April 5, 2017

I was all set today to finally write something commending President Trump regarding his statement in which he condemned the nerve agent (Sarin?) attack on the children of Northern Syria.  He said the killing of dozens of civilians in northern Syria in an apparent chemical weapons attack by Syria’s air force is an “affront to humanity!”  (BBC New, Top Stories, April 5, 2017).  “Time and time again Russia uses the same false narrative to deflect attention from their ally in Damascus,” Nikki Haley, US Ambassador said during a heated UN Security Council debate.  According to UK monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, 20 children and 52 adults were killed in a chemical incident in Khan Sheikhoun, Idlib province (Syria) on Tuesday (April 4, 2017).  An observer on the ground contradicts the Russian story of a weapons manufacturing process being bombed.  Hasan Haj Ali, commander of the Free Idlib Army rebel group, told Reuters news agency, “Everyone saw the plane while it was bombing with gas.” (BBC News, Top Stories, April 5, 2017).  I commend President Trump for speaking out against the Assad regime.  Perhaps, President Trump will also call for Assad’s conviction under International Law for “war crimes against humanity!”

There are so few things for which I have been able to commend this President.  He did remove Steve Bannon, senior White House strategist from the US National Security Council.  This is a great move to prevent the NSC from being politicized.  The NSC is the main group advising the President on national security and foreign affairs.  I commend President Trump in this regard.

And yet, when I start to be hopeful about this man, my daughter points out to me a story on the Al Jazeera news network which lists some of the 2000 bills submitted to Congress by the Trump administration and the Republicans since taking office, bringing out the eight it considers most significant:  These are as follows, quoting from this article (video):

(1) HR 861- EPA shall be defunded and cease to exist by 12/31/2018.  (This agency has been in existence since 1970 and is called the “Environmental Protection Agency”, which oversees regulation of industry and protects public health and safety.)

(2) HR 610 – a dismantling of the Federal tax distribution for public schools to change how resources are distributed between the Public and Private Areas of education.

(3) HR 899 – The Department of Education is to be abolished by 12/31/ 2018.  The agency’s Director, Betsy DeVos, says she has no objection to “working herself out of a job.”

(4) HR 69 – the prohibition upon killing protected wildlife for sport is eliminated, rather than for necessity.

(5) HR 354 – Planned Parenthood shall receive no funding from the Federal Government for one year, unless they can prove that no federal monies are used for abortion.  The Hyde amendment already forbids this, so the bill is redundant.

(6) HR 785 – the ability of Labor Unions to recruit and retain workers is weakened.

(7) HR 147 – Criminal penalties are introduced for those who perform abortions, except in cases of incest, rape or to protect the life of the mother.

(8) HR 83 – Cities who harbor illegal aliens will have federal funding eliminated for a period of one year.  These so-called “sanctuary cities” include San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York City.

Whether one endorses or opposes these new measures to the US government policy is irrelevant.  What is relevant is that 50% of American citizen’s voices have been silenced in the debate over public policy.  With Republicans owning two houses of Congress there is no real representation for the minority view in American politics.  The Democrats are currently expending a great deal of political capital seeking to filibuster the nomination of Neil Gorsuch for the open seat of the US Supreme Court.  The Republican Senate majority cares little, as they are prepared to exercise the so-called “Nuclear Option” so that a simple majority vote will confirm Gorsuch’s nomination.  This new politicization of the Supreme Court is certain to diminish both its authority and effectiveness as a mediator of law and public opinion.  The polarization of the United States of America is now complete.  The Death Star is almost ready.  The Empire of President Trump is set to begin.  The Rebel force and the Jedi are all scattered or in hiding, fearing for their lives.

This era of the President called Trump, I see him only as “Herr Rump” is one of the saddest periods I have ever witnessed in the history of this nation.  In a few months, this great nation has so diminished itself as to be unrecognizable.  Those of us who hold the minority opinion are now so isolated from the public arena of policy debate as to be considered almost irrelevant.  Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has declared this to be so, despite Senator John McCain’s strong objections.  In the past when the minority was allowed no discourse the only course left was some type of sedition.  Witness the American Revolutionary War.  In that instance the seditionists (now called Revolutionary) overcame the tyranny of the English Crown.  The question which looms large in this instance is what is left to be done now?  No one wants another Revolution!

When the US Senate ceases to function as a place of debate of public policy and instead becomes a “rubber stamp” on the agenda of the current majority (of whichever stripe), this is a truly sad day for American democracy.  We enter a new era of dysfunctional government.  While appearing to function as a democratic institution our government is no more democratic than a meeting of the local country club debating whether to have an annual party for its members.  President Trump’s choice of his private Mar Lago estate for functions of government business is telling of the mentality of this President and our elected Republicans.  First hosting the Japanese and now the Chinese, we come to know and to witness the true cronyism of this President.  Exuding wealth and using wealth to impress and seduce is the “heart of the deal.”  Our president functions more like an emperor of Rome than he does the elected leader of a democratic nation.  Millions of taxpayer’s dollars are spent maintaining the security of Mar Lago.  What is wrong with the White House for government functions of entertaining heads of state?  Apparently, it is not ostentatious enough for this President, who prefers the glitter and the gold of his own wealth!  The interesting fact is that this President is not even aware of his own betrayal of our democracy.  He represents the few, not the many.  He represents those who have all the gold, while the rest of us have none.

President Trump is an elitist, he represents the elite and the powerful.  He does not represent the majority of the American citizens, most of whom voted against him in the general election.  As we have witnessed from both the Republicans in Congress and our so-called President, it is all about power, who has the power, and who can exercise the power.  For the rest of Americans who disagree, we are simply ignored or told “go to hell!”

In the French revolution of 1789 until 1799 a period of social and political upheaval occurred in France which led to the abolition of the French monarchy and eventually to the establishment of a secular and democratic republic.  This event, along with our own American Revolution of 1776 did away with absolute monarchies while replacing them with republics and liberal democracies. (see Wikipedia).

In this modern era, we are moving back in the other direction.  Our democratically elected President called Trump (or affectionately ‘Herr Rump’) is moving our modern, liberal democracy backwards in time towards an absolute monarchy of power consolidated in the hands of the few, rather than distributed among the representatives of the many.  While claiming to be an exercise of democracy, citing “the will of the American people” (albeit a minority of the electorate), this President behaves as a monarchy of power.  He has surrounded himself with family of equal wealth and social status.  He conducts business in a matter to embellish his own ego.  His face is plastered all over the media.  His every word (or ‘tweet’) is parsed for hidden meaning and policy intent.

This President is driving the car of American democracy in reverse!  He has all the power and he exercises his power absolutely.  Except for the Freedom Caucus who bucked him on the Health Care Reform Act of America, no one has attempted thus far to place any limits on either this President’s ambitions nor his power.  Where in this process is our democracy?  Where is the voice of “we the people?”  Where is my voice in this government of the elite?  Ask yourself, “Is your voice being heard?”

The concept in parliamentary procedure which allows for debate and for the view of the minority to be considered along with the majority opinion is what basic High School civics class teaches as one of the essentials of a true democracy.  When the minority opinion is silenced and eliminated, where is the debate which can provide checks and balances to the abuse of Presidential power?  Is ours a true democracy or not?  If there is no real debate and no respect for the opinion of the minority as having equal validity in the discussion of the ideal good before new law is formulated, can we say the law being formulated is really a valid law “of the people, by the people and for the people?”  If only one side of the coin is examined, do we have a real coin or simply a counterfeit?  We do not know, as the metal of this new coin has not been thoroughly tested in the fire of debate and discourse of the representatives of “we the people.”

I argue, therefore, for the necessity of the minority opinion in any real debate of national policy which affects “all the people.”  If a new law is promulgated without any real debate, its authority is questionable and its motives are impure.  This principle is true for all political parties and all political debate.  This is the one essential tenet of modern liberal democracy which cannot be abandoned or democracy itself is abandoned.  And yet, this is happening now daily before our very eyes!

I write now to arouse the minority opinion.  I write in hope of the emergence again of the truth, of the balance of truth overcoming error, of allowing for and listening to the voice of ‘the people”, which includes all the people, not just Republicans, nor Democrats, but people like me who hold no allegiance to any party except the truth.  Let the truth be heard once more!  In this land of grand illusion being propagated by this President and his cronies, let someone speak the truth for us and may this voice “of the people, by the people and for the people” rise from its tomb to live again in a new resurrection of life overcoming death.  What we have now is death overcoming life, error overcoming truth, injustice overcoming law.  What we need and long for is life overcoming death, hope and truth overtaking error and justice overcoming the injustice being propagated now by the very institutions of Congress which are sworn to protect liberty, truth, justice and the American democracy.

The “Empire” has become corrupted because our leadership is corrupted.  Where are the Jedis who will defend the cause of our democracy?  Let them arise and be heard once again.  Let their voices echo through the halls of this democracy and lead our nation into a new era or righteousness, justice and truth for “all the people!” We pray for our nation on bended knee, though Jesus Christ our Lord, in whose name we pray for liberation from death into life, for the overcoming of those who oppress the truth of our democracy, for the beginning of a new creation of a real democracy, for these truths we hold to be self- evident, given to us from our Creator God who made us in God’s own image, to allow us in this life an opportunity for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness before our God and in fellowship with one another, in the name and by the power of Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of us all, we pray. “Amen and Amen!”

A Voice of One Crying