Let’s talk contracts here. Social contracts. If you are an American citizen who pays taxes, you are owed certain things. That’s the agreement the Constitution memorializes, that the feds and states are obligated to take shielding actions on your behalf.
First and most important, protection from people and nations that might hurt you. That’s what the Iran thing is. Violent extremists are getting nuclear capability. The U.S. federal government cannot allow it, especially with the 9/11 legacy. Apparently, isolationists don’t understand the contract. Danger is to be mitigated.
Next, the National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles. The president believed the Governor of California and the L.A. mayor would not protect citizens and property during the No Kings demonstration. So, Mr. Trump provided federal help, which the L.A. police chief needed, because he said his force was “overwhelmed” by violent protesters.
Seems fairly clear. Trump had to enforce the contract because California leadership is corrupt and irresponsible. The guard was not sent anywhere else.
Shockingly, the vital Constitutional agreement was essentially ignored by President Biden when he allowed at least 14 million foreign nationals into the USA unsupervised. Thousands of citizens were physically hurt by that colossal dereliction of duty, and some were actually killed. An open border provides no protection to anyone.
Failure to punish criminals also violates the social contract. States like New York and California have passed laws allowing miscreants to roam the streets despite being charged or convicted of heinous crimes. In addition, those states make it extremely difficult to protect yourself with firearms. The result has been a dangerous rise in public disorder.
In their wisdom, the Founding Fathers installed a system that demands responsibility on both sides; citizens are compelled to obey the law while those in power are mandated to enforce statutes domestically as well as diminish dangerous threats abroad.
Of course, the progressive left is energetically trying to crash the social contract and those radicals are succeeding to some extent. Law enforcement is often politicized, foreign policy pettifogged by agenda-driven fanatics.
Finally, many Americans do not trust the government, and that is not an extreme position. If you depend on elected leadership to do the right thing, you will often be disappointed. However, the social contract is pretty much all we the people have, and supporting politicians who don’t respect it is a doom loop.
I can’t make the big picture any clearer than that. Madison and Jefferson would concur.
