By ann summers

If we thought the End of the Republic happened when Monica Lewinsky got a TED talk, surprise -— Donald Trump could become POTUS, just as he states that Latino or Muslim judges could be unfair to him. Sonia Sotomayor will become the Earl Warren for the Birchers of the 21st Century…

DON’T WORRY, WE CAN ALWAYS CLEAR AWAY THE NUCLEAR RUBBLE AND IMPEACH (HIM).

The cockroaches left after the nuclear holocaust can worry about unenumerated federal rights.

Is a sign of the Republic’s end those conservative reactionaries and their fear of the cooties of the Other— women, POC, LGBTQ, furriners, your idiot neighbor, the gummint, and even the LEO who’s supposed to be the friend at least of your kids, so why did I get that ticket. In Driver Ed, instructors used to call it “selective enforcement” more recently it’s quotas, revenue streams, and arbitrary & capricious depending on whether you’re driving while: young, while a POC, while cute….etc

In the age of US states’ rights and Brexit, economies of scale and the concept of tariffs takes it in the proverbial neck, Daesh notwithstanding. Globalization shows to the idiots who’d get rid of federal programs that wars will get even costlier and/or more profitable for arms makers and dealers.

What are some examples of these unenumerated rights? Some of them were established by Supreme Court rulings in the last 100 years. These include the presumption of innocence in criminal cases, the right to travel within the country and the right to privacy, especially marital privacy. These rights, although never enumerated, have found a home in the Ninth Amendment.

But we do not enjoy several rights found in the constitutions of other countries. One such right protects the privacy of personal correspondence. Much of the Patriot Act would be unconstitutional if such a right was specified. Much in the act may be unconstitutional even without such an enumerated right.

The right to property is not listed. Therefore we can have a tax on net worth.

Perhaps there should be a right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion and belief or at least a right to refuse to kill. That would change the drafting of conscientious objectors. It would also change the situation when nurses and doctors in public facilities are asked to assist in abortions.

The problem is of course the sociopathic roaches: the wedding-cake bakers, evangelical pharmacists, and now even idiot public officials who want to write their very own personal exception to the social contract.

‘When the people find that they can vote themselves money that will herald the end of the republic.‘ (Benjamin Franklin)

‘The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money.’ (Alexis de Tocqueville)