Our safety and happiness are always up for grabs, and elections are one of the ways in which these important items can be taken, if we’re not careful.
Our safety and happiness are always up for grabs, and elections are one of the ways in which these important items can be taken, if we’re not careful.
America’s present First Lady on a visit to Texas wore a jacket with a message on it “I really don’t care. Do U?” 1
That is a question of life or death importance: “Do U care?”
In a few weeks many, but not all, Americans will have an opportunity to exercise their power to decide whether to make America more “compassionate” again – or not.
“A more compassionate America” was the goal of the recently late wife of a friend of mine. Naomi died at an early age of ovarian cancer. Ralph Nader visited her grieving husband after Naomi passed. Naomi was a politically aware and involved citizen who raised a wonderful family and was concerned about what she saw happening to America. Naomi cared.
Afflictions that harm us all stem from a culture of corruption that has increasingly infected politics – especially in Washington, DC – in the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branches of the U.S. government.
A diagnosis of the corruption at the core of our democracy in the Judicial branch was documented by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse at the recent Hearing on the nomination of Judge Kavanaugh. Watch the video. 2 Transcript here.2
A Legal Reader article warned of the Trump Administration’s efforts to reshape the Judiciary to favor Republican policies against the public interests. 3
And for decades, Republican policies have indeed been violently harmful to “we the people.” 4
What We Can Do
As long as too many Americans are indifferent and ignorant of their interests and their unused power, “we the people” will continue to suffer.
Just some of the problems all Americas are currently afflicted with include:
- Injustice
- Inequality
- Instability (Climate, Global Pollution, Social, and Political)
- Insatiability (Greed)
Ralph Nader, someone who has done so much to improve our safety and security, describes what “we the people” can do in an inspiring talk on his new book To the Ramparts. He notes it is easier than we think to make positive changes. 5
Nader’s Open Letter to Harvard Law Students concludes:
“If the law is to mean anything, it must be the institutional vanguard for a just society. Replacing complicity with conscience, you can be both its sentinels and its tribunes.”
He provides valuable advice on how lawyers can act for justice. 6
Sources:
- Melania dons jacket saying ‘I really don’t care. Do U?’ ahead of her border visit — and afterward
- Senator Whitehouse’s Opening Remarks at Supreme Court Hearing (C-Span video); “EVERY DAMN TIME!!!” Sheldon Whitehouse SCHOOLS Brett Kavanaugh on SCOTUS Corporate Corruption (YouTube video with exhibits shown); WHITEHOUSE REVEALS KAVANAUGH’S PRO-CORPORATE, RIGHT-WING RECORD IN SCOTUS HEARING OPENER (transcript)
- Justice for the People? Trump Administration Reshapes Judiciary
- Republican Racketeers: Violent Roots of Republican Policies
- Ralph Nader, “To The Ramparts”
- An Open Letter to Harvard Law Students
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