A DIAGNOSIS ON WHETHER DEMOCRACY WILL SURVIVE

By Thomas Coffin

The following is a letter I sent to my high school classmates (class of 1963.) I thought I should share it more widely because it applies to all of us who will determine the fate of our gravely wounded Constitutional Democracy next November.

“We are a year away from losing our democracy unless sleeping sheep wake up and turn into the people they need to be to preserve that which we have been blessed with for 200 years. Mainstream media is unfortunately too controlled by the wealthy elite to do the job that once earned the press the title of ‘Fourth Estate.’ Thus, we are treated to op-eds that dwell on Joe Biden’s age and not his accomplishments and scarcely mention Donald Trump’s age bracket (roughly the same) or his erratic mental lapses and frequent calls for violence.

I don’t know how many of you are aware of the situation that motivated me to retire after 51 years of service in our country’s justice system—21 as a federal prosecutor and 30 as a judge. I had taken an oath to support and defend the Constitution at each stage of that career and I meant it. Along came the greatest threat to that democracy, in an enemy from within who has expressed his disdain for the Constitution and its principles, including the rule of law, and who is determined to cancel them in their entirety and replace that heritage with the stuff of iron-fisted totalitarianism.

So I voluntarily stepped down from the bench to write freely without confusing the reader about my role. Doing what I can to defend our heritage is my highest duty as it must be for all of us in these times lest we lose what we have come to take for granted. This threat is real; it transcends politics; it is truly existential in its scope. If anyone needs an exclamation point—it shouts out in the threats of violence directed at judges, witnesses, jurors, lawyers, and law enforcement personnel fulfilling their vital roles in a nation governed by the rule of law.”

Let me add more to that sobering assessment of the condition in which we find the foundation of our entire social structure today. Our nation was founded and is defined by the Constitution. At present, we have two major political parties from which we draw our representatives and governing officials. One of those parties has a leader who has openly renounced democracy and the Constitution itself, and the majority of his party has embraced that view. In addition, the leader and his party have revealed plans to eradicate the civil service system for government personnel and replace it with partisan appointees and an agenda that includes weaponizing the Department of Justice to prosecute political enemies as designated by the president—a title that would become synonymous with dictator.

For those thinking this description is an exaggeration, I refer them to an interview Trump had with Univision as reported in Semafor on November 9, 2023, as well as in MSNBC’s MaddowBlog on November 10.

These accounts describe the would-be second term candidate for the Oval Office as “bragging” about his intentions and plans once he regains power. The intentions are clear, graphic, frightening, and straight from the horse’s mouth. They are nothing less than a description of casting aside the rule of law and the Constitution and replacing them with a totalitarian government wherein the people being governed have no voice or rights but those which a tyrant chooses to confer. Trump and his allies, for example, plan to end the independence of the justice department and all other federal agencies, including the intelligence agencies, the state department, and defense bureaucracies. In addition, Trump intends to end environmental regulation, all green energy programs and even mention of “climate change”, and purge the justice department and replace it with Trump loyalists, including those involved in his attempted coup (New York Times 11/1/23.)

That is just the beginning—Trump also intends to use the federal government to punish his critics and political opponents by prosecuting them and to invoke the Insurrection Act to deploy the military against any civil demonstrations against his actions after he assumes office. (Washington Post, 11/17/23.)

Sidney Blumenthal, in his recent editorial in The Guardian, 11/15/23, voiced criticism of media coverage of the 2024 Presidential race, comparing it to reporting of polls in Weimar Germany for its 1932 election which culminated in the ascendancy of Hitler to power, focusing on “winners and losers” and avoiding the existential issue of the survival of democracy. We know today how that culminated in one of the worst episodes of war and genocide the world has suffered.

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Thomas Coffin was the keynote speaker at the Blackberry Pie Society’s Political Party in February, 2020 and at Politics and Pie in October, 2022. He is a retired federal magistrate judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon and a former professor at the UO Law School. Thomas retired in 2016 after 24 years on the bench, prior to which he had a career as a federal prosecutor spanning 21 years. He is married with 7 children.

The Blackberry Pie Society is pleased to include a collection of his essays on our website. We will post them as they become available.

posted 11.27.2023