The Mar-A-Lago Raid and Beyond

The stakes for America couldn't be higher.

Merrick Garland is seeking to have the Mar-A-Lago raid warrant and property receipt unsealed so that inquiring minds will have their answers.

Republicans are incensed, aghast, up-in-arms that a former president, or at least their former president, had his home raided by the FBI.

Democrats are savoring the moment and are enjoying the drama.

What cannot be lost during the celebrations and calumny, the revelry and disputations is that this is extremely serious business.

Nothing short of the Republic’s survival is at stake.

At some point, there must be a conviction.

An appropriately stiff sentence must be handed down and administered.

America can’t afford to behave as if the former administration was some horrible aberration that can’t be repeated.

It can happen again, and the results will be much worse than what we have already experienced.

We have seen the Capitol violated by angry, murderous rabble who sought to lynch the Vice President and members of Congress.

We have seen the Executive branch exhibit racism, sexism, and intolerance of every kind.

We have watched as America became a pariah on the world stage.

And we have witnessed fascism begin to take deep, malevolent root in American soil.

What happens from now through the midterm elections and 2024 presidential election will determine whether we will remain as free as we are today.

He must be held accountable for his crimes.

His treasonous activities must be categorized and adjudicated.

We must make the punishment both a wake-up call to his supporters, and a deterrent to them and those who would follow in his wake.

Especially people like Ron DeSantis, who is already exhibiting megalomaniacal, dictatorial behavior at the gubernatorial level.

We have gotten away with scoffing at the former president’s lunacy because all of his shortcomings are readily apparent to those of us who aren’t members of his cult.

But those who seek to follow in his wake, like DeSantis, are not burdened by his idiocy, poor communication skills, and lack of decorum.

The next threats to our democracy will be smarter, savvier, more cunning, and will be more poised and polished.

And that increases, not diminishes, the threat of totalitarianism.

We must protect our ability to decide our laws and our fate with elections that are not challenged by fake electors and labyrinthian plotting to subvert the outcome.

We may laugh at his antics and scorn his followers, but we must act soberly to prevent not only a repeat of his administration,

but God help us, something even worse.