Claremont's Constitutional Crisis

In the opening pages of Crisis of the Two Constitutions: The Rise, Decline, and Recovery of American Greatness, Charles Kesler suggests that the civil unrest following the death of George Floyd in 2020 should be called “the 1619 riots.” As readers of Law & Liberty know, this refers to the New York Times’ controversial “1619 Project,” which claimed that the true founding of the United States came with the arrival of slaves in America, not the Revolution or the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Nikole Hannah-Jones, the driving force behind the “1619 Project,” replied to Kesler, “It would be an honor.” Current debates over race, social justice, and civil rights, they agree, raise fundamental questions about the status of the Declaration and its “self-evident truth” that “all men are created equal.”

What, then, should we call the violent attack on the nation’s Capitol on January 6, 2021? How about “the Flight 93 riot”? This refers to Michael Anton’s notorious Claremont Review of Books (CRB) article claiming that “2016 is the Flight 93 election: charge the cockpit or you die.” Anton urged conservatives to vote for Donald Trump because “a Hillary Clinton presidency is Russian Roulette with a semi-auto. With Trump, at least you can spin the cylinder and take your chances.” Such gambling is necessary because the country is “headed off a cliff.” Buoyed by votes cast by “the ceaseless importation of Third World foreigners” (otherwise known as immigrants who have become naturalized citizens), Democrats are “on the cusp of a permanent victory.” Anton does not advocate violence, but it is hard to see how anyone who agrees with him could fail to appreciate the implications of his argument: if such systematic corruption leads to defeat (or, worse, a “steal”) at the polls, then it is time to charge the cockpit of democracy, using all means necessary.

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