by Bob “Again” Carney Jr.

Minneapolis is in trouble today - but that's not the only reason I'm running for Mayor of Minneapolis as a Republican. The “Dangerous Opinions” of ex-President Trump and the prospect of him running again in 2024 are a Constitutional emergency. Many people simply don’t realize how Constitutionally radical he is. Unfortunately, many in the Republican party today hold views that are both radical and incoherent. I believe the Minnesota Republican party can be restored to the openness and integrity it was once known for. This is vitally important to both Minneapolis and Minnesota. But to do this, “Trumpism” in the Minnesota GOP must be exposed for the threat it is. As a self-described “Candidate-Journalist” I intend to do both in this campaign.

We are in a crazy situation. Let me emphasize: an American Civil War II a real danger — As just one example, in his book, 2020 GOP Senate candidate Jason Lewis proposed a Constitutional amendment that, if ratified, would make it almost inevitable. His amendment would legalize secession and would remove the Constitutional provision authorizing Congress to promote the general welfare - the Constitutional basis for both Social Security and Medicare.

In 2020 I ran against Jason Lewis in the GOP Senate primary as an “Openly Sane Republican.” Resisting a vacuous Trump “Cult of Personality” and working to prevent an “American Civil War II” were THE issues that year, and they still are central issues this year. This is why I will continue to address them. I have answered Star Tribune and the League of Women Voters candidate questionnaires. When these are published, I will provide links to my answers for both on this web site. But a big part of our problem in Minneapolis is that the Republican party has basically shriveled up and died. “Political Homelessness” is a big problem in Minneapolis, and all over. Fortunately, the Minnesota Republican Party is starting to wake up to the disaster that has been going on. For years the party has consistently allowed me to speak and participate in Conventions, and in seeking endorsements. That continues. I campaigned at the GOP booth at the State Fair most of the days it was running this year. If you have been driven out from the Republican party by the recent insanity, I want to work with you, to take back the party, especially in Minneapolis. I will be declaring a “ Peaceable Assembly Zone ” for “Politically Homeless” people at the Hennepin County Government Center North Plaza. That is where the Minneapolis Occupy movement met in 2011. If you are as worried as I am about the future of Minneapolis, I invite you to come and talk with me there. Meeting schedules will be published on this web site. I will be encouraging you to caucus Republican next year, so we can start steering the Minnesota Republican party back on course. We need to examine more closely how far from truth and reason many Republicans have moved. Minnesota has had a great tradition of moderate, reasonable Republican leaders. That has been lost — and it is a real question whether it can ever be restored — but I believe we must at least try, for the good of Minnesota and America.

By the Way — to gain a perspective on what has been lost, you might want to take a look at the Star Tribune May 20th 2020 Op–Ed page — an image of it is shown below, followed by a link you can click on to download the page as a .pdf file (suggestion, open it in a separate tab — when you use the .pdf Zoom it’s quite readable). This features three articles — one by Jason Lewis, one by me, and one by former Gov. Tim Pawlenty. It is a response to an earlier article by former Sen. Dave Durenberger and his former Chief of Staff Tom Horner, who went on to be the Independence Party’s candidate for Governor in 2010. I concluded my article by asking Mr. Horner to challenge Jason Lewis for the GOP Senate nomination — we spoke by phone, but he declined, so I filed — someone had to at least try! Jason’s article is quite a contrast to the tone and temperament Gov. Pawlenty advocates for.

(Commentary continues below image…)

Download the Strib Op–Ed page

(… Commentary continued)

“Dangerous Opinions” was a category originally believed by some to be grounds for impeachment and removal from office — that view was expressed and argued for at the time of the 1805 impeachment trial of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase. I have a new book coming out called Emergency Impeachments. It is a response to what happened January 6th, 2021. I will be happy to show you a review copy of it at the “Peaceable Assembly Zone.”

Today our country is so divided that it’s essential for everyone to try to find ways to listen and work together. If we don’t, we face the real danger of an “American Civil War II.” That could not and would not be anything like America’s first Civil War, simply because at that time we were divided along State lines. However, today America has undergone what has been called the “big sort.” We have become geographically clustered into communities of like–minded people within states. In Minnesota, a rural–urban divide has developed.

We simply cannot let this level of division continue unchallenged. This is another reason why it is so vitally important to start rebuilding a reformed Republican party in Minneapolis.

During the 2020 U.S. Senate primary campaign I read Power Divided is Power Checked: the Argument for States Rights, published by Mr. Lewis in 2011. Frankly, I was both shocked and surprised. Shocked by the “Dangerous Opinions” Mr. Lewis holds… but also surprised that they don’t seem to have ever been challenged by anyone in either of two Congressional campaigns when he was on a Minnesota general election ballot. When starting that campaign, my main focus was on what Trump has done to America and to the Republican party. I assumed that anything extraordinarily dangerous about Mr. Lewis would have been surfaced and publicized in his earlier campaigns — and hadn’t heard anything that I thought was in that category.

Unfortunately I was horribly wrong about that assumption!

Let’s take a closer look. First, Mr. Lewis does demonstrate foundational knowledge supporting a limited role for the federal government, with checks and balances, and residual state sovereignty. Republicans look first to well administered State and local government.

However, while the Founders believed governments can and should “promote the general Welfare,” they knew that all government power is dangerous. Safeguarding We the People from misused government power is foundational to our Declaration of Independence and the Constitutional Convention. They also knew that unity is vital. This is why the preamble of our federal Constitution names our country the United States of America.

Unfortunately, Mr. Lewis — who clearly should know better — blatantly ignored both President Trump’s long history of testing and overstepping all limits of any kind, and our vital need for national unity.

Lewis concludes his book by promoting his inconceivably disastrous “American Civil War II” Constitutional amendment.

In Article I, Section 8 our Constitution gives Congress an explicit “General Welfare” power — here’s what it says (emphasis added): “The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States;…” Both Social Security and Medicare are Constitutionally founded on this explicit power; (Helvering v Davis, a 1937 New Deal Supreme Court case.)

Mr. Lewis’ proposed amendment says: “The general welfare clause in the preamble and in Article 1, Section 8, of this Constitution shall not be construed to grant the federal branches of government any extended powers not previously or subsequently and specifically enumerated in this Constitution.” Here’s the inescapable conclusion: Mr. Lewis proposes a Constitutional provision to abolish both Social Security and Medicare!

The amendment also establishes a Constitutional right to secede from the Union: “It is also hereby established that any state whose inhabitants desire through legal means and in accordance with state law to leave this union of the several states shall not be forcibly refrained [“refrained” is not a typo] from doing so by the federal government of these United States.”

Secession is what President Lincoln and men of Minnesota’s 1st Infantry Regiment died to prevent. Read it carefully! How would it prevent seceding states from leaving behind their share of existing federal debt?

Jason Lewis’ proposed amendment, if ratified, would trigger secession and destroy the Union — the United States of America.

This is why I’m supported Joe Biden for president and opposed Jason Lewis in 2020. Unfortunately, today President Biden is heading in the same dangerous, unconstitutional direction that Trump seemed to be heading in.

To see this from the perspective of the “Dangerous Opinions” of President Trump, consider what Trump said about Presidential and federal power April 14th.

“When somebody’s the President of the United States the authority is total. And that’s the way it’s gotta be… You can look at [it] constitutionally, you can look at federalism, you can look at it any different way…” While Trump said “I don’t want to exert my power…” he then repeats: “The federal government has absolute power. It has the power. As to whether or not I’ll use that power, we’ll see.”

At the time Trump’s claim was widely rebuked, even ridiculed. But former Sen. Gary Hart’s contemporaneous article spotlighted “virtually dictatorial powers” a President can claim -- simply by declaring an “emergency.” These powers are deeply rooted in federal law going back to the Insurrection Act of 1807. More recently, the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (“IEEPA”) authorizes asset seizures, tariffs and other preemptive responses — with no requirement to first prove wrongdoing — for a national security or economic threat that “has its source in whole or substantial part outside the United States.” When President Trump said “China virus” it appears this wasn’t just a political “dog whistle” — it’s was his foundation for invoking IEEPA again, as he had done five times already.

We watched impeachment fail to rein in an out–of–control chief executive. (Disclosure: As suggested, I have a new Constitutional theory on impeachment, demonstrating that it is actually far more powerful and flexible than “Conventional Wisdom” would have us believe.) We’ve also seen how ponderous and ineffective the judicial process can be when trying to rein in even Presidential illegality. Very simply, at this point — after Congress and the Judiciary have both failed to rein in Trump — it’s up to us; We the People!

During the 2020 campaign I wrote: “Shortly after a close, disputed election — or even before — it is simply impossible to predict what President Trump might do on a claimed emergency basis — or what the ultimate result might be. Under our current incredibly dangerous circumstances I believe there is no reasonable alternative but to support Joe Biden and oppose Jason Lewis. Minnesota must continue to investigate and challenge the Dangerous Opinions of both President Trump and Jason Lewis from now to November. ”

Unfortunately, the case for overreaching Executive power made by then-President Trump seems to be a foundation that President Biden seems more and more likely to rely on. This just brings me back to my original claim: we need an open Minnesota Republican party with the kind of integrity it was once widely known and respected for.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. We must all use our best judgment in deciding what to do --

Bob “Again” Carney Jr. (“bobagain”)

Contact: votebobagain@gmail.com