Accountable for our Constitution

Whether or not we have taken an oath, we all ought to do our part to “support and defend the Constitution” against a dangerous authoritarian threat

This coming Sunday is Constitution Day, which commemorates the September 17, 1787 signing of the U.S. Constitution. A federal law enacted in 2004 urges states and local governments to promote proper observance of the day and to provide “for the complete instruction of citizens in their responsibilities and opportunities as citizens.”

I have a lot of thoughts on our “responsibilities…as citizens.” Of particular importance to me is the responsibility that all of us ought to uphold, even without having taken an oath, to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” We can do this most straightforwardly by opposing candidates and organizations that have made clear their orientation toward or unconcern about authoritarianism. 

Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, who are professors of government and the authors of The Tyranny of the Minority, wrote about authoritarianism’s accomplices in a September 8 column in the New York Times. The authors recounted the responses of political leaders in other countries when confronted by assaults on democracy. For instance, amid a 1981 coup attempt in Spain, a broad coalition of leaders – including those who had ideological affinity for the backers of the coup – united in opposition to it. The authors wrote, “That is how democracy is defended. Loyal democrats join forces to condemn attacks on democracy, isolate those responsible for such attacks and hold them accountable.” 

By contrast, Levitsky and Ziblatt showed, “Since the 2020 election, Republican leaders have enabled authoritarianism at four decisive moments.” Those moments were:

First, rather than adhere to the cardinal rule of accepting election results after Joe Biden won that November, many Republican leaders questioned the results or remained silent, refusing to publicly recognize Mr. Biden’s victory.

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Second, after Mr. Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives for the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, Senate Republicans overwhelmingly voted to acquit him, even though many conceded that, in Senator Mitch McConnell’s words, the president was “practically and morally responsible” for the attack.

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Third, Republican leaders could have worked with Democrats to create an independent commission to investigate the Jan. 6 uprising. Had both parties joined forces to seek accountability for the insurrection, the day’s events would have gone down in U.S. history (and would likely have been accepted by a larger majority of Americans) as a criminal assault on our democracy that should never again be allowed to occur, much like Spain’s 1981 coup attempt. 

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Finally, with remarkably few exceptions, Republican leaders say they will still support Mr. Trump even if he is convicted of plotting to overturn an election. 

Levitsky and Ziblatt noted that “Republican leaders’ acquiescence to Mr. Trump’s authoritarianism is neither inevitable nor unavoidable. It is a choice.”

Citizens also can make a choice – to stand up against authoritarianism in all legal and peaceful ways available to them. As the authors concluded, writing with reference to the accomplices, “American voters must hold them to account.”