Are the Trump administration’s decisions in its return to governance constitutional? That was the question the Fort Collins-based nonprofit Restore the Balance sought to answer during a community Q&A and panel discussion on Wednesday.
Livestreamed from Colorado Mesa University to a lecture room filled with concerned Durango-area residents in Fort Lewis College’s Noble Hall, Jay Seaton, former lawyer and publisher of The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel; Rob Boston, senior adviser for Americans United for Separation of Church and State; and Ed Nottingham, former federal judge for the District of Colorado, engaged in a discussion about the current administration’s actions, how they are pushing the bounds of what is legally outlined in the U.S. Constitution, and what ordinary citizens can do to act on their concerns.
“The local group that gathered at the meeting was intently focused on what the speakers had to share,” Janalee Hogan, a member of RTB’s board, said about the discussion. “The follow-up questions indicated the group’s passion as to why these guiding constitutional principles should invigorate their call to action.”
The panel was packed with information.
Seaton, the first to speak, outlined how freedom of speech is the “North Star” of the Constitution and is meant to keep people informed about the misdeeds of the government and therefore keep them accountable. He then described how the Trump administration is “flooding the zone” with misinformation, which he said is a deliberate strategy to overwhelm news media’s fact-checking capacity and divide public understanding of truth, allowing the administration to move ahead without significant opposition.
Boston then described why separation of church and state is important, saying that allowing citizens of a country as diverse as the U.S. to worship as they choose is a fundamental constitutional right. He pointed out that the Constitution’s provision on freedom of worship never states that the U.S. is an exclusively Christian nation, and said the administration’s efforts to frame the country is a Christian nation defies what the Founding Fathers outlined.
Finally, Judge Nottingham discussed how the administration’s repeated attempts to ignore or defy court orders violate the system of checks and balances defined in the Constitution. Nottingham added that the courts were supposed to be “above the political fray” – meaning nonpartisan in their rulings – but recent appointments of ideological judges have in part allowed Trump to skirt court rulings or act in ways that are unconstitutional.
Many attendees asked what regular citizens can do when the president and his administration do not follow the laws set forth in the country’s founding documents. Each panelist responded by saying that citizens have constitutional rights, that the separation of powers outlined by the Constitution still exist and that people can influence their elected officials through civic engagement. All three panelists emphasized the importance of civil discourse, regardless of political affiliation or ideology.
Hogan agreed, saying the best way to bridge divides in today’s political landscape is to “stop listening to the 24-hour entertainment feeds. Focus on matters that are important to you. Research the information from multiple sources. Walk into a subject educated, and by all means, stand your ground about what you believe.”
Agreeing on a shared set of facts is the best way for Democrats, Republicans and politically unaffiliated to find common ground, Hogan said. That principal is central to Restore the Balance’s mission, and, as she pointed out, helped inspire the organization’s founding.
“Jan. 6 was really the impetus that brought this group of people together in Grand Junction to say, ‘How can we with differing opinions over how to run our government, or what our policy should be, or what we spend our money on, and yet come to some common ground about what's real and how we have to operate in order for our democracy to survive,’” Hogan said.
Hogan, a former Republican who became politically unaffiliated after Trump’s first election, said the first major step toward restoring the balance is to view people with differing political views as just that – people.
“See everybody as human, not as wrong or right,” Hogan said. “I will never convince you to give up your principles, and you will never convince me to give up mine. And that's not what this is about. It's about finding what you and I can both live with.”
