Middleboro Review and so on

  No Kings: The Founders wanted a powerful president but not a king. Essay Four: The Republic, Revisited. Joyce Vance Nov 4 This is the Fourth in a series of ten essays revisiting my book, Giving Up Is Unforgivable: A Manual For Keeping A Democracy , which was released a year ago. I wrote about the series of essays here . If you’re just finding Civil Discourse through The Republic, Revisited essays, I hope you’ll subscribe—it’s free—and join us. What did the Founders mean to create when they created the presidency—and how is it different from having a king? Even as the “No Kings” movement grew in popularity because of Donald Trump’s perceived desire to take on that role, he never addressed the issue. He’s never denied his desire for an ever more powerful presidency invoking his “Article II” powers He’s never pushed back, never said he doesn’t want to be a king, or worse, a dictator. “Except for Day One,” Trump said during the campaign, “No, no, no, other than day one…After that, ...

  The Week Ahead March 30, 2025 Joyce Vance Mar 31 Even though it’s almost a week out, it’s time to think ahead to   April 5 , a national day of protest, and what that could mean. So far, fiery town halls, some with empty seats for absent Republican representatives, have been building momentum and visibility to propel us into a moment of outrage. The motto for the day is “Hands Off.” Hands off our Medicaid, our libraries, our Social Security, our freedom of the press, our jobs. Our liberty. Free and fair elections are the most important marker for democracy Engaged citizens are the line that separates democracies that survive challenges from those that succumb to autocracy. We need look no further back than South Korea, where an elected official   scaled a wall   and others broke through police lines to get back into parliament to vote against martial law while outraged people gathered on the streets in protest. Democracies survive because enough people get involved ...

What Was That? Joyce Vance Mar 16   Grandpa Simpson visited the Justice Department on Friday, giving a speech that must have given even his handlers pause, a campaign stump speech delivered in front of the Seal of the Department of Justice. It included both swearing—the prosecutions against him were “bullshit”—and an invective-filled screed against political rivals including Joe Biden and lawyers who have brought cases against him. Trump’s Attorney General, Pam Bondi, started the program, sounding more like a presenter at a TV awards show than an attorney general. She lauded Donald Trump’s accomplishments fighting the war on drugs (although he’s been in office for only two months, not much time for major developments) and praised “the unsung hero Stephen Miller.” It was a political rally speech. It was not appropriate for the Justice Department. It’s worth taking a beat to reflect on why politics and the Justice Department don’t mix. The power of the prosecutor is expansive. Prosec...