Another Day in Infamy?

Was April 4th, 2023 another day that will go down in infamy? 

Maybe, maybe not.

On that day, the New York County District Attorney covering Manhattan arrested and charged a former President of the United States with a series of misdemeanors that allegedly hides some felony crime that has yet to be disclosed.

A shameful over-reach by the New York State judicial system in what many see as a weak yet seriously disruptive maneuver designed in part to influence the direction of the next Presidential election.

Was it truly unprecedented as proclaimed by the irrepressible talking heads in the media?

Not really.

During my forty-year career, I had business dealings in more than seventy-five countries around the world and traveled in over fifty of them. I dealt with business managers and all manner of government officials, from junior clerks in various ministerial departments to senior cabinet-level officials right up to Presidents and Prime Ministers in some cases.

In the mid-seventies, I briefly met with the Prime Minister of a country in South Asia. Less than three years later, after being deposed by a military coup, accused of corruption (which was rampant throughout that country and all others in the region), and found guilty in a political show trial, he was hung by the neck until dead.

Hundreds of thousands of people across that country took to the streets in a mad celebration of his fate. Others remained at home, quietly planning the next coup.

I have seen similar, although less egregious political persecutions in my travels over the years, but sitting at home in Michigan on 04/04/23, I watched that same political theater process unfold, only this time it was directed toward our own former President of the United States of America. What an appalling sight, to actually witness the disintegration of our justice system as we plunge toward becoming a third-world country. 

The slide toward the end of our democracy started long before this New York incident.

Chants of “lock her up!” from previous election cycles, endless stories of Russian collusion, plus two failed Presidential impeachment attempts confirm that all politicians are susceptible to theatrics, regardless of policy or party.

At the same time, our justice system has been moving away from protecting the rights and freedoms of our legitimate citizens and towards favored treatment for the aggressors, the repeat offenders, and even hardened criminals. 

Is our democracy doomed? 

I don’t think so but we must change our direction soon. It will require a tremendous amount of work to overcome the lack of leadership, policy failures, and misguided political views that got us to this point. 

Fortunately, our constitution provides a starting point for this journey to recovery. Article V of the Constitution allows state legislatures to call for a Convention of States to propose constitutional amendments designed to rein in the excessive power and breadth of our federal government. 

You can support these efforts by getting involved with the Convention of States, a national, non-profit, grassroots organization dedicated to imposing fiscal restraints on the federal government, limiting the powers and jurisdictions of the federal government and its agencies, and imposing term limits on government officials and members of Congress.

Learn more about this at the Convention of States website. Take action by signing the petition. Get involved. Volunteer your time and talent as part of America's largest grassroots movement.

You can help to build momentum and rally against the cancerous growth of our federal government and slow the resulting insidious erosion of our basic rights and freedoms.