As I mentioned yesterday, the current situation with the faux impeachment has historical analogies. Of particular note is the trial of King Charles I in England in the 17th Century by radical members of Parliament. Oliver Cromwell was a prominent leader of Parliament who was directly engaged in the insurrection that defeated King Charles. And it was an insurrection.
While this is a long story involving multiple years of civil war in England, in the end the dispute was about powers that Parliament had versus the powers of the King.
From a piece by Bruce Laue:
In 1649, Charles I, King of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, after years of quarreling over what were the powers of the Crown versus the powers of the elected and unelected houses of Parliament, was defeated on the field of battle by an army organized by Parliament. The army was commanded by Olivier Cromwell, a religious fanatic who wished to remake the world into a Reformationist utopia—by force if necessary. The King was arrested and brought to London under the charge of having incited and committed treason. There would be a trial.
Sound familiar? The Parliamentarians incited and committed treason but they decided to charge the King with those crimes.
Charles Stuart … sensed that this was not a judicial exercise but rather a theatrical piece designed for public consumption…When he was finally asked how he wished to answer the charges, the King knew his moment had come. “I would know by what power I am called hither, by what lawful authority?” he calmly replied.
And there it was, the central question. The judges, called “Commissioners,” had expected the question, but they still held their breath when Charles spoke it aloud. They knew—that he knew—that there was no law permitting these proceedings. There was no law, no statute, no process, and no precedent; they were indeed making it up as they went along. And with only one utterance, the King had exposed their deceit. They responded that they were empowered by Parliament and that the King was answerable to Parliament. It was not true and still isn’t.
The analogy is clear with the current proceedings going on in the Senate. Article I, Section 3, of the Constitution reads: “Judgement in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust or profit under the United States.”
There is no law that allows Congress to prosecute a private citizen under the impeachment clause. Donald Trump is a private citizen. Congress may dearly wish that it has such power but it doesn’t. Of course, with the Democrats the Constitution is only useful to them when it aligns with their warped reasoning. When the Constitution is aligned against their interests, they just ignore it.
At least Chief Justice Roberts recognizes just how far out of bounds this whole proceeding is. Roberts has refused to preside over the “trial.” The same thing happened during the time of Charles I. The Chief Justices of England’s Common Law courts also refused to preside.
It did not matter then and it does not matter now. An all-encompassing hatred has pushed these people to do this even though they have no legal basis to do so.
In the time of Charles I, they were trying to send a message to anyone else who might decide to stand against the entrenched powers. And that message is, if you do not bow down to us, we will cancel you. And cancel Charles they did.
In reflecting on our current situation, Mark Wauck notes:
I think it’s no exaggeration to state that the same issue is before us. We see every day a coordinated effort of the ideological forces of the Left–in government, in the traditional media, and in the new digital social media–to enforce a prohibition of all questioning with regard to how they came to acquire their power. To do so is now termed “sedition”, and attempts are even underway to enforce this tyranny against members of the opposition political party. Questioning has now become a political crime.
The entrenched powers in Washington now believe that they are no longer accountable to the people. With their new Army of the Potomac, they believe that they can make it up as they go along and that the people will have to acquiesce to whatever they say.
The latest term being bandied about is the term “domestic extremism.” FBI Director Wray has called it the most serious threat facing the country. No one has defined the term but it seems to be that anyone who objects to the course being followed by our pretend President is a domestic extremist. They are using this idea as justification for the military occupation of our nation’s capital.
They have taken aim at the 1st Amendment by claiming that these troops are needed to protect Congress from protests that are allowed under the 1st Amendment. Do not be surprised when they try to pass laws limiting the ability of people to protest peacefully.
Political purges have already started. Marjorie Greene was stripped of her committee assignments in the House because of statements she has made opposing the Democrats. This has never been done to a member of the opposing party in the history of the country. They have hidden this exercise behind a smokescreen hoping that Americans would not notice.
As Daniel Greenfield has noted:
The Democrats manufactured a permanent state of emergency and blamed its existence on their political opponents. That emergency has as little reality as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez who claimed that she was nearly murdered while being in an entirely different building. But the political terror and the purges being pushed in the name of that emergency are all too real.
History offers ominous precedents as the Democrats engage in a military occupation of D.C. and seek to purge political opponents by treating opposition as, in their own words, “seditious”.
Where will this all end?
People must push back against the occupation of Washington D.C. and against a fake state of emergency whose goal is the suspension of political norms and the rule of law by keeping the people afraid all the time.
As Greenfield notes:
There is no room in America for show trials, government surveillance of political opponents, and smearing political dissent as incitement, sedition, and domestic terrorism. The only emergency here is the leftist plot against the Constitution under the guise of manufactured emergencies.
The only way these emergencies will end is when the people force the Democrats to stop inventing emergencies that they can use to run roughshod over Constitutional norms. The country belongs to the people.
Oh, and BTW, that means we should stop the worthless exercise of wearing masks everywhere. And we should return to our places of worship and sing the praises of the Lord.
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