Thursday, December 8, 2016

Schoolhouse Rock, Letter #20


12/8/16

Dear Assailant-in-Chief,

You are much older than me, but back in the 1970s when you were busy trying to be a "playboy," there used to be a series of short educational cartoons in between regular programming on Saturday mornings.  They are still available via the Internet, of course.  You should really check them out, especially since your knowledge in some areas appears to be spotty and you reportedly  don't like to read.  You might find them illuminating.  For example:




It's the Preamble to the Constitution, in catchy singable form, friend to high school history students everywhere in America.  I'd like to point out a few things.

"WE THE PEOPLE" is how it starts out.  That is, the entire business rests on the principle that government derives legitimacy from the consent of the governed (cf the Declaration of Independence), both explicitly as spelled out in the Constitution itself and implicitly.  That is a matter you should consider both when contemplating the very wide margin by which you lost the popular vote and the way you are breaking promises to your own voters at a rapid clip.  The consent of the governed here surely lies in what people actually voted for.

"...in order to form a more perfect Union..."   That's to your address, right now.  A lot of people shed a lot of blood to hold that Union together, one way and another.  The eyes of our ancestors are on you, and if you continue to rip us apart for your own short-term advantage, they...and our descendants...will judge you for it.

I hear the White House is haunted.  No wonder you don't want to sleep there.



"...establish Justice, ensure domestic Tranquility..."  Those go together.  No justice, no peace.  That last is a chant, coming soon to a street demonstration near you.  Don't think that attempting to block permits is going to stop anybody.  It may force us to be more diffuse...which, you will discover, is not actually to your advantage.  Would you rather have one big demonstration in Washington and smaller demonstrations elsewhere, or much bigger demonstrations all over the country, plus looking like you're afraid?  You're about to find out. 

"...provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare..."   Those too go together, and I believe by intention.  Defense, not aggression, is the purpose of our military as imagined by our founders; I do not think that they would be in favor of our current globe-spanning empire and its attendant costs in both money and moral standing.  At any rate, we currently focus far more on the "defense" part of that while giving the "general Welfare" part short shrift, and I think that is exactly the opposite of right. 

"...and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity..."  Liberty is the point of all this.  Not just for some of us, but for all of us...past, present, and future.  That's what Posterity means; those who will follow after.  We, the people from whom the authority of government derives, get to march around, say what we want, worship as we please, and generally conduct our business as we see fit so long as it isn't infringing on anybody else.  What you like or don't like doesn't enter into it. 

What's good for our posterity does, however.  I'll tell you one thing that isn't good for them:  sea level rise.  Famine. Drought.  Wildfires.  Increasing storms.  Any curtailment of their Liberty, including your craven threats against the press and the First Amendment.  (I'll get to that in more detail in a later letter.)

"...do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."  "Ordain" is an interesting word.  It means to decree something or put it in proper order, but it also means to imbue with holy authority, as in ordaining a minister.

Barring an outbreak of daring patriotism and common sense among the Electors, on January 20th you will hold up your hand and vow to defend the Constitution.  I hope that the words you speak have some power to make an impression on you. But in the end, the Constitution is bigger than you, and it is up to us, the People, to hold you accountable.  That we shall do.

Yours sincerely,

Sara Amis
Citizen of these United States of America


From Dorine Jennette:

PLEASE JOIN ME IN WRITING THE ASSAILANT-IN-CHIEF
Please join me in bombarding the Assailant-in-Chief with letters: https://www.donaldjtrump.com/contact. I will write to him every day through his first 100 days in office, maybe longer if momentum holds. I am asking others to write just ONE letter. Let's not just vent our grief to each other--let's speak truth to power together. Please WRITE and please SHARE this plan with your friends. Pass it on!
You do not need to be a woman or an assault survivor to address the Assailant-in-Chief as such. If you are a man who has a daughter, a sister, a wife, a woman colleague or friend you respect, or a mother (hint: that last one is all of you!), then you have something to say to the Assailant-in-Chief. Your letter might be a brief one-liner. That's great! Please send it! Women need our allies now. Here's the link to DJT's contact page--this might take you one minute or less! https://www.donaldjtrump.com/contact
Or, maybe you will start a related project addressing any one of the many groups Trump has already harmed . . .
As we talk with each other, let's break the bubble and also send our complaints straight to the source. He won't read them and won't care if he does, so probably this is a placeholder action while we figure out what we're really going to do . . . but it's something.

Dorine's posts can be found here:  https://www.facebook.com/dorine.jennette

PS from Sara:  I've taken to just tweeting these at him.  He's not going to read them anyway, but I might as well use the platform that he actually responds to.  *snort*

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