So now people are rioting.

Why exactly are people so scared of Donald Trump?  It’s confusing to me.  Yeah, he’s a blowhard, he said a lot of bullshit when he was running, but he can’t DO any of that stuff.   The some folks are acting, it’s like they think we just elected an all-powerful dictator or something.  But we can’t elect a dictator in the United States – that’s not how our system works.  The President is NOT all powerful.  I mean, do they not know about the whole checks and balances thing, or do they think that just because Donald Trump ran under the umbrella of the Republican Party that the other members of the Republican Party are now just like, under his thrall or something and now have to do everything he tells them to??  (because they’re not, and I think both Paul Ryan and Ted Cruz have demonstrated that they do not, in fact, have to do what Donald tells them to.)

Then it hit me.  It’s the Constitution, stupid.  (see, I’m the stupid in the title.)

These people who are in tears and smashing glass in the streets are the very same people who think the Constitution is this piece of paper that some old white men made up so they could oppress people.  They think of it as something that is without any value…disposable, and frankly they’d LIKE to dispose of it because it gets in the way of their agenda a lot of the time.   They applauded it when President Obama used executive orders to circumvent the will of Congress (even though he probably shouldn’t ought to have done that and he did a whole heck of a lot of them, just saying).  They don’t believe in the Constitution, they don’t believe in the checks and balances.  Checks and balances get in their way.  They believe in their progressive agenda and they think it’s just fine and dandy to shred the Constitution to forward that.

But you know who does believe in the Constitution?  Conservative voters.  It’s kind of a thing for us.  We’re Constitution fans, and the reason why we dig the Constitution is the whole, “It prevents America from accidentally electing a dictator” deal-io.

All those times where Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich and those guys were going on and on, blah, blah, blah, yadda yadda yadda about the Constitution and everyone’s eyes were glazing over, and the liberals yawned and laughed and didn’t understand why it mattered – THIS is why it matters.  It’s what a lot of us have been trying to tell you – the Constitution is good for YOU, too.  It’s not just the right wingers and our cray-cray love of guns.  That’s about the smallest, least important right in there.  We don’t talk about the Constitution to keep you from doing stuff.  We talk about it to keep EVERYBODY from doing stuff, even people who agree, or pretend to agree, with us.

The Constitution is, like, totally awesome.  It protects your rights, it protects everyone’s rights, and it means that Donald Trump cannot ever be a dictator.  It CANNOT happen because of the checks and balances that y’all applauded when Obama circumvented them with his trusty pen.  (totally not cool BTW Obama).

Sooo…why can’t Donald just continue doing that?  Why can’t he just make a bunch of executive orders like Obama did?  Well, he can, but if he starts doing things that are illegal and wrong and that people hate, he will be impeached.  See how nifty that is??   The President is answerable to Congress.  He cannot be a loose cannon.

And even if he ISN’T impeached, well, the next step is then that the elected and appointed government officials of the nation and the states would have to enforce whatever executive order he inflicts onto us, and they very well may not choose to do that.  In fact, an awful lot of them are not going to do that.   Is it really even plausible that one man, president or not, has the power to do…I don’t even know, the worst thing you can possibly think of…without the will of the people?  He doesn’t.  He can’t do any of those things you just imagined.  That’s the beauty of our system.  We cannot elect a dictator!

The ever unpopular states’ rights are yet another check and balance on Americans’ ability to elect a dictator.  Just like the Constitution, this is something that liberals seem to want to do away with in favor of a super strong national government – but do you see how states’ rights are actually a PROTECTION for our civil liberties?  It’s all well and good when your guy or gal is in there doing your stuff, but when they aren’t, the ability of your state to do its own thing can be very reassuring, like a nice cozy set of flannel pj’s when it gets cold.  If we did have a dictator and the states have rights to act with at least some autonomy, his ability to do anything at all to us is extremely limited.   States’ rights are GOOD.  It means that our rights have just one more layer of protection.

But wait.  Aren’t the Republicans just gonna go along with whatever Trump wants to do?  Isn’t that how it works??  Ok, maybe he can’t make executive orders for everything, and maybe he can’t control what the states do, yet, but now he has Congress and the Supreme Court on his side as well.  Doesn’t that undo the check and balance right there?

No.  Not at all.  Firstly because most of the members of the Republican Party are not in lockstep with Donald Trump and do not believe many of his suggestions are good or wise, but also because of We, the People.   Let’s pretend for a moment that the impossible happens and Donald Trump has some kind of mind control and can suddenly make the Constitution-loving Republicans in the House and Senate and on the Supreme Court totally ignore the Constitution and bend to his will.   It still doesn’t matter, because we voters will get a shot to switch out everyone in the House and 1/3 of the Senate in 2 years.  2 years is a long time, but remember that this “dictator” would still be faced with the lack of cooperation from government officials and also that the states themselves would refuse to do anything he says.  Checks and balances, baby.  The Constitution.  It rocks.

Donald Trump cannot do anything.  He’s toothless.  Please stop rioting now.