“And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”
Last sentence of the Declaration of Independence

Knowing their actions would lead to war, which if lost would result in them being tried for treason and likely executed, fifty-six courageous patriots signed the Declaration of Independence, formally severing ties with England, the world foremost military power, and casting off the rule of a despotic king.

Twelve years later and after a bloody war, America’s Constitution was ratified, creating a new, formerly untested governmental structure with three co-equal branches, which limited the scope of the federal government, guaranteed individual liberties (with the subsequent adoption of the Bill of Rights), and established the nation’s underlying legal structure. Drafted by delegates from across the thirteen colonies, it required future presidents and members of Congress to swear an allegiance, not to any single individual; but to the new Constitution.

Today America is being governed by a narcissistic wannabe autocrat who, despite taking the presidential oath prescribed by the Constitution, has publicly-stated he may not be able to defend or obey its mandates, particularly where the right of Habeas Corpus is concerned, if it interferes with his political agendas. Ignoring his extra-constitutional attempts to govern solely through executive orders and flouting judicial rulings, his admission alone should justify impeachment and removal from office.

However, bullied House and Senate Republicans, threatened with being primaried by Donald Trump, have refused to block his autocratic instincts, placing loyalty to a president above a fealty to the Constitution they swore to uphold. Cabinet secretaries and senior presidential advisors, who also pledged to “support and defend” the Constitution, have engaged in aggressive campaigns weaponizing their departments against Trump’s perceived “enemies,” and purging those unwilling to and place support of the president’s policies above obeying the Constitution and nation’s laws when the two are in conflict.

Collectively, they are constitutionally, and possibly criminally, complicit in dismantling the foundations of our Constitution and placing the preservation of our nation’s unique experiment in representative democracy at risk.

Contrast their words and actions/inactions, with those of Gen. Mark Milley in his final speech as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, “We don’t take an oath to a king, or a queen, or to a tyrant or dictator, and we don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator. We don’t take an oath to an individual. We take an oath to the Constitution, and we take an oath to the idea that is America, and we’re willing to die to protect it.”

Congressional Republicans, Cabinet secretaries, and presidential advisors need to ask themselves whether they have the courage exhibited by our nation’s founders or General Miley’s patriotic and unwavering dedication to our Constitution or are willing to becoming accomplices in our constitutional republic devolving into a 21st century fascist state.

Their choice of patriotic courage or cowardly self-interest will shape the nation their children will inherit!