Tyranny Through Executive Orders

 

So, the Trump Oligarchy is moving at record speed in signing Executive Orders.  In case some of you don’t know exactly what that means, Executive Orders are, as described by the American Bar Association:

“An executive order is a signed, written, and published directive from the President of the United States that manages operations of the federal government.”

What does that mean? Well, they are not instant laws, but Congress cannot simply overturn them either. One way to control an overzealous Executive Administration is the use of the checks and balances of power by creating legislation or using the Congressional “power of the purse”.  There are limitations of executive orders, particularly in the US Constitution.  And one particular recent Executive Order is trying to usurp the 14th Amendment, that is of birthright citizenship.

This is the 14th Amendment:

"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United Sates and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

The history behind the 14th Amendment was to ensure that recently freed slaves born in the United States were citizens, and since the ratification of the 14th Amendment in 1868, it has been our cornerstone of ensuring that those born here are American. 

In short, any Executive Order that tries to defy this would be considered unconstitutional. It would take 38 states to repeal the 14th Amendment.  For those of you, not worried about the implications of trying to take away birthright citizenship, try and think about what it would mean exactly.  

Though, it must be admitted that the faith in our institutions at this time is low, and with a White Christian Nationalist as House Speaker, it is difficult to imagine that Congress will stop the Trump Oligarchy from violating those who are born here. And groups, like the American Civil Liberties Union, were ready to fight the Trump Oligarchy over an important, but not often thought of, Amendment. We all know that this “edict” is unconstitutional, and we will see if the Supreme Court will side with the rule of law or with lawlessness. The sickening feeling is that the Court will let us down, as five out of the nine seem to fit in with The Heritage Foundation’s view of our society.

There was a time that if someone had children in the US, that they could stay. But in 1990’s that changed with various changes during the Clinton Administrations. So, even if an undocumented immigrant couple have a US born child, or using the racist term, “anchor baby”, those immigrants can still be deported.  The irony is that the child is considered a US citizen and has the right to remain, but their parents do not.  A government that would split up a family or force a child that has remained here most of their lives to live in a nation that is strange to them, well, it’d be a cruel and heartless government to want to do that to families.  Unfortunately, that government has arrived with all the hatred and cruelty that our nation has not seen in decades.

For those who voted for this level of cruelty, we can only help that it begins to affect you like it does for the other half of us.

This fight over the 14th Amendment is based on white supremacy, and if you don’t know this, you should read a history book some time.  One argument that will be made by the Trump Oligarchy’s lawyers is that this Executive Order to suspend birthright citizenship is because of the “border emergency”, and never mind, The Alien Enemies Act will be used along with this. (And to think about it, that’s probably the reason that many regressive politicians have used the terms like “threat” and called the migrant movement, “invasions”, these terms are used to win in the public opinion polls.) The hate and nationalism is real. 

The point is to tell you all that if this Executive Order is held up by SCOTUS, then it becomes that “proverbial” slippery slope. Remember, that FDR used World War II as an excuse to put Japanese immigrants and even citizens into internment camps. And that is the point, if you look “foreign”, the bigots and the ICE agents are not going to ask for your proof of citizenship, many of us will be swept up, and even if you could prove that you are a citizen, your life could become a living hell, like those Japanese-Americans who were placed in those camps, many Americans including SCOTUS felt it was justified. If it happened then, it can happen again not only with undocumented latin immigrants, but documented and US Citizens. These atrocities can happen again, and if the Trump Oligarchy wins its arguments in court, we all should be afraid, well, half of us will be, anyway.

We cannot let this Executive Order stand! We must contact our House and Senate members to fight this, but again, many of us have lost faith in our institutions.  

Unfortunately, that is the power of propaganda, that one can fight so hard to quash it, but then when real atrocities begin to happen, those witnessing it or become victims of it, they become rumors or called propaganda by the oppressors, and no one believes it, until it becomes too late. This is basically what those who commit atrocities count on, no one believing the actual truth. Now with automated intelligence and CGI, including voice, it will be easier for the Trump Oligarchy to tell us not to believe our eyes or ears. And the speed at which propaganda is easily spread and now any weak guardrails are completely gone.

Also, NO politician can take away any constitutional right, and those of you who are so "gun" ho about the 2nd Amendment, then this should infuriate you. But of course, maybe you all have tunnel vision. But if you let one Constitutional Amendment fall with one Executive Order, then the others will follow, I promise you that we are on our way to tyranny. So, what are you going to do? "Death or Liberty!" to paraphrase Patrick Henry.

So this is what many of us voted for. It’s a shame that we never learn from history, or maybe the most evil of us do, but they repeat the outcome but learn from past mistakes. All because of the price of gas and eggs.