What if it doesn't matter?
/From time to time, a public figure says something that you know will remembered. Such a moment happened on January 23, 2020 in the chambers of the US Senate.
Congressman Adam Schiff was summarizing the case for impeaching Donald Trump and had prosed on at great length when his rhetoric suddenly came into focus with a phrase that rings true: “It doesn’t matter.” He repeated it nine times in under a minute:
“If right doesn’t matter—if right doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter how good the Constitution is. It doesn’t matter how brilliant the Framers were. It doesn’t matter how good or bad our advocacy in this trial is. Doesn’t matter how well written the oath of impartiality is. If right doesn’t matter, we’re lost. If the truth doesn’t matter, we’re lost. The framers couldn’t protect us from ourselves if right doesn’t matter.”
The quoted moment starts at 6:20 in the clip:
It is a pretty good example of political rhetoric. The phrase probably will be remembered as a highlight of the Trump Impeachment, just as “What did the president know and when did he know it?” encapsulates the Nixon-Watergate scandal. I respect and Schiff and I think he did an excellent job of making the cases against Trump.
If I understand Schiff rightly, he asserts and assumes that the Constitution IS good and that the framers WERE brilliant. He then goes on to say that those two facts are insufficient to deliver a fair judgement against Trump.
But what if the Constitution isn’t good enough anymore? What if the framers were good men for their time but not omniscient, as none of the claimed to be? What if the notion that the framers could “protect us from ourselves” is naive and childish?
Schiff hopes to startle his listeners. But what if it all doesn’t matter, really?
Take a moment to imagine what America would be like without the Constitution. And, no, it wouldn’t be Road Warrior-Fury Road-Zombie Apocalypse-Book of Eli-Every Man for Himself and Devil Take the Hindmost anarchy. Anarchy is extremely rare in human experience. People make rules and create society and establish government. There would still be order and structure in an America without the Constitution.
If America didn’t have the Constitution, it would still be a nation, and it would probably be a republic. But suppose that without the Constitution, the US would descend into the more primitive societal form known as tribalism.
If America reverted to tribalism without the Constitution, it would no longer be governed by laws, and what laws that existed would not apply the same to every person. There would be a chief, and that person — almost certainly a man — would be above the law and could never be held accountable for anything he did.
If America were in a tribal state, no one would be guided by consistent values or principles. They would be guided by loyalty to their group, and they would say anything at any time if it benefited their side. And they would reverse themselves quickly and with no compunction when the tables turned. They would insist on one process when a member of their tribe was in danger and a different process when someone from an enemy tribe stood accused.
If America were a nation that had no Constitution at all, there would still be power and struggles for power. Most struggles would be decided by which side brought more people to the fight. There would be meaningless contention and pointless outcomes. Each side would claim that its victories were important and historic, while the victories of the other side were petty and meaningless.
I hope my point is clear. America is not a tribal nation. But during the Trump impeachment process, our leaders behaved no better. In the Trump impeachment process, but Republicans and Democrats insisted on actions they opposed when Bill Clinton was impeached. Schiff was right about priorities and principles. But he could afford to uplift principle because they favored his tribe this time.
In the Trump impeachment trial, the Democrat majority in the House of Representatives successfully impeached the president, and Nancy Pelosi insisted it was a historic outcome. Trump was exonerated in the Senate trial, and the Republicans said the cleared the president of any stain.
America has a serious problem with its government. And the problem is not Donald Trump. It is the system that allowed someone like Trump to take office without majority popular support, then obviously break laws and norms, and get away with it.
Adam Schiff gave a great speech about some high and noble principles. But unless and until those fundamental problems are resolved, it doesn’t matter.
I’d like to note, in a postscript, that comparing the US government in 2020 to tribalism is an insult to tribes. Many tribal societies are well governed. The principles of the Iroquois Confederacy, which date back at least to the 15th Century, were an influence on the US Constitution.
