Sandals at the Gate

by Br. Karekin M Yarian, BSG
punkmonksf@gmail.com

The reason being an American is worth bothering with, is because America has tried to find a way of being a country that is neither tightly centralized nor just a loose federation of essentially independent states - a country that is seeking to be a coherent family of communities hoping to discover the common good for all citizens, and to celebrate unity in the future vision of an international community of nations. That, is what the word America means for its citizens, and it is a vision that has taken clearer shape in many of our historical domestic and international dialogues.

By the latest actions of our recent US Congress, the constitutional basis of this country's governance has not just been impaired but broken. The Congress has broken the American vision by refusing to exercise oversight of the Executive and by encouraging violations of the Constitutional separation of powers. It abrogated its responsibilities by failing to reign in a Chief Executive whose disregard of the Constitution cannot be accepted by many Americans, [including many of those in San Francisco], nor by the majority of world wide nations, nor by our chief allies – the functional democracies of Europe and Asia.

Both aspects,  this impaired governance and broken international relations, are embodied in our current President. By his actions as President and Chief Executive, in his statements during previous State of the Union addresses, and in his most recent speech in defense of a failed war strategy, he has made it pointedly clear that he intends to pursue an agenda that patently ignores the Constitution, is contrary to its plain teaching regarding habeas corpus, and affronts this nation's doctrine of separation of powers by turning our Constitution into a "goddamned piece of paper”

As a President whose authority several of us in the United States and throughout the world cannot accept, he breaks the unity of the American republic which he is supposed to represent and has destroyed the bipartisan cooperation of a two-party system essential for the unity of any particular community of Americans. In spite of his election as President of the United States, he cannot be Chief Executive to those who believe he is neither obedient to the Constitution nor an effective leader in international relations. For those Americans some sort of alternative arrangement is now necessary.

A collection of American citizens in local communities will now plan to appeal to the Secretary General of the United Nations for “alternative presidential oversight and care.” As of now at least five local communities across the nation have chosen to follow suit. These appeals in no way affect our citizenship in the United States, but simply recognize that someone who is instrumental in breaking the democratic processes of the republic, both constitutionally and politically, cannot be our chief executive. We therefore have to look elsewhere.

Alternative presidential oversight and care will not affect our legal relationship to the rest of the United States nor the juridical authority of its future President as granted him by our constitution and laws.  But it will enable those citizens who uphold the constitutional and political understanding of the American nation to appeal to a designated President or Chief Executive in sympathy with their position on moral guidance and leadership in domestic and international issues.  Also, through alternative presidential oversight, the relationship between a particular citizen and his sense of participation in the rest of the American society will be enhanced and solidified.

Finally, it is hoped that individuals and communities in unsympathetic regions may also benefit from alternative presidential oversight by affiliating with those communities where such oversight has been granted.

technorati tags:alternativeoversight, satire, punkmonksf, constitution, anglicancommunion