Fortunately for us, his understanding of the concept is irrelevant to
the fact that his government derives its power from the consent of the
governed.
Whenever any form of government becomes destructive to the ends of
securing the people’s inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,
it is the right of the people to alter or abolish that government. “Whenever” does not mean only on
Election Day.
What aspect of locking thousands of children in cages and camps secures
their lives, their liberty, their pursuits of happiness? Many of these children
will never see their parents again.
Can’t we see that this abomination jeopardizes our own and our
children’s lives, liberty, and pursuits of happiness? To extrapolate from the
oft-quoted poem, it doesn’t get better after they come for defenseless
children. We cannot afford this
man’s reckless abuse of power to continue any longer. The president must resign.
His executive order “reversing” the policy of family separation cannot
undo the damage done to these children and their families. If we accept this “reversal”, we cannot
undo the damage done to our nation.
As long as Donald Trump remains president, he disgraces the office, and
thereby disgraces us. He governs
by our consent. We cannot consent
to this.
If the president does not resign, the Congress must impeach and remove
him. If the gratuitous torture of
thousands of children does not constitute a high crime or misdemeanor, what
does? He does not get a do-over
for this. He does not get to try
internment camps on children for size. This is not his Katrina–it is his Waterloo.
Politicians, even a president, have resigned over less egregious abuses
of power. But the call for this
president to resign is conspicuously absent. Why? This
silence is a toxic byproduct of the gradual erosion of norms of political
decency. We are accustomed to our
wacky president doing wacky things.
He expects us to grow accustomed to evil as well. We cannot consent to this.
The marches planned to protest this administration’s handling of
immigration must demand the resignations of the president, the attorney
general, and the secretary of homeland security. We cannot trust or expect them to reunite the families they
have torn apart or to keep other families together. They have proven their vindictive incompetence time and
again.
With these protests, we can reinvigorate our democracy. We together can fix it. And it is crucial we do so now, a time
when democracy is considered “in retreat”.
In this country, the people hold the power. We must remind the president and the Congress that they
serve at the pleasure of the American people. And we are not pleased.
