{"id":1434540,"date":"2023-10-24T01:40:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-24T05:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/?p=1434540"},"modified":"2023-10-24T01:40:00","modified_gmt":"2023-10-24T05:40:00","slug":"americas-crisis-of-faith-poll-reveals-more-americans-are-rejecting-the-constitution-and-embracing-violence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/americas-crisis-of-faith-poll-reveals-more-americans-are-rejecting-the-constitution-and-embracing-violence\/1434540\/","title":{"rendered":"America’s Crisis Of Faith: Poll Reveals More Americans Are Rejecting The Constitution And Embracing Violence"},"content":{"rendered":"

America’s Crisis Of Faith: Poll Reveals More Americans Are Rejecting The Constitution And Embracing Violence<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Authored by Jonathan Turley,<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Below is my column in Fox.com on the poll released last week showing an increasing number of citizens have lost faith in our constitutional system and now view violence as warranted to silence those with opposing views. <\/em><\/p>\n

It is a crisis of faith that represents the greatest possible threat to our Republic. The loss of faith and fealty constitutes one of the greatest crises that our nation has faced since its foundation. <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Here is the column:<\/p>\n

A\u00a0recent startling poll<\/a>\u00a0shows that a majority of voters not only view the opposing party as a threat to the nation but justifying violence to combat their agenda. <\/strong>The poll captures a crisis of faith that I have been writing about for over a decade as an academic and a commentator. Many now question democracy as a sustainable system of government. It represents the single greatest threat to this nation: a citizenry that has lost faith not just with our system of government but with each other.<\/p>\n

The polls by the University of Virginia Center for Politics shows a nation at war with itself. Fifty-two percent of Biden supporters say Republicans are now a threat to American life while 47 percent of Trump supporters say the same about Democrats.<\/p>\n

Among Biden supporters, 41 percent now believe violence is justified \u201cto stop [Republicans] from achieving their goals.\u201d An almost identical percentage, 38 percent, of Trump supporters now embrace violence to stop Democrats.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Not surprisingly, many of these people have lost faith in democracy. Some 31 percent of Trump supporters believe that the nation should explore alternative forms of government.\u00a0 Roughly a quarter (24 percent) of Biden supporters also question the viability of democracy.<\/p>\n

Faith is the one thing that no system of government can do without. <\/strong>Without faith in the underlying values of a constitutional system, authority rests on a mix of coercion and capitulation.<\/p>\n

For years, I have\u00a0written<\/a>\u00a0about this growing loss of faith and how it has been fueled by our intellectual and political elites. In the echo chamber of news and social media, citizens constantly hear how the opposing party is composed of \u201ctraitors\u201d and how the constitutional system works to protect enemies of the people.<\/p>\n

Viewers now get a steady diet of figures like MSNBC commentator Elie Mystal who called the U.S. Constitution \u201ctrash\u201d and argued that we should simply just dump it.<\/p>\n

In a New York Times column,\u00a0\u201cThe Constitution Is Broken and Should Not Be Reclaimed,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0law professors Ryan D. Doerfler of Harvard and Samuel Moyn of Yale called for the Constitution to be \u201cradically altered\u201d to \u201creclaim America from constitutionalism.\u201d<\/p>\n

Georgetown University Law School Professor Rosa Brooks<\/a>\u00a0went on MSNBC\u2019s \u201cThe ReidOut\u201d to lash out at Americans becoming\u00a0\u201cslaves\u201d to the U.S. Constitution<\/a>\u00a0and that the Constitution itself is now the problem for the country.<\/p>\n

They are part of the\u00a0radical chic that has become the norm in academia<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 and widely embraced by the media.<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to these law professors the problem is not just our Constitution, but constitutionalism in general.<\/p>\n

Others have argued that key protections or institutions should just be ignored.\u00a0In a recent\u00a0open letter,<\/a>\u00a0Harvard\u00a0law professor Mark Tushnet<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0San Francisco State University political scientist\u00a0<\/a>Aaron Belkin<\/a>\u00a0called upon President\u00a0Joe Biden\u00a0to defy rulings of the Supreme Court that he considers \u201cmistaken\u201d in the name of \u201cpopular constitutionalism.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPopular constitutionalism\u201d appears a form of discretionary or ad hoc compliance with constituitional law.<\/strong> If only \u201cpopular\u201d constitutional rules are followed, the Constitution itself becomes a mere pretense for whatever the shifting majority or forming mob demands.<\/p>\n

Politicians have also contributed to this crisis of faith in challenging constitutional values or core institutions. Members like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) has\u00a0questioned the need for a Supreme Court<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Others like Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) have called for the\u00a0packing of the Supreme Court<\/a>\u00a0to simply create an immediate liberal majority.<\/p>\n

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) thrilled his base by going to the steps of the Supreme Court to declare \u201cI want to tell you, Gorsuch. I want to tell you, Kavanaugh. You have released the whirlwind and you will pay the price! You won\u2019t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is little surprise that one man showed up at the home of Justice Bret Kavanaugh to kill him for his \u201cawful decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Conversely, former President Donald Trump has regularly denounced his political opponents as \u201ctraitors\u201d and \u201cenemies of the people.\u201d He recently declared \u201cIf you go after me, I\u2019m coming after you<\/a>!\u201d<\/p>\n

With leaders engaging in such reckless rhetoric, it is hardly surprising that the Constitution itself is now viewed as threat to our nation rather than the very thing that defines us. It is designed to restrain the majority and protect those who are the least popular in our society.<\/p>\n

In the end, a constitution remains a covenant not between citizens and their government but between each other as citizens. It demands a leap of faith; a commitment that despite our differences we will defend the rights of our neighbors.<\/strong><\/p>\n

If nothing else, the Constitution has one thing to recommend it: we are still here. It is a Constitution that has survived economic and political upheavals. It survived a Civil War in which hundreds of thousands were killed.<\/p>\n

It is not a particularly poetic document. It was written by the ultimate wonk, James Madison. If you want truly inspirational prose, try any of the French constitutions. Of course, they had more practice since they regularly failed. Other countries based their constitutions on aspirational statements of the values that we shared. The Madisonian system spent as much time on what divided us; it not only recognized the danger of factions but created a system to bring such divisions to the surface where they could be addressed.<\/p>\n

The danger of other systems was realized when these divisions were left below the surface where they would fester and explode in the streets of Paris. The American Constitution allowed for a type of controlled implosion toward the center of the system; these factional interests would be expressed and vented in the legislative branch. The Madisonian system does not hide our divisions; it invites their expression.<\/p>\n

The question is whether we have reached a time when the things that divide us will now overcome what unites us. This is not our first age of rage.<\/strong> Indeed, at the start of our Republic, rivaling parties were not just figuratively trying to kill each other; they were actually trying to kill each other through laws like the Alien and Sedition Acts. Thomas Jefferson would refer to the term of his predecessor John Adams as \u201cthe reign of the witches.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet, that history is no guarantee that it can survive our current age of rage. The relentless attacks on the constitution from the political, media, and academic elite has turned many into constitutional atheists.\u00a0 Yet, the future of our constitutional system may rest with the rising number of constitutional agnostics \u2014 those citizens who are simply disconnected or disinterested in the defense of our founding principles.<\/p>\n

Philosopher John Stuart Mill warned in 1867 that all it takes for evil to prevail is for \u201cgood men [to] look on and do nothing.\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n

We are now in an existential struggle to preserve the values that founded the most successful constitutional system in the history of the world.<\/p>\n

It is our legacy that now can be either boldly defended by a grateful people or lost in the whimper of a disinterested generation.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nMon, 10\/23\/2023 – 21:40<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200bhttps:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/political\/americas-crisis-faith-poll-reveals-more-americans-are-rejecting-constitution-and<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

America’s Crisis Of Faith: Poll Reveals More Americans Are Rejecting The Constitution And Embracing Violence Authored by Jonathan Turley, Below is my column in Fox.com…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1434540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbimBl-61bK","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1434540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1434540"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1434540\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1434540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1434540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1434540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}