by Zain Jaffer
I love America. I’ve made my success here, founded and sold my startup Vungle to the private equity firm Blackstone, and am living the American dream. I cannot imagine myself living anywhere else, if all the promises we have all been led to believe are still true. Work hard, and the system will ensure that you will succeed. Everything is fair. The rules are fair.
Unfortunately there are some things that undermine that fairness.
Take Donald Trump’s removal from the ballot in Colorado and Maine. This is being done by bureaucrats in those states who have received the support of their courts. Trump’s lawyers have filed legal challenges to those, but there are similar moves in other states as well.
Most of the challenges against Trump hinge on the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution, which states that those who have sworn an oath to defend the Constitution but attempted to overthrow the government via insurrection or rebellion are not allowed to run.
However, Trump has not been judged guilty by a court of law. Hence, under the US system of justice, he is still considered innocent.
The text of the applicable portion of the 14th Amendment reads as follows:
Section 3 Disqualification from Holding Office
No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
Now one of the rules that I know about America is that it is a democracy. We the people elect our leaders. In dictatorships and banana republics, the dictators and strong men rig the vote. In monarchies, the line of succession is determined by bloodline. Not in America. Or so I thought.
These determinations by bureaucrats that they can tell us who we can vote for has no place in America. The candidate we are removing is not a nuisance candidate who can only receive a handful of votes, but the leading contender of the Republican GOP political party.
In addition, if you read the 14th Amendment clause above, it speaks of a removal of that disqualification by a two-thirds vote of the US Congress. So legally speaking it does not appear to be a permanent impediment.
The whole thing smacks of legal brinksmanship just for the opposing camp to win an election. Never mind if they undermine the very pillars of our democratically elected system of government.
If we pursue this dangerous path, where do we stop? All our presidential elections will have attempts to disqualify opposing candidates. What happens to our elections as a way to determine who will run our government? How can we exert moral influence on countries who deny their people the right to vote if we ourselves are also doing the same thing?
It weakens us if we cannot walk the talk. Let the ballot remain as the way that the people’s will gets heard. Otherwise we no longer become better than some failed state somewhere where leaders get selected not by the people, but only by their cabal of followers.