Every year on the Fourth of July, we celebrate American Independence. It’s a day that represents the signing of our Declaration of Independence and the birth of the United States of America as an independent nation, free from the king our nation’s founding fathers were on-the-run from.
It was on that fateful day, July 4, 1776 (not really, but for history’s sake) that 56 delegates to the Continental Congress signed what was essentially a big, fat middle finger to King George III, telling him to go fuck himself and take England with him.
Two hundred and forty-eight years later, on July 1, 2024, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the President of the United States is now “a king above the law”, able to dictate and commit crimes under the guise of “official acts” without consequence. The cited example of a President using SEAL Team Six to assassinate and eliminate his political rivals — laughable only a week ago — is now a sad reality.
“The President of the United States is the most powerful in the country, and possibly the world. When he uses his official powers in any way, under the majority’s reasoning, he will now be insulated from criminal prosecution. Orders the Vay’s SEAL Tean Six to assassinate a political rival? Immune. Organizes a coup to hold onto power? Immune. Takes a bribe in exchange for a pardon? Immune. Immune, immune, immune.”
Justice Sonia Sotomayor
The same country founded by men who despised a king, who sought freedom from his oppression, who “burned their bridges” and risked their lives by signing and delivering to him their own death warrant in the form of the Declaration, and who laid the foundation for our Great Nation, for liberty and justice for all, has now gone full circle back to Day One.
In their ruling, the Supreme Court has given the President of the United States the power to do as he pleases. They have put the man in charge of executing and enforcing the laws of Congress above those very laws. Yeah, the President still has to answer to Congress, and there is still impeachment, but that only comes after the fact. Through a simple Executive Order, the President can now do whatever he wants, including eliminate his political opponents.
The President can now shoot first and answer for it later.
If that’s not living under a king, a ruler or a dictator, what is? What are we truly “free” from? What if, in practicing my First Amendment Right to air my grievances on X (formerly known as Twitter) one day, the President happens to catch a glimpse of it in his feed? Maybe he’s having a bad day, that day, and has a stick up his ass. He can easily order me (or you) silenced. (In dictator-speak, “silenced” usually means dead.)
Perhaps that sounds far-fetched today — but give it a minute — as history has proven, dictators typically start at the top and remove their most public opposition first to instill widespread fear then work their way down to kicking in doors and lining us up for the firing squads (and gas chambers).
It’s no longer liberty, it’s no longer Independence, if we have to live with that fear. Is this really “Making America Great Again” or is our country losing its fucking mind?
It seems obvious to everyone that the Supreme Court made this decision to benefit Donald Trump amid his federal trials, to further delay them until after the election, in hopes that he may win and then squash them and/or pardon himself. But it seems to me that something even “deeper” is at play…
Sure, their decision benefits Donald Trump if he wins the election in November — and Conservatives love this! — but that’s four months out. In the meantime, this decision only benefits current President Joe Biden, who is now free to do whatever he wants before then, and Liberals have taken to social media en masse, half-joking about his new power to remove Trump.
It’s not a joke. And whether or not President Joe Biden actually follows through on that, is beside the point.
“The power of the Office will no longer be constrained by the law, or even by the Supreme Court of the United States…”
President Joe Biden, July 1, 2024
Granted, I am not a Donald Trump supporter, but more so, I am not a dictator supporter. I have supported Joe Biden for President until now. That is, I have supported him for President-prior-to-this-ruling, because after it, I can’t support any President given the unlimited power of a king, nor any candidate for one.
I feel like my Constitutional Right to a President who “enforces the laws that Congress passes” has been violated.
And suddenly, I don’t feel as “free” as I did a week ago.
—P
Publisher
As a child my mother said to me, ‘If you grow up to be a soldier, you will become a general. If you grow up to be a monk, you will become the Pope.’ Instead, I grew up to be a degenerate, and now I’m publisher of SCREW.
