Beware the Slow Coup

To topple a three-legged stool, you don't need to saw off an entire leg. Just cut through it enough to compromise its integrity and the stool will collapse. It won't be immediate, but will inevitably happen as soon as enough pressure is put on the seat. The subsequent crash, however, will be instantaneous.

We tend to think that our three branches of government and their system of checks and balances are as strong as the legs of a solidly built stool and will forever uphold our democracy--that it would require a catastrophic failure of one or more branches of government through a coup or massive terrorist attack on the capitol to destroy the whole system. But in fact that system is extraordinarily fragile. A few small and perhaps, under this president, inevitable cuts can be made which would precipitate a slow coup and cast us into an authoritarian distopia.

First, the judiciary, perhaps the most vulnerable yet critical of the three branches with regard to enunciating and upholding our fundamental rights and freedoms--enabling the executive or legislative branches to simply override the courts is not necessary to undermine them. The judiciary can very easily be dismantled legally and from within.

When Justice Kennedy or another liberal resigns and is replaced with a Scalia conservative, it will ensure a solid conservative majority on the court for generations. We would expect an unchecked conservative wing to push the primacy of "freedom of religion" and the fiction of "originalism" as principles that trump all other constitutional rights--women's rights, minority rights, LGBQT rights, separation of church and state vis school prayer, and so on. Deny women and gays rights and you turn back the clock on our entire society--just witness what is transpiring in once progressive Turkey as urban women are pressured to don the hijab.

We would also expect the court to rule in favor of religious organizations having the right to participate in and donate to the political process without losing their tax exemption--a critical move that gives an unfair advantage to religious conservatives who will be given an outsized political voice.

Finally, we need to realize that in times of crisis the government at all levels, including judiciary, errantly concludes that security takes priority over constitutional rights. We have precedents for this with Congress's suspension of habeas corpus during the Civil War, the enforcement of the Alien and Sedition Act to curb free speech and immigration during wartime, and the internment of the Japanese during WWII. All it would take is a terrorist attack or otherwise heightened, and typically unwarranted, public fear (i.e. towards Mexicans, unvetted refugees, etc.) to trigger them again. A conservative court would only be too happy to   go along.

The states, too, would be reluctant to intervene both because Republicans control Congress and most state houses, but also for fear of being branded unpatriotic.

Then take Congress. They have already shown a willingness to eliminate the filibuster for judicial and executive appointments, reducing the threshold for approval from 60% to 50%. Conservative principles and adherence to tradition now take a back seat to winning at all costs and winning reelection.

Despite some opposition to doing the same for legislation, this is probably a logical and inevitable next step, especially under pressure from the executive and his populist base that now dominate the Republican Party and who have shown a desire to make this change if the president's will is denied. The result would be a partially-democratic Senate (due to disproportionate representation), becoming just like the house--given to domination by a populist majority and the suppression of the minority opinion. The result would be that presidential whims would be fast tracked through Congress unopposed.

And finally the executive. We could go on at length here, but it is self evident that this branch is already compromised given this president's open contempt for "activist" judges who dare challenge him and his willingness to casually cast aside the "archaic" rules of congress when he fails to get his way. And his ignorance of history (or at least perversion of it given his unqualified admiration of Andrew Jackson as well as foreign despots) means that he has no respect for our history, values, or institutions.

So brace yourself--the slow coup is brewing. Just make sure you keep your eyes open and are prepared for it when it comes.