The Grand Canyon is one of the natural wonders of the world. The mile deep gorge is estimated to have been formed 5 to 6 million years ago as the Colorado River and its tributaries began slowing eroding through the layers of rock. Erosion is generally a slow process but given the consistent action of the water over a period of time, dramatic changes to the landscape like the Grand Canyon can emerge.
Democracy and the rights we have all taken for granted before are being slowly eroded in America today. It is certainly accelerating under Trump and his MAGA faithful, but the process began before Trump ever arrived at the White House. The John Roberts Supreme Court that handed down the decision in the Citizens United case opened the floodgates to money pouring into elections. And like the Colorado River after a major storm, the river of election money became a raging, turbulent, uncontrollable force that accelerated the erosion of democracy.
The gutting of a major provision of the Voting Rights Act in 2013 resulted in further erosion of democracy and the ability of all citizens to successfully navigate and participate in the election process. The Citizens United decision had turned the election river into a turbulent flood of money and when the voting rights act was gutted, it was like puncturing holes in the rafts of some people trying to exercise their right to float down the river.
Now with Trump in the White House and a host of emboldened, sycophantic MAGA zealots, the very rights upon which this country was founded are being eroded one by one. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a case involving Trump’s desire to end birthright citizenship. The Constitution is very clear. It says, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” And in the 1898 case, United States v. Wong Kim Ark, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that children born to non-citizen parents in the United States are, in fact, citizens. Trump is now trying to overturn a precedent that has been in effect for over 100 years.
The current administration has deported people without due process and continues to defy court orders to return some of those individuals to the United States. The right to due process is one of the bedrock principles of our judicial system and if the Executive Branch can just deprive anyone of due process and whisk them out of the country, no one in this country is safe. Some of the individuals were deported because they exercised their right to free speech, which is also enshrined in the Constitution. It begs the question, if the administration can deport non-citizens because they find their opinions or speech objectionable, will it be much of stretch before they start incarcerating U.S. citizens for exercising their right to speak freely against the administration.
The answer is clearly ‘no.’ It is already happening. The administration has engaged in a war on universities under the guise of ‘anti-Semiticism’ to force them to agree to policies demanded by the government. They want control over what is taught and who can teach it. These are clear violations of the First Amendment.
This administration has advocated for punishing journalists it disagrees with and who write critical articles about them. This is clearly a violation of the First Amendment. However, since the Trump administration is seeking to overturn birthright citizenship which is spelled out in the Constitution, what is to keep them from trying to overturn the First Amendment? Or perhaps given all the anti-Trump demonstrations that are taking place, they will try to abridge the Constitutional right of assembly.
People need to understand that the erosion of the rights of everyone in this country is well underway and is a very real thing. There are those who might believe that it doesn’t directly affect them, so they are not very worried. They may have the attitude that, “Harvard has a lot of money, and I’ll never go to Harvard, so what do I care?” Or they may view kidnapping and deporting non-citizens without due process as not a really big deal. But sooner or later, the erosion of rights will affect everyone one way or another.
The Grand Canyon stands as a testament to the power of what can happen over a long time of small incremental erosive activity. The Grand Canyon is magnificent and beautiful. However, the erosive effects that are working on American democracy today will not result in a majestic sight like the Grand Canyon, but will leave an ugly blight on the landscape of American history.
