An Easy Pop Quiz for Patriots

This is a surprisingly simple time in politics. It is a time when it is not important who you vote for or why, just what you stand for and how. It is a time for simple accounting, for adding and subtracting rather than the complex gyrations of a calculus. It is time to declare whether each of us, regardless of division or designation, accepts a very simple statement as the foundation of everything else.

Yes or no: We are Americans… or we are not.

If we are Americans, then we support the Constitution as the governing document, rather than the temporal wishes of transient politicians.

If we are Americans, then we accept the rule of law as the arbiter of disputes, and where we find that changing times require revisions, we make those through the processes of our democracy.

If we are Americans, then we hold that designation of national pride and power to be above all other names, above party, above ideology, above selfish wants and wishes.

If we are Americans, then we see the challenges of leadership as a contest of ideas, a forge where our leanings and creations are tested by their resonance with the majority.

There is a simple test for those who consider the label “American” to have any meaning whatsoever; a very basic yes and no, with no room for any further answer.

When temporary holders of power declare themselves by their actions and statements to be beyond the Constitutional determination of its authority, they are not Americans.

When our elected leaders declare the rule of law and the determinations of the courts to be without effect, then they are not Americans.

When our national representatives declare that they are working for a party, or an ideology, or far worse, for their self interest, as opposed to serving the people, then they are not Americans.

When the standard bearers of our democracy choose to ignore the will of the majority, and operate their office as a personal privilege rather than a duty to honor, then they are not Americans.

Every person is entitled to believe as they choose, to reject facts or embrace fiction, to hold opinions that are not demonstrable or constructive to the nation. A belief is an internal construct, something that we have inside of us. When that belief, wielded by those in office, manifests itself in actions, then it becomes relevant to the entirety of America. When those actions contradict the true source of their authority -- our primary institutions, our laws and Constitution, our permissions to lead for a moment by the expressed will of our people -- then those in office choose to confront America, and declare themselves above its mandates, then they are not Americans.

They are traitors to the flag that they vowed allegiance to, and they are no longer worthy of the respect and protections of this still great nation. Such is the day we have; such are the people in office who not only act in defiance to our principles, but who refuse to acknowledge the actors as standing against our sovereignty.

This treasonous posture has gone far enough. If the stories are even partially true, if those in the White House are countenancing discussions of sedition and rebellion against the framework of our country, then they are demonstrably traitors, and need to be named out loud as such.

If the President is telling his acolytes that he intends not to recognize the findings of the courts, the rules of our Constitution, and the demonstrated will of the people, then not only the President, but every single one who hears him so declare and fails to hold him accountable are in violation of their oath to serve, and need to be removed and prosecuted.

This is not about party. This is not about any person of any kind. This is simple. We either are Americans, or we are not. It is time to make that choice, and stand behind it as millions have before us, as countless have died to preserve that title.

We are either Americans, or we are not, and it is well past time to decide that question, and to defend our answer before our flag and our nation.