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Is this the end of the American experiment? Donald Trump, Elon Musk and his administration are flouting the Constitution and making a mockery of the checks and balances that have kept U.S. democracy going over nearly a quarter millennium. Congress has signaled that it does not plan to rein in the president so it’s mostly up to the Supreme Court. With governing norms demolished, will we still be able to say this is a nation of laws?
Editorial cartoonists and best friends Ted Rall (from the Left) and Scott Stantis (from the Right) draw on history to forecast what appears to be a rapidly growing constitutional crisis.
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I suspect that the checks and balances exist for no other reason than they must. That is, once you remove them, as Musk and Trump are trying to, no complex system can work for very long. It’s just like with the traffic lights. With very few exceptions, no matter the motivation to hurry, you stop at a red light. Even if it’s inconvenient. Eliminate all traffic lights? The roads will become unusable. (There is a special case where you could design the roadways so that a lighting system is unnecessary, but the cost of redoing every traffic pattern in the U.S. makes it impossible.)
I suspect Musk will do something soon (or be blamed for something that Trump did) that will cause a major disruption at about the scale of outlawing all traffic lights. Checks and balances will resume shortly thereafter.