Are the Rule of Law and Democracy Real?
Yes, they are.
In the weeks since President Donald Trump’s inauguration, we’ve witnessed an onslaught of executive actions. They have included drastic funding cuts, massive reductions of the federal workforce, the use of criminal prosecutorial power to advance policy objectives, and the curtailment of constitutional rights. That’s just the start. The criticisms of these actions are abundant. Setting aside the stark policy differences, much of the remaining pushback cites principles of democracy and, especially those from the legal world like the American Bar Association, the rule of law.
But for so many, the concepts of democracy and rule of law are too intangible. What do they even mean for ordinary Americans? In 2024, the Democratic ticket made democracy a major theme of their presidential campaign. It fell flat. Today, the sky isn’t falling. Most folks can still freely go about their lives, whether it’s working, raising their children, spending time with family and friends, and the rest.
When critics accuse President Trump for not following the right process, a key component to the rule of law, to achieve his policy objectives, I suspect many in response will say that he’s simply cutting through meaningless bureaucracy and red tape. The plurality of voters selected the president, so the argument will go, and he has the prerogative to pursue his political agenda, period. And to be honest, though the president’s job approval rating is underwater, the public may be expressing a level of acquiescence. One poll captured a positive net approval of the president’s performance, and he is enjoying a higher approval rating at the start of his second term compared to his first.
The recent day-to-day machinations of Washington, thus, appear to hold little interest with the rest of the country. For now, that is.
When it comes to defining democracy and the rule of law, and persuading our fellow Americans of their importance, we need to return to fundamentals. High-minded rhetoric will not do. Not only should we break down the principles, but also demonstrate the harm when those principles are violated.
We can start with the presidency. The voters went to the polls to hire someone to carry out the duties of the president. What are those duties? Luckily, the job description for the presidency can be found in our founding charter, Article II of the United States Constitution. Out of the three branches of the federal government, the president heads (or, as the U.S. Supreme Court would posit, wholly encompasses) the executive branch. Though the office has many responsibilities, one line sums up the job: the president “shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.”
Democracy is respecting the people’s choice on how they wish to govern themselves and who they select to carry those responsibilities. The voters selected a president to faithfully execute the laws of this Nation for four years. They selected their representatives in Congress to make the law according to their best judgment, and the voters can ultimately hold their representatives accountable periodically at the polls if they fail to deliver.
The rule of law gives democracy — the people’s choice — meaning. When a president deviates from faithfully executing the law and, instead, acts to contravene the law, those actions are a disservice to the voters who hired the president in the first instance. If the president wants to cut funding for projects that he dislikes even though Congress appropriated funds for them, he ought to persuade Congress to halt the funding. If the president wants to change how a constitutional provision works, he should convince Congress on the merits of his proposal and then persuade 38 states to agree as well.
Democracy and the rule of law need not be so lofty. They are real foundations that undergird American life. We elect our leaders to perform certain jobs for the benefit of the Nation, not to accumulate power for its own sake. When they disregard their core job responsibilities, our leaders also disregard the ones that matter the most: the people.