BACK TO BASICS: THE UNITED STATES SEMIQUINCENTENNIAL

Imagine who will be President on July 4 2026.

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The official logo of the US Semiquincentennial

The victor of the 2024 election will have the distinct honour of being the president overseeing the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. What better time than to celebrate the spirit of the United States and the Founding Fathers who did so much to hold aloft the values that form the American Identity?

God forbid if an insurrectionist president who is the antithesis of those values is back in the White House. It would be like burning the Declaration of Independence on the bonfire of Trumpian vanities.

The Founding Fathers’ values remind us of the importance and relevance of their original ideas and principles. Faced with the predicament of choosing between democracy and authoritarian regimes, the free world would be wise to realise that freedom is the cure for Trumpism.

Locke and Montesquieu developed the theory that every human being has certain rights that are an immutable part of being human, derived from nature and not government or its laws.

Let us remember the three natural rights that Thomas Jefferson described in the Declaration of Independence: “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”

Let us remember the Virginia Declaration of Rights written by George Mason, declaring notably: “All men are by nature equally free and independent and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.”

Let us remember the Constitution of 1778, which created a bicameral legislative system and equal executive and judicial branches to set up a system of checks and balances.

Let us remember the subsequent Bill of Rights written by James Maddison and ratified in 1791 as the first Ten Amendments of the Constitution, in particular freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press and freedom of assembly, due process of law, equality before the law and freedom of faith.

Let us remember Abraham Lincoln and the Gettysburg Address declaring “a new birth of freedom”, celebrating the Emancipation Proclamation, which gave true meaning to the promise that “all men are born equal”.

Let us remember “The Second Founding” and the ratification of the Constitution’s 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments after the Civil War, which prohibited slavery, promised citizenship to all born in America, offered equal protection under the law, and protected the right to vote from racial discrimination. The framers of the 14th Amendment declared,” It is the Declaration of Independence placed immutably and forever in our constitution.”

Let us remember the Declaration of Sentiments of 1848, inspired directly by the Declaration of Independence. This document culminated in the 19th Amendment, which guaranteed the right for women to vote just over 100 years ago.

Let us remember the champion of the Civil Rights Movement, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who said in his famous Address at the Lincoln Memorial, “When the architects of our Republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note promised that all men—yes, black and white men—would be guaranteed “the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

Let us remember at last that the Founding Documents, The Declaration, The Constitution, and the Bill of Rights remain timeless and are destined to evolve to “form a more perfect Union” and “secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity”.

The defence of freedom, liberty, and democracy is an ever-ending struggle. Thomas Jefferson warns, “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty”.[i]

It is incumbent on all of us who cherish the principles enshrined in the US Founding Documents and the principles of liberal democracy celebrated in the Free World to rise to the challenge and fight for freedom and liberty.

On September 12 2001, after the notorious Al-Qaeda terrorist attacks, one of the leading French newspapers, Le Monde, proclaimed “We are all Americans” on its front page.

In a packed German Bundestag, a leading German politician declared, “Wir sind alle Amerikaner”,[ii] just as President Kennedy had said some forty years before “, Ich bin ein Berliner”.

Queen Elizabeth II ordered the American Anthem to be played by her guard at Buckingham Palace. The attack on America concerned the whole Free World and beyond. When freedom and liberty are at stake, such support and reactions are more than welcome; they are indispensable.

Today, democracy is at stake in the 2024 US elections – a matter of concern for America and the West. Whilst only US citizens can vote, it is wrong to say that it is not our business and that we should not voice our opinion. On the contrary, we must stand up for democracy in the US, as our future is also at stake. Once again, “We are all Americans” in a way even more profound than after 9/11 as our future is at stake as well.

Fascism was born in Europe and slayed in Europe; let it not resurrect in the US.

Trump’s posture and grandstanding, his violent speech sowing division and hatred, his fullhearted embrace of the vilest propaganda and his proven track record as an insurrectionist present us with a significant quandary. Should individuals or political parties be allowed to participate in a democratic process if their avowed intention is to destroy the process in question and replace it with authoritarianism? In some countries, such as Germany, political parties can be banned if they have such intentions.

In the US the only similar legal basis is Section Three of the 14th amendment, known as “Disqualification from Holding Office”; whereby “No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of president and vice president, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”

Many believe that applying this disposition would be a denial of democracy as only the people, i.e. the voters, can decide whether Trump is worthy of being president again or not. This is a logical fallacy, as the eventual application of such a clause would be in the interest of protecting democracy and the Constitution.

Thereby, it is eminently democratic. Referring to the preamble of the Declaration of Independence, “But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security”.

Solemn duty does not mean being apologists for the aggrieved despotic behaviour. Or as Trump’s supporters are doing, defending him and his actions by attacking the truth.

However, the argument could be made that Trump should only be disqualified if a jury of his peers convicts him before a court of law.

In any event, several states took it upon themselves to disqualify Trump from their respective ballots, with the provision to refer to the Supreme Court. Trump and his lawyers naturally appealed the first such decision issued by the State of Colorado. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the matter and ultimately rendered a ruling one day before Super Tuesday on March 4, stating that Colorado can’t bar Trump from their primary ballot. This also applies to all other states.

The decision was based purely on legal considerations, and whether the Supreme Court agreed with the Colorado Supreme Court that Trump was an insurrectionist still needs to be addressed. Nonetheless, Trump declared it “A big win for America”.[iii] Furthermore, as per the court’s ruling, only Congress can legislate on the disqualification of a candidate, which leaves some questions unanswered. What would happen if once elected in November, a Democratic Congress attempted to disqualify Trump from taking office? The probability of Trump winning the election whilst the Democrats would win both chambers of Congress is limited but still theoretically possible.

This recent ruling begs the question of whether Trump is benefitting from preferential treatment. Despite his numerous claims of persecution, Trump is undoubtedly being handled differently than a normal justiciable at the highest court level and by Trump-nominated judges such as U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon in the classified documents case in Florida. Everyone is equal in the eyes of the law, but some more than others. Whereas over 500 January 6 rioters have been prosecuted, sentenced and imprisoned, the instigator and mastermind of the same riots, Trump, is still a free man, as are his numerous accomplices. The vast majority of the rioters were following what they believed were Trump’s explicit instructions. Because of their lack of financial means and position in society, they were the first to suffer from the long arm of the law.

The result of a presidential election cannot substitute for the Constitution and serve as absolution for past crimes, even if Trump maintains that he should have absolute immunity for all actions under his past and eventual future presidencies. Including presumably shooting somebody on Fifth Avenue. As President Kennedy said, “Sometimes the majority just means all fools are on the same side”.

Political philosophers and scientists have debated the “Rule of the Mob” issue for centuries, including Plato, Aristoteles, Cicero, and, more recently, Edmund Burke. Can we presume that the power of the people who get carried away by their bloodlust, as during the French Revolution with the Terror, is acceptable?

The Founding Fathers reflected in detail on this matter in Federalist Letter 55: “Had every Athenian citizen been a Socrates, every Athenian assembly would still have been a mob.” Their solution was to create a political system with intricate structural checks and balances, where each branch of government controlled the other.

But even the best political systems are not infallible. The age of democratic naivety died on January 6, 2021. The fact that the coup was unsuccessful has no bearing on the severity of the attempt and does not mean that future endeavours will not be successful. The fox does not give up after first attempting to enter the chicken’s coop. If it is pushed back on its first try, it will come back again and adopt a different approach and tactics, knowing what to avoid following its first failure. Trump, who has never read Mein Kampf, knows enough history to remember that Hitler came to power through the ballot box after having attempted a coup and failed.

Blaise Pascal, the French 17th-century philosopher, is known for the so-called “Pascal’s wager”. Although it is used chiefly relative to God’s existence or lack thereof, it has a more fundamental basis for determining decision and game theory. Even if you doubt that Trump will not behave as a dictator not only on day one but beyond, even if you doubt that he will not abuse his own office to block his criminal prosecutions or grant himself a presidential pardon if needs be, even if you doubt, he will not invoke the Insurrection Act to control the protests against him, it is not a risk worth taking. This is what Pascal taught us: measuring risk requires considering the likelihood of an event and the consequences if it does.[iv]

This does not mean we must take to arms and fight on the streets. It is also our solemn duty to play by the rules and to operate with the constraints of the current legal and political system. We must exemplify our actions and demonstrate that upholding democracy requires such behaviour. So be it if the Supreme Court allows Trump to remain on the ballot. Everything must be done to beat him at the polls, even if the playing field is tilted in his favour, even if he does not need a majority of the popular vote and only a majority of the Electoral College, even if he can build his campaign on a mountain of lies and misinformation.

Beating Trump at the polls is not just a short-term objective. Trumpism as a political philosophy is entrenched in American body politics and will not disappear as if by magic, even if Trump were to be beaten. A clear, multifaceted short and long-term game plan must be carefully thought out, developed, and implemented. Today, Trumpism rhymes with fascism. Our solemn duty is to fight back and ensure that 2024 does not rhyme with Orwell’s 1984.

Leadership matters. Elections matter.

Ultimately, the “City on the Hill” image dear to President Reagan needs to be re-created, and the voters have to imagine what July 4, 2026, will look like – when the nation celebrates the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

Will it be a self-sufficient President Trump presiding over a military parade in Washington declaring that to commemorate the Semiquincentennial, June 14 (his birthday) will be declared a national Federal Holiday (with a MAGA Congress rubber-stamping his decision) – thus replacing June 19 “Juneteenth and that his effigy will be sculptured on Mount Rushmore to mark the “New American Order forever”?

Or will it be a modest President Harris, flanked by Vice President Walz and the leading cross-party leaders of the United States, celebrating the event by announcing that Congress has passed the Electoral College Reform Act as an Amendment to the constitution and that is being sent to the States for ratification and that Congress will celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary with a New American Covenant to embrace the future and revitalisation of the values and principles of the Founding Fathers.

And may she remember the Bicentennial Address that Hannah Arendt had written in 1975: “Home to Roost”.[v] Similar to the current times, there was much talk of an age of decline of American power shortly after the mortifying defeat in Vietnam and the  Watergate Scandal. She wrote back in 1975: “Compare it for a moment with our position at the end of the Second World War, and you will agree that among the many unprecedented events of this century, the swift decline in the power of the United States should be given due consideration.”

After having experienced first-hand the terrors of Nazism forcing her to flee Germany first to France, where she was ultimately detained as a foreign alien in 1940 before escaping to the United States through Portugal, where she spent the rest of her life, acquiring US citizenship in 1950, she always considered the US not only as a safe haven but as an example for the world.

The 200 years of independence defending freedom and the values of liberty and justice were significant achievements never to be forgotten. She was a great believer in the resilience of the United States.

Despite the difficult times of the mid-seventies, she was optimistic for the future and concluded her very last publication with words that would be fitting for the conclusion of Biden’s Semiquincentennial speech, should he ever have the privilege to address the nation in 2026: “While we now slowly emerge from under the rubble of the events of the last few years, let us not forget these years of aberration lest we become wholly unworthy of the glorious beginnings two hundred years ago. When the facts come home to us, let us try at least to make them welcome. Let us try not to escape into utopias—images, theories, or sheer follies. For it was the greatness of this Republic to give due account, for the sake of freedom, to the best in men and to the worst.”

[i] “Eternal Vigilance is the price of liberty”, Monticello, www.monticello.org/research-education/thomas-jefferson-encyclopedia/eternal-vigilance-price-liberty-spurious-quotation/

[ii] “Stenographischer Bericht 186. Sitzung Plenarprotokoll 14/186“, Deutscher Bundestag, September 12, 2021, https://dserver.bundestag.de/btp/14/14186.pdf

[iii] Brett Samuels : “Trump on Supreme Court ruling to keep him on Colorado ballot: ‘Big win for America!!!’”, The Hill, March 4, 2023, https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4506438-trump-supreme-court-ruling-colorado-ballot/

[iv] Marc Elias : “Donald Trump’s Plot Against America”, Democracy Docket, December 6, 2023, www.democracydocket.com/opinion/donald-trumps-plot-against-america/

[v] See Chapter Two