GOP Collapse

   We may be watching the decline and fall of the Republican Party in America.
   Some in Washington are beginning to see this also, and the result is a full employment act for lawyers as officials hire lawyers who then hire their own lawyers.
   Meanwhile, the probing goes deeper and deeper and the presidential Twitter-sniping gets sharper and sharper as Donald Trump escalates his attacks on those who investigate him and his associates for possible wrongdoing.
   The result may be an executive order banning criticism of the presidency, making such negative comment a felony. Taken a few steps further, we could see an embattled president attempt to suspend the Constitution, especially the First Amendment, which guarantees Freedom of Speech and of the Press, as well as the right of the people peaceably to assemble and protest grievances.
   Possible? Not on your tintype, Carlos.
   But will he try? Given his record of past behavior against those he perceives as opponents, yes, it's quite likely.

   The danger is that it's been tried before, through the Alien and Sedition Acts, passed by Congress in 1798 and signed by President John Adams. Among other things, the acts made it a felony to criticize the government, gave the government new powers to deport foreigners, and enabled the government to stifle the ability of newcomers to vote.
   Sound familiar?

   Specifically, the Sedition Act made it a crime to "print, utter, or publish .. any false, scandalous, and malicious writing" about the government.
   Can you hear the accusation, "Fake news!"

   The Alien and Sedition Acts were perpetrated by the Federalist Party, and largely aimed at political opponent members of the Democratic-Republican Party, favored by new citizens. Meanwhile, the only journalists prosecuted under the Sedition Act were editors of opposing newspapers, according to historians.
   More than 20 editors were arrested. One was also a member of Congress at the time, Rep. Matthew Lyon of Vermont. He was arrested and jailed after writing a letter that criticized the president's "unbounded thirst for ridiculous pomp, foolish adulation, and self avarice."
   That, too, sounds familiar to today's citizens, especially after the competition the other day among Cabinet members for the title of Chief Toady to President Trump.
   In other recent news, Vice President Mike Pence has hired a lawyer to deal with any issues coming from the various investigations involving the administration, and he has started his own political action committee (PAC) to raise funds, presumably to pay the lawyers.
   In addition, lawyers heading the investigations have hired their own lawyers.

   By the way, Rep. Lyon was re-elected even as he sat in jail, President Adams was defeated, and the Alien and Sedition Acts were overturned after the election of 1800.
   Twenty years later, the Federalist Party was defunct.
   Republicans and Trumpians take note.