Our duty now: Educate ourselves, open arms and vote
Now is the time for all good men and women to come to the aid of their country. Constitutional protections against tyranny have never been so seriously threatened.
Donald Trump, would-be dictator and wouldnt-be cogitator, began the new year by describing our Justice Department as a Deep State adversary, while demanding it prosecute certain people he doesnt like. There followed silence of the lambs who once mewled that President Obama used government agencies against enemies; now mum, as a president demands DOJ, CIA, FBI do exactly that. In a foreign leader, wed all see it for what it is. Even Trumpists.
This year is the turning point. Either people who once supported Trump, and people previously disinterested or naively persuaded by disinformation will wake up to the danger, or theyll ratify, actively or passively, the end of Constitutional governance. What would follow was once considered impossible in the United States: dimming the beacon of a free press, hastened by indifference and too-easily constructed belief in fakery; a Department of Justice, helmed by a beholden attorney general, becoming the enforcement arm of despotism, punishing adversaries as demanded by a delusional, vindictive, semi-literate (direct quote from inside the White House), narcissistic, sociopath. Lawful protests, quelled. Voting legislated into meaninglessness, voices stilled by complacency belatedly acknowledged.
In no way is this overstatement. Its begun, if not yet irreversibly. But if awakened voters dont turn out in Alabama-like numbers for year-end national elections, itll become permanent. It will have been the last chance for the will of the people to have an impact, much of its meaning having been already lost when Trump was parchmented into office. Only by the still-remaining direct election of federal legislators might his authoritarianism be stopped. Watching Congressional sycophancy and acquiescence, its clear the current crop of Republicans wont do it. Happy to have a resolutely know-nothing in the White House, actively ignoring the implications, theyre pursuing only self-enrichment. And, to protect it, theyre making a mockery of oversight. Ignore, if you must, todays throwback links (sorry, Jeanne), but not this one: (New York Times: tinyurl.com/2ignore)
http://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/schwab-our-duty-now-educate-ourselves-open-arms-and-vote/?utm_source=DAILY+HERALD&utm_campaign=946c521b8a-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d81d073bb4-946c521b8a-228635337