"A Republic, if you can keep it"

Ben Franklin 9/17/1787, when asked what kind of government he had given us.

Check your own reflex when it comes to the actions in Portland (and elsewhere) as you compare and contrast two points of view:

One: It's about time somebody stepped up to this display of egregious lawlessness; get a load of those Marxist-fueled gangs from these so-called progressive enclaves now trashing everything, from our symbols to our laws to even our sense of common decency, all with the obvious intent to take down this great country; if the local officials who presumably represent the people aren't themselves willing to address such messiness then it's high time for some adult supervision to step in and apply serious whup-ass.

Two: One needs to remember that this great country is a constitutional republic; talk about law and order must certainly be in the context of the Bill of Rights, which not only protects the rights of individuals versus the state but also leaves to the individual states and the local jurisdictions the exclusive power to regulate matters except for those that are specifically granted to the federal government; be careful what you wish for when it comes to who/what imposes this so-called adult supervision, as where it could lead might not be to your liking.

Member Monday will take on what could become a pivotal moment in this country's history i.e. an alignment of forces that may test the very fundamentals of our constitutional framework. What started as essentially a protest movement centered around BLM is morphing into its own feeding frenzy on the nature of federalism itself.

If the  power of the federal government is so constitutionally limited, one might reasonably ask what those federal agents were doing in downtown Portland (click, Federal Troops In Portland). Well, they were there to protect the U.S. Courthouse and other federal property. Fair enough, that's within their scope. But then things became a bit more tenuous as the agents moved well outside federal property and into the city streets where the local leadership made clear they were not welcome (in fact, the mayor himself was tear-gassed). Oregon's attorney-general sought a clarifying restraining order to prohibit any further federal incursion into the state but thus far no ruling on the merits.

Lest all this sound like some fussy legal theater, just remember all this is happening on the real grand stage of politics. We are now within a hundred days of a national election and it's pretty clear that Trump, now behind in the polls, will be making law-and-order central to his campaign. There's nothing like the spectacle of uniformed officers purging the nation of "undesirables" to excite the base. This whole matter is far from settled.

Not to be too dramatic, but how all this plays out addresses something far, far broader -- about the need for constant vigilance to maintain the integrity of our Republic. May we remain mindful that history serves up so many examples how elected leaders can gradually subvert the democratic process to increase their power. Be on the lookout for historical examples of the ease in which democracies may devolve into a parade-of-horribles (click: Fascism In the U.S.?).

Those words of Benjamin Franklin are more relevant now than ever.