A reflection for a somber July 4

The promise and practice of our nation’s founding visions and documents are at stake like never since the Civil War.

Normally, July 4 is a day for barbecues, fireworks and gratitude for the nation's founding vision and documents.

This July 4 is abnormal, as is this upcoming presidential election. And the promise and practice of our nation’s founding visions and documents are at stake like never before since the Civil War.

We should all agree that the first presidential debate on June 26 was a disaster. Joe Biden’s performance and presentation of his vision for the future was more than a bad night or a bad cold or bad staff management. It was another indication of the diminishment of Joe Biden as a candidate because of his age – the very opposite of what his administration was trying to present.

The other disaster, and perhaps the worst part of the debate, was the inability of Joe Biden, that night, to counter and prevail against Donald Trump’s dangerous torrent of lies, which undermined the very idea of the truth and deeply jeopardized the future of democracy in America.

On July 1, the future of the nation became even worse with an unprecedented Supreme Court decision to immunize presidents from any criminal accountability for their “official acts,” with absolute or “presumptive immunity” for most official acts.

This debate was caused by a case against a former and perhaps future president who is accused of criminal behavior not seen from any other U.S. president in 235 years. The accusations include a multi-faceted coup to prevent Trump from being removed from power after losing an election and, for the first time, a president deliberately obstructing the peaceful transfer of power, which is the core of our democracy. And the majority of Supreme Court justices, including the three he appointed in his first term, chose to protect him, in a clear and painful recognition that we now have a partisan Supreme Court, with the must-read minority dissents calling this a fearful threat to democracy itself. (Read the opinion and dissents). For a good summary analysis of the Supreme Court decision and its next steps and future consequences read Charlie Savage’s analysis in The New York Times.

People hold anti Trump signs in front of the US Supreme Court on July 1, 2024,

There is no doubt that this new Supreme Court decision dramatically extends the power of an “imperial presidency,” which has been growing for many years and is exactly what candidate Donald Trump wants for himself. In a second Trump administration, unlike the early haphazard meandering of his first, there will be no restraints or guard rails. And if Republicans also win the House and the Senate, there will be little  accountability for a President Donald Trump – from the Executive Branch, from government agencies, from the Congress, and even from the Supreme Court, to which he could appoint more and younger ideologues. All power will be in Donald Trump’s hands, and the American tradition of balancing federal power will be tested like never before. 

Even with the radically increased power that the Supreme Court has granted to presidents, we would hope that good men and women in the White House would likely not exercise those formally criminal powers and still believe in trying to put their country’s best interests ahead of their own. But Donald Trump is an evil man, with no moral character, no interests beyond his own, no commitment to the greater common good, absolutely no interest in the most vulnerable in our society, and with a demonstrable racial bias and a willingness to use it politically; and who takes deeply dangerous pleasure in dominating others.

Therefore, Joe Biden is not the issue in this election. He is clearly an aging man, and he showed a stunning demonstration of that in the first debate. Biden’s ability to fully and energetically campaign is still a concern, and how much he can change popular perceptions in the weeks ahead is a real question. But an aging Biden still shows wisdom and experience in the most demanding job of the presidency and he would have strong and good people around him in a second term. Almost no one questions Biden’s character. And almost everyone questions Trump’s character.

Ultimately, court decisions will not decide this election and will always show how our legal system is skewed to allow rich and powerful men like Donald Trump to escape legal accountability. The Supreme Court’s integrity is at the lowest level in many years with its lack of ethics from some of its senior members and their spouses, the preponderance of ideology over legal acumen in the majority’s decisions and their embarrassing partisan biases. 

But if courts should not be looked to for determining the outcome of elections, voters should be. And let us be completely clear, those who have falsely claimed that the 2020 election was “stolen,” against all evidence to the contrary, are now deliberately and strategically trying to steal the 2024 election through voter suppression, intimidation and subversion. 

You can help stop that by joining with us at Faiths United to Save Democracy. You can even be trained to become a poll chaplain and provide voter education in your communities and voter protection at critical polling places. 

So have your barbecues, with whatever food you want to share with friends and family, and watch any fireworks displays you can see in your own communities this July 4.

But take some time for quiet personal reflection, and perhaps prayer on this nation’s holiday, to ask what kind of nation we want to be and become in the future, and even what are you going to do to help make that happen.