America Is

The unfolding reality of the new Trump administration is causing tongues to wag. And brains to percolate. People are reacting. Their utterances come with bits and pieces of value statements, beliefs even. Occasionally, serious commentators and writers share full statements of creed.

Things taught in school long ago come back to mind. How the government was designed, engineered, to engage the governed in the full machinery and action of the governance system itself. The concept of We The People came to be. The American system of government was of, for and by the people themselves. We came to know that as young students in elementary grades. A bit foggy now, but the core is there and remembered still.

My mind keeps going back to the consent of the governed. Abraham Lincoln spoke so well of this in his Gettysburg Address. The very core idea of America was expressed by him then. It has resonated with me for decades. Let’s revisit it here:

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. Abraham Lincoln. November 19, 1863

He wrote this while in transport to Gettysburg. He wrote it on the back of a used envelope. It is succinct. It needs no analysis. It means exactly what it says.

Our forefathers did this for us. They distilled their recent history to what it meant for them and all of us, and generations to come. They argued and battled over every word. It took time and then more discussions. And then it was reviewed by the states and approved over time before it became law.

Key words are liberty, equality of all, government of the people, by the people, for the people. Enduring words and concepts.

The system of government they engineered has stood the test of time. It is tri-partite – legislative, executive and judicial. Each branch watches over the others. It is balanced and held true. And it is focused on the people, not the governors within the system.

Today, the struggle for that balance is in full view. The executive branch has so far held sway over the legislative branch. The only watchdog working currently is the judiciary. Will it hold? This is not known. We hope it will.

If it doesn’t, our form of government ceases to exist. Is that what the people want? After all this time?

In the making of this a prima facie case is evident: the US Constitution has been betrayed and not upheld. That is foundational to a crime against the oath of office for every elected person involved. It is cause for their impeachment and removal from office.

It is up to us, We The People, to make certain that impeachment and removal is performed.

Do it!

February 17, 2025

 

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