I’m just back from a two-week cruise in the waters off the coast of Alaska. If you haven’t been there, you need to visit this fabulous area of our country. It’s a land of wondrous landscapes and hardy, independent people. It welcomes outsiders of all stripes and the people exude warmth and hospitality even to tourists. And they have a special appreciation of the First Nation indigenous heritage.

Harvey Levine

While cruising, I tried to limit my daily dose of political news, but I’ve become addicted and succumbed to the usual diatribes from MSNBC and Fox on my cabin TV, as well as the special Times Digest in print with our morning coffee. So there was no escaping politics.

As usual, there was the daily regimen of Trump tirades, criminal indictments, leaks and exposures, election prognostications, denials of facts and science and even the invoking of God’s will to direct a frightening hurricane away from Pat Robertson ’s CBN complex in Virginia. For a slight diversion, we had Serena Williams calling the umpire at the U.S. Open a thief. She must have mistaken him for a congressman from Alpine.

Speaking of crime and thievery, why is the daily crime report from Washington D.C. mostly full of events involving members of Congress or the Trump administration? This has to be the most corrupt and immoral administration in history, aided and abetted by corrupt legislators. What freaks me out is why voters are willing to support such abhorrent behavior. By doing so, they become willing enablers of criminal and unwholesome acts against their country and their countrymen.

In a lesser country than the U.S., the corruption and skullduggery would have brought the nation its knees, reduced to ashes by the deliberate malpractice of its government. We survive today only because of a strong Constitution, which, unfortunately, is under assault. But, even as we uncover and expose the dastardly acts within the administration and Congress, we drift closer and closer to the point where the Constitution may fall to the villains’ unrelenting attack.

To what extent will our elected officials, aided and abetted by willing voters, prostitute themselves so that they can retain their tainted privileges? In the cross-hairs, this month, we have the pending confirmation of a compromised candidate for the Supreme Court. As much as he has attempted to avoid answering important questions, his biases for overturning Rowe vs. Wade and for undermining the Constitutional demand for separation of church and state, have been clearly exposed. These are monumental, essential freedoms that have been under attack in the court and would surely be lost in a Brett M. Kavanaugh court.

Even more disturbing is the apparent willingness of two key GOP senators to lend support to the Kavanaugh nomination, in direct conflict with their repeated pronouncements in support of women’s’ rights. Are Collins and Murkowski selling their souls (and abandoning their constituents) in fear of retribution by the bankrupt GOP leadership?

The most recent events: the identification of multiple untruths in Kavanaugh’s testimony to the Senate, and the accusation of sexual misconduct as a 17-year-old, have added fuel to the fire. But there was already good reason to question his credibility and to deny his confirmation to the Supreme Court.

The president certainly has a hand in pushing this agenda to undermine the Constitution. But he can’t be blamed if the strategy works. The loss of these Constitutional guarantees, if it happens, will be at the hands of the senators who vote to confirm, and the voters who refuse to hold them accountable.

Furthermore, the president’s agenda is clearly to weaken the Constitution so that he can further his obvious vision of absolute executive power. Will a “president-for life” Trump have any use for Congress or the Supreme Court after he has used them to build the foundation for his throne? History has shown that those with a ruthless thirst for power will eventually throw their supporters to the lions. It would be wise for those who have any chance of rebuffing this tyrant to do so now, while they still have a legal chance to do so. This may be a lifesaving act, for them and for the country.

We as voters have the final say — and the final responsibility. If you believe in the Constitution and for what it stands, let your legislators know, directly and in the voting booth. If you believe that the trilateral system of government, with its checks and balances, is better than an autocracy, let them know and make them accountable. It’s a national calamity, but local action is the solution.