Last fall, former President Donald Trump asked Republican members of Congress to defund the Department of Justice so that it could no longer pursue criminal proceedings against him. He has threatened to become a dictator if reelected. He is considering pardoning every one of the Jan. 6 rioters. He asked the Georgia secretary of state to “find” him a sufficient number of votes that would overturn the will of the Georgia electorate.
These incidents implicate a disdain for a critical pillar of democracy: the Rule of Law. The American Bar Association defines the Rule of Law as a system “where no one is above the law, everyone is treated equally under the law, everyone is held accountable to the same laws, there are clear and fair processes for enforcing laws … .” Democracy cannot exist without the Rule of Law, as no one can be assured that their own rights will be protected when leaders freely ignore the Rule of Law.
For the future of the United States, preserving the Rule of Law, and thus democracy itself, is the most important issue in the year’s election. It is more important than tax policy, abortion, immigration, and the inane “culture wars” plaguing the country.
In November, vote for those who uphold the Rule of Law.
