Donald Ayer: “A restoration of the rule of law”
Board Member Donald Ayer and Charter Member Dennis Aftergut published a piece in Salon, “A restoration of the rule of law.” In it they write:
Simply put, the rule of law is what keeps us free. Its constraints override the contrary will of any one person. For that reason, dictators have no use for it. In authoritarian states, the autocrats’ will governs, allowing them to prosecute, imprison or take the life of anyone who opposes them. As concisely put by John Locke, the brilliant 17th-century political philosopher who inspired America’s founders, “Where law ends, tyranny begins.”
The rule of law is built upon the structure of institutions and procedures needed to rein in such abject power. Our constitution does that by dividing power among co-equal branches, reducing the authority of any one branch so that no power is unlimited, and citizens’ individual rights are protected. The basic precepts at issue are clearly spelled out in a recent Statement of Principles from the Society for the Rule of Law, an organization made up of former Republican government officials like retired Judge Michael Luttig. [ . . . ]
One need only review the Rule of Law Society’s Statement of Principles to see that Donald Trump, at various times, and especially now during the campaign, has undermined and attacked them all, in pursuit of a rule-free system in which he is free to infringe or deny our basic freedoms.