Category: Impeach Trump

Disagreement Does Not Mean Disrespect

by James P. Shafer, posted in Bridges Not Walls, Defending the Constitution, Emoluments Clause, Ethics in Government, Impeach Trump, Politics, Resist Trump

“If the intent is not peaceful this is not the event for you,” said Mark Skoda on the stage (in Nashville, TN) . . . According to , and published in USA TODAY, where the following comments were also recorded:

“We are all Americans, we need to come together,” said Richard Saunders of Robertson County (TN) . . .

“We are the silent majority,” said Diane Simpson, of Leonardo (NJ). “We are people that normally don’t demonstrate, but when we have to, we can.” . . . As reported by Craig McCarthy of NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

“We need to rediscover the soul of America,” said Ronald Gawronski, in Miami, FL, according to a news report on CBSMiami.com, “The feeling of who we are as a people.”

Sound familiar?  Maybe even inspirational?  These were some of the voices heard at the Pro-Trump rallies held around the country this past weekend.

And while the unfortunate (and bloody) confrontations in Berkeley, CA were what commandeered all the headlines and video coverage, NPR was able to confirm that:

“. . . For the most part, however, the demonstrations have been peaceful — and in Austin, at least, charitable as well. The Austin American-Statesman notes that pro-Trump “attendees are told to bring donations for the homeless and veterans, such as canned goods, clothing, blankets and hygiene products, according to the [organizers’] Facebook page.”

All of the above confirm my strong conviction that among Americans (even those who in good faith and with the best of intentions backed a different candidate than I did), there is much more that unites us then divides us.

A strong moral compass, a deep rooted concept of honesty and fair play, and a shared commitment to the rule of law and peaceful resolution of our legitimate differences are all clearly evident in the sentiments and actions described above.

I’d like to commend these fellow Americans and those who share their views for their dedication to our shared ideals and their commitment to the welfare of the Nation we ALL love.

While I did not vote for the same candidate that you chose, in “normal” circumstances I would willingly give the new President (whether my preferred candidate or not) my loyalty and support.

The reason I respectfully disagree with your well-intentioned support for the current occupant of the White House, though, is that it is becoming increasingly and unavoidably obvious that he does not share the values and ideals to which both you and I firmly adhere.

I ask you:

Would a President worthy of our loyalty have blatantly ignored the U.S. Constitution on his first day in office by violating the Emoluments Clause and refusing to divest himself of his business interests?

Would a President worthy of our support continually trash the ethical standards and safeguards that ALL politicians from ALL parties have adhered to for over 200 years?

Would a President worthy of our respect equate the moral standing of America for which our fellow citizens have fought, bled and died in countless wars throughout our history with that of the most greedy, corrupt and blood-soaked dictator the World has seen in 50 years?

I say this as someone who derives absolutely no satisfaction from witnessing the failure of ANY American President: By every word, deed, and tweet since assuming the Office, Trump has conclusively demonstrated to all of us and to the rest of the World (with the possible exception of Vladimir Putin) that he is completely, utterly, and morally incapable of performing the duties required of the holder of that Office.

This is no longer a political issue.  This is no longer a partisan debate.  This is not a diatribe against Republicans (with whom I have voted on several previous occasions), Conservatives (whose political philosophies I mostly share), or Populists (whose frustrations with the “Status Quo” I currently share).

This has become an existential threat to the country against which we must ALL unite and fight – before the damage to our Nation and its place in the world become irreversible.

I ask that you join the many millions of your fellow countrymen and patriots who clearly see the danger to help us face and defeat the menace we all face.

 

 

 

Treachery Revealed:

by James P. Shafer, posted in Bridges Not Walls, Defending the Constitution, Ethics in Government, Impeach Trump, Politics, Resist Trump

According to an article by Philip Rucker published earlier this week in the The Washington Post, Stephen Bannon, chief strategist for our Liar in Chief, was brutally blunt in his first public speaking appearance since the inauguration.

Speaking at the annual meeting of the Conservative Political Action Conference, Bannon admitted that the “deconstruction of the administrative state” was at the core of the agenda being pursued by the current occupants of the highest office in our country.

He also confirmed what a lot of concerned citizens have already been forced to conclude for themselves: “If you look at these Cabinet nominees, they were selected for a reason, and that is deconstruction,”

So, we now have a head of state who was NOT elected by a majority of voters, whose legitimacy is increasingly suspect due to still unanswered allegations of Russian interference in our election (which appears increasingly likely to have been aided and abetted by Trumps staffers and business associates), and whose administration has as its stated goal nothing less than the “Deconstruction” of the civil institutions and stable democratic system of government that has taken this great Nation more than 200 YEARS to build.

Just so we’re all real clear here, Deconstruction in this sense means the complete and utter destruction of something just slowly and gradually enough so that those who will be most effected by its loss do not rise up and fight against the destroyers.

As someone who has traditionally held a Conservative / Libertarian political philosophy I fully ascribe to the notions of minimum government and maximum personal Freedom.  One of the core tenets of that philosophy, though, is one’s own RESPONSIBILITY for the results of his or her actions.

Over the years I have personally observed how the abdication of responsibility by those who enjoy the benefits of that freedom cause grave and oftentimes irreparable harm to innocent co-inhabitants of the planet.

Here’s how those concepts play out under the bleak world order which is the stated goal of the bloated bigot Bannon and his flaming trumpet of a mouthpiece:

Their cadre of cronies are FREE to loot and pillage the public coffers for their own personal enrichment while the rest of us bear the RESPONSIBILITY for putting up with vastly reduced transparency, efficiency, and accountability from our elected representatives.

To see how that works out in practice, take a look at Russia, Brazil, South Africa, or any one of the several tin horn dictatorships throughout the third world which loudly proclaim themselves to be Democratically Elected.

Corporate contributors to the regime have the FREEDOM to trash the environment and set our environmental safeguards back 50 years in pursuit of ever-higher profits while the rest of us (along with our children and grandchildren) bear the RESPONSIBILITY for learning how to breathe toxic air and drink polluted water.

For the clearest example of this facet of Bannon’s vision for us, you need look no further than China where, despite a seemingly successful business model an environmental nightmare complete with unbreathable air, undrinkable water and poisonous food is being lived by its citizens every day.

“Insiders” and those holding the reins of power are FREE to flout the laws of the country as they see fit while normal, law abiding citizens are held to increasingly stringent standards of RESPONSIBILITY and accountability for increasingly minor or perceived infractions.

It breaks my heart to say it, but the country I love is now the prime example of this particularly pernicious form of structural rot:

Witness trump’s continued and blatant violation of the U.S. Constitution, his complete disregard for our hard-won ethics regulations, and his utter contempt for well-established laws against conflicts of interest versus his increasingly authoritarian and vicious attacks on hard-working, law abiding immigrants and their children as well as his ruthless attempts to discredit and suppress any civil servant who dares to oppose his nihilistic policies.

Right Wing anarchists and lovers of conspiracy theories are FREE to trash the hard-won alliances that have kept the developed World relatively peaceful since 1945 in favor of outmoded concepts of National Supremacy that have repeatedly been dis-proven and relegated to the ash-heap of History.

The entirely foreseeable result of this lethal fantasy is that it leaves the defenders of our democratic ideals with the RESPONSIBILITY and vastly increased likelihood of fighting and dying to save and restore the stability based on shared values for which preceding generations have already paid dearly in blood spilled and lives lost.

Don’t think it can happen here?  Neither did the citizens of Eastern Ukraine.

Given the stark moral choices outlined above, another of Bannon’s remarks at the CPAC event may prove to be even more prophetic:

“If you think they’re going to give you your country back without a fight, you are sadly mistaken.  Every day is going to be a fight.”

As I mentioned above, by nature I am neither a Democrat nor a Liberal.  In the face of such a mortal threat to the ideals and even the continued existence of our Nation as a force for good in the World, though, I cannot acquiesce to the torrent of hate filled lies and bigotry spewing forth daily from this illegitimate usurper of power.

Pretender to power trump may have succeeded in winning the election (or, when the smoke clears, it may turn out that his BFF Putin was the REAL winner).  No matter how loudly or frequently he proclaims otherwise, though, his victory was by no means a landslide and even less of a sweeping mandate to fundamentally alter the nature and character of our Democracy.

In light of these circumstances I see only one viable option for those of us who accept personal RESPONSIBILITY for the continued well-being and success of our Nation:

It is imperative that we put aside our short term political differences NOW and exercise all of the Constitutionally guaranteed FREEDOMS at our disposal to fight the existential threat to our country represented by the self-deceiving traitors who are bent on the “deconstruction” of the America we love.

Bannon and his ilk are expecting a fight.  Let’s not disappoint them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I Stand With Her . . . (with full credit and thanks to Ms. Regina Schrameyer):

by James P. Shafer, posted in Bridges Not Walls, Defending the Constitution, Election, Emoluments Clause, Ethics in Government, Impeach Trump, Politics, Resist Trump

This is where I stand . . .: Our 45th President, his power hungry cronies taking positions of authority in his Cabinet and administration, and the majority of Republicans in Congress are a real and active threat to me, my way of life, and all the people I love. Some people are saying that we should give Trump a chance, that we should “work together” with him because he won the election and he is “everyone’s president.” This is my response:

•I will not forget how badly he and so many others treated former President Barack Obama for 8 years…
•I will not “work together” to defund the arts
•I will not “work together” to normalize predators’ sexual abuse
•I will not “work together” to privatize Medicare, cut Social Security and Medicaid.
•I will not “work together” to build a wall.
•I will not “work together” to persecute Muslims.
•I will not “work together” to shut out refugees from other countries.
•I will not “work together” to lower taxes on the 1% and increase taxes on the middle class and poor.
•I will not “work together” to help Trump use the Presidency to line his pockets and those of his family and cronies.
•I will not “work together” to weaken and demolish environmental protection.
•I will not “work together” to sell American lands, especially National Parks, to companies which then despoil those lands.
•I will not “work together” to enable the killing of whole species of animals just because they are predators, or inconvenient for a few, or because some people want to get their thrills killing them.
•I will not “work together” to remove civil rights from anyone.
•I will not “work together” to alienate countries that have been our allies for as long as I have been alive.
•I will not “work together” to slash funding for education.
•I will not “work together” to take basic assistance from people who are at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder.
•I will not “work together” to get rid of common sense regulations on guns.
•I will not “work together” to eliminate the minimum wage.
•I will not “work together” to support so-called “Right To Work” laws, or undermine, weaken or destroy Unions in any way.
•I will not “work together” to suppress scientific research, be it on climate change, fracking, or any other issue where a majority of scientists agree that Trump and his supporters are wrong on the facts.
•I will not “work together” to criminalize abortion or restrict health care for women.
•I will not “work together” to increase the number of nations that have nuclear weapons.
•I will not “work together” to put even more “big money” into politics.
•I will not “work together” to violate the Geneva Convention.
•I will not “work together” to give the Ku Klux Klan, the Nazi Party and white supremacists a seat at the table, or to normalize their hatred.
•I will not “work together” to deny health care to people who need it.
•I will not “work together” to deny medical coverage to people on the basis of a “pre-existing condition.”
•I will not “work together” to increase voter suppression.
•I will not “work together” to normalize tyranny.
I will not “work together” to eliminate or reduce ethical oversight at any level of government.
•I will not “work together” with anyone who is, or admires, tyrants and dictators.
•I will not support anyone that thinks its OK to put a pipeline to transport oil on Sacred Ground for Native Americans. And, it would run under the Missouri River, which provides drinking water for millions of people. An accident waiting to happen.

  • I will not “work together” with conservative enablers who believe that the end justifies the means and have therefore chosen to remain silent while their standard bearer trashes our Constitution and our ideals.
  • I will not “work together” with these usurpers of power by sitting on the sidelines in future elections and letting their cold calculus of voter apathy allow them to remain in office.

This is my line, and I am drawing it:

•I will stand for honesty, love, respect for all living beings, and for the beating heart that is the center of Life itself.
•I will use my voice and my hands, to reach out to the uninformed, and to anyone who will LISTEN:

That “winning”, “being great again”, “rich” or even “beautiful” is nothing… When others are sacrificed to glorify its existence.
If you agree feel free to copy and re-post (this results in larger numbers of people seeing a post), and if you want, sign your name below ours.

Also, if we have left anything out, feel free to add it to this list.

Absolute Necessities OR Noise Level Nonsense?

by James P. Shafer, posted in Bridges Not Walls, Defending the Constitution, Election, Emoluments Clause, Ethics in Government, Impeach Trump, Politics, Resist Trump

If YOU were suddenly given ultimate responsibility for the fate of the Free World, where would you choose to focus your time and attention:

Investigating the credible threat that a hostile foreign power posed to the validity of the election OR comparing the relative crowd sizes of your inauguration to those of your predecessors?

Learning all you could about how to harness the relentless forces of economic globalization for the good of the Nation OR harassing, insulting, and bullying the Nation’s closest neighbors and leading trading partners?

Laying the groundwork in infrastructure improvements, educational agendas, and legislative imperatives required to improve the entire Nation’s long term economic growth OR publicly haranguing and brow-beating a few large, successful, public companies over a (very) few thousand, mostly symbolic, jobs?

Listening intently to the dedicated public servants in ALL branches of government who have made it their life’s work to ensure the Nation’s well-being and security in an oftentimes hostile World OR Tweeting about the imaginary indignities inflicted on one of your adult children by the free market?

Building trust, credibility, and goodwill among the large majority of citizens who chose not to vote for you OR repeating baseless claims about massive voter fraud ad nauseum until even the minority who did vote for you wishes that you would just be quiet?

Honoring your oft-stated commitment to govern openly, honestly, and fairly by releasing your tax returns (as explicitly promised on several occasions) and divesting yourself of myriad business interests which constitute a blatant conflict of interest and which stand in direct violation of the U.S. Constitution OR callously labeling those courageous individuals who seek to hold you to those promises as liars and purveyor’s of “Fake News”.

Insisting that the individuals whom you appoint as your most trusted advisers adhere to the highest standards of honesty and integrity OR cajoling a spinelessly complicit legislative majority to turn a blind eye to your appointee’s many moral lapses and questionable judgments?

Reaching out to strengthen ties with trusted Allies around the World who share our values and ideals and who have stood by us for over 50 years OR publicly bashing the freely elected Leaders of those great Nations and the solid alliances they have forged with us in favor of the warped world view and kleptocratic regime led by a murderous and dictatorial tyrant?

Building on the noble traditions and democratic ideals upon which our Nation was founded over 200 years ago OR deliberately and systematically trashing those pillars of our democracy for your own narrow, personal interests?

Even the most casual observer of the chaos which has engulfed the U.S. Government starting with the inauguration on January 20 would readily acknowledge that the list above represents only a small fraction of the deadly serious issues which have confronted the country and the less than trivial diversions with which the trumpster has been obsessed during his brief time in office.

What is perhaps even more pertinent and problematic for the future of our Republic is this: If you put the above choices to your favorite five year old, I’d be willing to bet that they would have no trouble at all making the “right” decision in each case.

That our illegitimate leader obviously finds this level of discerning logic and level-headed judgement to be far beyond his (admittedly limited) mental abilities is perhaps the most damning evidence arguing against his continued occupation of the Oval office.