic view of a “Bottom Up” or “Grass Roots” model. “Consent of the Governed” if you will. They’ve been remarkably successful on a State Level, but haven’t been able to make it stick on a national level.

In the places where the Republican Party has been able to take over an insurmountable control of a State, Michigan for example, they have actually suspended democratic rule altogether if, in their view, the democratic rule wasn’t working to their satisfaction. I point to Benton Harbor Michigan, where a City Manager was appointed by the Republican Governor who was given the authority to ignore the City Council and just act on his own to run the city. Flint Michigan is another example, which lead to the poisoning of an entire city’s water source when the Manager decided to change the source of where their potable water comes from because it was cheaper. Didn’t even consult the city council, he just changed it. The problem, several years later, remains unsolved.

Right now in Georgia, The Republican Secretary of State, who is also a candidate for Governor, is purging the voter rolls, eliminating roughly 50,000 registered voters in the state, 70% of whom are minorities. Of course, it’s cheating, but is it illegal? Well, the Radical Activist Conservative Republican Supreme Court of the United States has already over overturned key parts of the Voting Rights Act, allowing States to do, pretty much, whatever they feel like doing regarding elections.

Florida, as I write, are purging similar registered voters to the tune of approximately 10% of the registered voters in the State. Effectively, carefully selecting the voters who will be allowed to vote. All of it, under the banner of protecting elections from VOTER fraud, which according to statistics ,affects roughly 0.00003% of all votes cast, but eliminates voters who are likely to vote for someone else, by the hundreds of thousands. When was the last time you heard about Republicans working to get more people registered to vote. You hear about such large scale efforts on the left in EVERY election, I’ve never heard of a concomitant effort on the right. The right doesn’t want more voters, because…

Less Voters = More Republican elected officials. The game is rigged. Republicans control all three branches of the Federal Government and more than half of the States legislative branches and Governors Mansions. They are using that power to dismantle our form of government. A friend of mine asked me a question when I was in my early 20s, that I have failed to adequately answer ever since, despite my best efforts. He asked, “Gregory, who protects the people when the Police break the law?” The people sworn to Protect and defend our form of government are the very people working so diligently to dismantle it!

Never was that so clear than in the elevation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. To get the whole picture, you have to take a step back and remember that the Republican Party simply refused to even consider Barack Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court that had been vacated by the death of Antonin Scallia, Proably the most conservative of the 5 conservatives on the court at the time. Merick Garland has a judicial posture that could have achieved a balance among the split court of 4 liberals and 4 Concervatives. Republican Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell simply REFUSED to consider it. Republicans expected to do well in the election that was to come and selfishly circumvented procedure so they could confirm someone of their own choosing. They quite literally stole the seat and put Neil Gorsuch in his place.

Brett Kavanaugh is a very suspect choice for the SCOTUS, evidenced by the Republican withholding of documents relating to his legal work on behalf of two Republican White Houses in previous administrations. They didn’t want people, particularly Democrats, to know about his legal background. That would have been disastrous for his chances of being seated. He was chosen for his willingness to overturn Roe V Wade and his positions favoring big business. I won’t burden you with what happened next. You already know that. But Brett Kavanaugh is now an Associate Justice of The Supreme Court anyway because Conservative Republicans wanted him there despite the consent of the people. Conservatives now have a 6-3 majority, and thereby control of the judiciary.

It’s clear to me, at this point, that the Republican Party is so aggressively at a fever pitch during this election because they realize just HOW CLOSE they are to a complete take-over of the United States that they can taste it. It’s right there! This election COULD do it! Please Vote!

Much Love,

Gregory