Dear “conservatives”:
The reason the outrage never stops is that the cause is unceasing.
When the likes of Trump, Barr, McConnell and other Republican abettors in Congress stop running roughshod over the constitution that is the foundation of American liberty, then those who understand and defend the constitution will stop speaking out.
True conservatism means defending the constitution and the rule of law that have made the US one of the most free and prosperous countries the world has ever seen.
Not blind followership. And not inventing some new form of government where the executive branch can do whatever it wants whenever it wants. That is the brand of “democracy” promoted by dictators, who claim unchecked power based on a single election — just like the current President.
The founding fathers anticipated the dangers of the raw populism illustrated in some of the comments here, and 99% of comments on so-called conservative news sites.
What they never contemplated was the way partisanship could effectively disable the checks and balances on the executive— for the simple reason that when the constitution was framed such partisanship did not exist.
The only safeguard of American liberty lies in the defenses that are now being mounted by what American conservatives used to call “civil society”. That is exactly what this open letter and these resignations represent.
These are the actions of principle and patriotism, which go far beyond the question of who will the next election. They are as essential to freedom and democracy as the constitution itself.
Trump and his so-called “right wing” commentators will continue to seek attention and profit from attacking this freedom in colorful ways. They will continue to hide behind short term economic strengths as an excuse for their long term attacks on freedom. That’s what we’ve seen in recent decades in places like Russia, Zimbabwe, and Venezuela with horrific consequenes, countries with no robust civil societies to fight back.
Be grateful for ours. And respect the voices of freedom that call out from it.