OPINION

The Blob

By Tom Lamia

It’s a mass of inert protoplasm: no eyes, no ears, no appendages. In the words of the 1950s pop tune:

Beware of the Blob
It creeps and leaps
And glides and slides
Across the floor
Right through the door
And all around the wall
A splotch, a blotch
Be careful of the Blob

I find this to be a useful, if dreadful, description of the mass of the American public that stands in opposition to its elected president and his MAGA movement.

The Blob is not catatonic nor unmindful of its role in our nation’s politics, only hesitant to lead or follow; causing it to be weak and unreliable as a force for achieving its designated role as the soul of our republic. The Constitution proclaims that role in its introductory statement:

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common Defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

With that heavy responsibility — to carry out what we, the people, set out to do when we chose our form of government — we cannot fail in our duty to ourselves and to the posterity for whom the Constitution serves as a guide. I am confident we will not fail.

Like the Blob, we will creep and leap, glide and slide through barriers, finding openings in a relentless existential mission to achieve our destiny — a more perfect union.

This mission is not partisan domination. It has never been about seeking or sustaining a model for all to follow, it is the opposite. At birth our mission was set forth on our currency in the Latin motto, E pluribus unum — “Out of many, one.” The united several parts have evolved, but the purpose remains: to struggle together to find common ground, for without it we all perish. As Benjamin Franklin said at the start of our national journey, “We must all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately.”

The Constitution’s governing principle is that power is to be shared. Not just among Congress, the court and the president, but among the states, counties, districts and institutions created by government for education, transportation, emergency management, disaster relief and others. Our history is one of meeting and solving life’s challenges through many voices and forums. No person or governmental unit has a monopoly on power and that is by design. If armed force becomes necessary for justice to prevail within our states and communities the mission fails. To prevent that failure it is essential that we reach a modus vivendi among disparate elements among us. The Constitution tells us how this can (and must) be done.

The Democratic and Republican parties are not stepping forward to play their traditional roles of proposing, debating and reconciling differences. Each seems unable to put aside immediate concern over what the other might do. For Republicans this has meant unwillingness to veer away from their president or speak openly of any notion of independence, even on matters primarily affecting a purely state or district concern. For Democrats the lack of a majority in either the House or the Senate has left paralysis. They have found scarce entry under parliamentary rules to make their positions debatable or adopted. For Republicans it has meant a retreat to the safety of silence. For Democrats the primary effort goes to winning the midterm elections and thereby regaining their relevance. Both are paying a price in loss of popularity. The president’s lies and willingness to govern beyond Constitutional limits is not popular. The Democrats inability to craft a credible story for regaining power is also not popular – not among its regular supporters and not among independents and disaffected Republicans. Hence, the Blob – a confused, aimless and alienated populace, grown weary and disaffected.

What can an amorphous, unthinking political mass do to save us? It is capable of non-violent civil disobedience on a scale equal to its numbers. The leaderless No Kings demonstrations have been effective. No leaders or speeches are necessary. The mass is the message. Public demonstrations are hard work and seldom return immediate results but, as our predecessors well knew, the blessings of liberty do not come without cost.

I can think of no cause more noble than saving our Constitution and no leadership more qualified for holding the torch to show the way than American leaders in commerce, industry, religion, education and military service. Can they be enlisted to serve? Only if their purpose is public-spirited and their reward is honor and gratitude. I have in mind forbears such as George Marshall, Douglas MacArthur, Dean Acheson, George Mitchell and Herbert Hoover – nonpartisan technocrats whose skills and motives will bear scrutiny.

How can such a colossal undertaking be launched and monitored? A plan must emerge, not from today’s political lineup, but in place of it through the efforts of knowledgeable and concerned interests with big stakes in the outcome. Let these interests propose amendments to the Constitution pursuant to Article V and lead the effort to have them adopted.

The Blob must go right through the door, across the floor, slipping and sliding all the way – a catalyst of national renewal.