Law Flaws
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy says the Trump indictment has “irreparably harmed” the country. What on earth is he talking about?
Prosecution of misdemeanor or felony crime is harmful, illegal, unconstitutional, wrong? The answer to his befuddling statement is found in a message on a popular T-shirt: “Trust God. Not government.”
McCarthy is trafficking in the popular libertarian philosophy, which is also the evangelical church argument, that government is evil and that the fundamentalist church and its anti-civic bedfellows, patriotic libertarian Republicans, are the only forces for good on earth.
The problem with this is that our patriotic ancestors in 1776 were not fighting against government and law; they were fighting against “king’s government” and “king’s law.” And those bad laws of King George III are listed in painful detail in the Declaration of Independence. Our ancestors wanted “people’s government” and “people’s law.”
When laws are made by the people, they are blessed by God, and people have respect for them. McCarthy is trying to use our ignorance of history to return the nation to British-style autocratic government in the form of Donald Trump, himself, or a new Republican leader in 2024. I get it. And now you get it too.
Kimball Shinkoskey
Marin County
A Reply
In response to Craig Corsini’s letter, “Happy Easter,” April 12-18, 2023:
Anyone whose hangover felt worse than getting whipped with a Roman flagellum, having eight- inch spikes hammered through both wrists and ankles, then hanging on a crossbeam to slowly suffocate should lay off the sterno and enroll in a 12- step program. With some diligence and proper guidance, so doing might just help him expunge his obviously virulent resentment against Christians. Live and let live.
Michael Lyon
Marin County
