General

Rep. John Lewis got 1 thing right

“A nation divided against itself cannot stand.” – Abraham Lincoln

American inaugurations are special events, indeed. What may seem like lavish opulence at first blush is actually a celebration of something worth celebrating: the peaceful transition of power.

While bloody coups and new constitutions may be “the normal” for the rest of the world, Americans are blessed with the longest surviving Constitution in the history of the world. That is why the inauguration is a time for celebration, prayerful reflection and, yes, unity.

As we celebrate the new hope for the nation in President Donald Trump, and what that means for the world, let us consider the call of civil rights icon John Lewis, and be sure the Trump presidency is a presidency for all Americans.

Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., came to prominence upon being brutalized by police during a civil rights march in Selma, Alabama. He speaks with authority about the role of the federal government to back up those beautiful guarantees in our Constitution when states fail to enforce them. This is the classic federalist-anti-federalist debate that predated our Constitution.

Lewis and 16 other Federalist Democrats in Congress, who fought so hard for an expanded federal role in managing state affairs where fundamental rights are in jeopardy, plan to boycott the inauguration due to their fear that President Trump does not share their concern for a federal role for all Americans.

“Some leaders reject decades of progress and want to return to the dark past, when the power of law was used to deny the freedoms protected by the
Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and its Amendments.” – Rep. John Lewis

Rep. Lewis is a face of the new Democratic Party, which sees arguments for “states’ rights” as reminders of the “dark past” when states routinely denied their citizens basic human rights.

He recalls a time when the Old Democratic Party, the anti-federalists, flew the Confederate flag and even attempted secession from the nation to maintain their plantation economy…

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