Peaceful transfer of power is cherished � Ambassador Miller
Earl Miller | Friday January 20, 2017 16:13
In Washington, DC, on the steps of the Capitol building, the centerpiece of American federalism and democracy, Donald J. Trump will take the oath of office and become the 45th President of the United States.
The path to the inauguration is not an easy one. For nearly two years, multiple candidates from multiple political parties campaigned, jockeyed, and vied to lead the nation.
The contest played out in rallies, on radio and television, over social media and the internet, for the eyes of the world to see. The campaign revealed and confirmed significant divisions within the American electorate.
When the votes were tallied throughout the wee hours of the night following Election Day on November 8, 2016, President-Elect Trump emerged victorious, despite prevailing predictions he would not.
Part of the country rejoiced, another grieved; yet most felt enormous relief that the electoral contest itself was over.
Echoing the words of President Abraham Lincoln in the midst of the calamitous U.S. Civil War, President-Elect Trump told the American people that night, “Now it’s time for America to bind the wounds of division…. To all Republicans and Democrats and independents across this nation, I say it is time for us to come together as one united people.”
This spirit of unity is what brings Americans together every four years—and brings us together today—in a celebration of our Constitution, our democracy, and our republic that has transcended individual men and women and political parties for over two centuries.
The oath, taken by all U.S. presidents since George Washington in 1789, commits the new president to “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.” The Constitution, the founding document of American federalism, the supreme law of the land, the national covenant, binds my country together.
The institutions it describes, its intricate system of checks and balances that diffuse power amongst fiercely independent legislative, executive, and judicial branches, as well as the 50 states, are the guarantee of freedom for America’s citizens from the potential tyranny of its leaders and government.
The values of limited and diffuse government and its inability to infringe on the natural rights of its citizens have been the hallmark of America’s experiment in self-government.
This outstanding feature of a document that begins with “We The People” has made the U.S. Constitution the world’s longest surviving written charter of government and ensured the peaceful transfer of power from one party to another, from one individual to another, for almost 230 years.
All too often, countries have witnessed the collapse of constitutions, the rule of despots who fail to yield to others of different political persuasion or ideology or of a younger generation, or even the will of their own people.
Even now, this continent is witnessing presidents ousted in free elections use force and the intimidation of the state to suppress the will of the people. Others cling to power regardless of constitutional imperatives to conduct elections or restrictions against holding power longer than their people allow them.
The peaceful transfer of power, as we witness in the United States or Botswana, where presidents have relinquished and assumed leadership and authority without bloodshed for five decades, is the basis for stability, economic development, security, and respect for the rights of all citizens. It is not to be taken for granted. It should be honoured, cherished and celebrated.
*Ambassador Earl R. Miller is U.S Ambassador to Botswana