The Insurrection Act’s Original Score and Trump’s Remix
From Rebellion to Repression
Harold Michael Harvey
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| Photo by Baarast Project on Pexels.com |
| The Insurrection Act of 1807 was composed in a moment of constitutional clarity and civic anxiety. Born from the ashes of Shays’ Rebellion and the fragile balance between federal authority and state sovereignty, its original purpose was to provide a last-resort mechanism for the president to quell actual insurrections—armed uprisings, violent rebellions, and systemic threats to the rule of law. It was a tool of preservation, not provocation. (italic emphasis mine gb) Historically, its invocation has been rare and solemn: Eisenhower used it to enforce school desegregation in Little Rock. Johnson deployed it to protect civil rights activists in Alabama, and George H.W. Bush responded to the 1992 Los Angeles riots at the request of California’s governor. Each instance was tied to a constitutional crisis or a breakdown in local governance. The Act was a federal drumbeat summoned only when the rhythm of justice had been drowned out by violence. ICE Creates Violence Again America In contrast, the Trump administration’s flirtation with the Insurrection Act feels less like a constitutional safeguard and more like a political improvisation. Trump has repeatedly threatened to invoke the Act, not in response to rebellion, but to bypass governors, defy court orders, and deploy troops to cities like Portland, Chicago, and Los Angeles under the banner of “crime control.” This shift reframes the Act from a shield of last resort into a sword of executive dominance. The administration has drafted legal defenses to justify its use, despite opposition from state leaders and federal judges. Critics argue that Trump’s interpretation stretches the statute’s language, terms like “unlawful obstruction” and “domestic violence,” to encompass peaceful protests, local policy disagreements, and partisan narratives of urban decay. It’s a syncopation of power: where the original beat was restraint, the new rhythm is escalation! (Michael, I just had to find a video to illustrate this significant change! gb) This isn’t just a legal debate. It’s a question of civic authorship. Who gets to define rebellion? Who controls the tempo of public safety? And when the federal government plays its own rhythm over the will of the states, what happens to the harmony of democracy? Trump--Biden--Trump The Trump administration’s approach risks turning the Insurrection Act into a tool of suppression rather than protection. It echoes the very grievances that led to its creation: the fear of unchecked military force, the erosion of civilian control, and the silencing of dissent under the guise of order. The Insurrection Act was meant to be a drumline for democracy, a steady cadence summoned only when the rhythm of civil order collapsed. But when that beat is hijacked, when the snare of federal force drowns out the voices of local governance, we must ask: who’s conducting the score? Trump’s invocation of the Act isn’t just a legal maneuver; it’s a remix of civic memory. It transforms a tool of last resort into a first strike against dissent. It weaponizes rhythm, turning the pulse of protection into the percussion of control. But we know another rhythm. One born in the hush of ancestral breath, in the foot steps of marchers on Edmund Pettus Bridge, in the syncopated shout of protest songs that refused to stay in key. That rhythm resists. It remembers. It reclaims. So let us not be fooled by the tempo of suppression. Let us write our own score—one that honors the original beat of the Act, while refusing its distortion. Let us teach, testify, and turn every pause into a call for authorship. Because in the end, the most dangerous insurrection is not the one that storms the gates; it’s the one that rewrites the rhythm of law to silence the people it was meant to protect. And let us never forget that God in Heaven Loves Us and Loves ALL of His Children ~~~ Latest News: The President of Columbia Blames President Trump for murder of Columbian Citizens in bombing of boat... (also other boats have been bombed.) Outside of Venezuela with no previous notice of Legal Approval God Bless Us All Against Authoritarians! Gabby |
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