Opinion: Social fabric of America being torn and frayed with distortion Constitution
It is confusing at best, mind blowing for certain, to watch the turbulence of the four criminal indictments of our former president as they simultaneously lurch toward trials through endless motions, appeals and contradictory analyses by journalists.
One of the unintended consequences of this daily deluge is that those who are paying attention are learning more about the arcane realities of the law than they ever wanted or needed to know. It makes one wonder if applications for admission to law schools are increasing.
Similarly, more of us, during this perplexing time, have pulled out our copies of the U.S. Constitution and read it, or specific parts of it, with real interest. We have come across provisions we never read or have long ago forgotten, plus critical standards for the ways our nation is governed. We have been treated to lawyers of all sorts, talking heads on television who are then quoted on the internet, interpreting the Constitution and endless volumes of laws and statutes that are based on it.
We know a lot about how societies large and small function and interact, and the principles that are characteristic of those that endure, thrive and serve the common good. They have social cohesion and shared values, a regard for welfare of all, and structures that bind them in common purpose.
So it is with us, or should be. We have a national system of mutual responsibility. Every business, corporation, institution and not-for profit organization is chartered by the state, is subject to the laws of the nation and the state, and to its own founding documents. We are responsible by law to abide by them and thus able to live productively in a well ordered social, economic and political system.
This national system is inter-connected, interwoven into our social fabric, and to acknowledge the unifying value of this system is critical to understanding the current quagmire. Our social fabric is being torn and frayed by the many instances of breaking, skirting, flaunting, bending and ignoring our laws and social norms, and by efforts to distort their meaning.
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It is perplexing to see this system on which we depend seeming to come apart at the seams. It is not exactly like pulling one strand of yarn till a sweater unravels, but that’s a good metaphor. Think back to the bizarre contention by a White House functionary in 2017, when questioned on live TV about a particular incident, who contended that there are “alternative facts.” Jaws dropped!
Let’s be clear: there may be alternative interpretations of facts, and there are other facts that may pertain to any issue, but establishing the facts is what our legal system is all about. A fact-based legal system is at the core of the integrity of our social order. Another White House functionary at that time encouraged commentators to “flood the zone with ‘alternative facts’.” (not the term he used)
Although public discourse is now flooded with all sorts of falsehoods and misleading theories, it will all come to a head in the cases against our former president. The courts in each trial will hear the facts and lots of “alternative facts” and will examine the laws that allegedly have been violated.
Juries of citizens, randomly selected from voter registration rolls and vetted for their ability to make unbiased judgments, based solely on the facts and the law, will render the verdicts. They will sort it out. Unbiased citizens in full agreement will decide. It is critical to realize the final say in all these cases is the judgment of citizens, who sit on our grand juries and trial juries. This is anything but a nefarious “deep state.”
There will be appeals and months of arguments and counter arguments, and continuing efforts to flood the zone with nonsense. Courts will hear those appeals and final decisions will be pronounced. We will be left with a national and social fabric that is frayed, but the facts will have been established and accountability achieved.
Having settled on the truth, we must then move on to reconciliation. It will not be easy. St. Paul has the best guidance: “Live in harmony with one another...Do not claim to be wiser than you are...Do not repay evil with evil...So far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” (Romans 12) And be grateful for our profoundly complex, fact based society, ordered by a Constitution and governed by law.
Rev. Dr. Rollin Russell is a retired minister of the United Church of Christ and a faculty member of Lancaster Theological Seminary.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Opinion: Facts, truth and reconciliation within the US legal system
