From: Charles Abiahu charlesabiahu@gmail.com [NigerianID] <NigerianID-noreply@yahoogroups.com>
Date: 22 January 2017 at 06:41
Subject: NigerianID | The Dawn of Trump: The American experiment in Democracy.
To: NigerianID@yahoogroups.com
The Dawn of Trump: The American experiment in Democracy.
On this first day of a Trump Presidency, Americans are wondering what the future holds for our Union. Every four years this great Country continues an experiment that has eluded the vast majority of Countries around the world. The peaceful hand over of the reins of power to the winner of elections by a sitting President to the winner at the polls is something to be celebrated. This contrast with thuggery, rigging of the polls and sometimes a military takeover of power at the force of machine guns is why all Americans should be proud as we welcome the 45th President. Yet, we should be reminded that this great democracy is not made so great just by our beliefs and practice of free and fair elections or the governmental agencies and democratic institutions. All of these can be corroded or lost. The American experiment is protected by us. The citizenry of this Country is the greatest asset and safeguard for our democracy. Our believe in each other and in the duty of each citizen to preserve the "American way" is an unshakeable culture. As Americans we believe that all people are created equal and should be treated as such with certain rights that no one can take away from us no matter how privileged in governmental position or wealth. Everyone is equal in the eyes of the laws of the land and deserve equal protection by the State and her apparatus of power. Americans cherish our rights to freely express our opinion of praise or condemnation of people in power without expecting recrimination or sanction.
I am wishing the new President well for the sake of my Country but as I reminisce over the eighteen months of the Trump campaign to the Office of Presidency of this Country, I am very wary that the new President either does not understand what makes this Country great and the envy of so many around the world or would not hesitate to erode them. President Donald Trump continues to fight the media with a penchant that is only practiced in fascist regimes. Just recently he threatened to relocate the white house Press core to a different building upon resuming Office. During his campaigns, he denied credentials to media houses he felt were not flattering of him in their reporting and openly feuds or mocks reporters who have authored reports that are not so favorable. Free speech and the independent media are the bedrock of this democracy and Americans will soon take notice that the President is trying to silence dissenting speech. I have seen this President beat down on individual citizens just for speaking their convictions, calling people names and mocking them just because of a political disagreement and my hope is that yesterday's inauguration will bring Mr. President to a new awakening that a political witch hunt will be intolerable to Americans. He is now President of all Americans, including those that did not vote for him or who has a legitimate disagreement.
Perhaps this President will prove me wrong but everything I saw during the campaign portends that this government is poised on rolling back the achievements of this Country in our believe in the citizenship and rights of all races and colors, the equality of all genders and citizens under our laws, the rights of all citizens to freely express their opinion and believes and protest their government and the non-interference in the practice of a chosen religion of citizens. Mr. Trump launched his campaign by condemning all Mexicans as rapists and drug dealers, He has derided women and judges them only by their beauty or body physic, he continues to trash blacks as lazy and living in squalor and has promised a more rigorous immigration policy against Muslim Americans. You may want to dismiss these as the exaggerated speech of a rigorous campaign but my heart sank yesterday when the same divisive rhetoric were repeated in his inaugural speech. It was another campaign speech, if you will, rather than the traditional opportunity of bringing the Country together and foreclosing on the campaign. I had high hopes that he will reach out to those electorates that were in Majority that voted for Mrs. Clinton but he did not. It was also troubling that he never acknowledged the United States Congress or the Supreme Court that are equal and co-branches of our government. It was all about what he will do and his campaign promises. Sounded more like a speech of a despot rather than the leader of the world's most revered democracy.
I am not also very encouraged by the ironic coincidence that all of President Trump's appointees to High Offices of Power conveniently are those who has rolled back or participated in rolling back the rights and privileges we have come to take for granted. Jeff Sessions has a lifetime record of fighting against the rights of minorities to vote unimpeded and has supported police brutality against blacks and is Mr. Trumps choice for Office of Attorney General, an office that enforces equal protection and access to our Laws; His pick of Treasury Secretary, an Office that regulates Banks and formulates economic policies that advances the pocket lines of ordinary Americans is Steven Mnuchin whose public record disclosures show that none of his seventy bank branches was cited in minority neighborhoods. Redlining, the banking practice of mapping predominantly poor or black neighborhoods to deny them loans was outlawed by the National Bank Act of 1863. His own deputy revealed to investigators that Mr. Mnuchin ran a "foreclosure machine" that took away homes from struggling families at an unprecedented rate in spite of a government funding guarantee that offered banks credit and incentives at refinancing subprime mortgages. Mr. Mnuchin foreclosure machine preferred to throw families that have come on difficult times due to illness or loss of a job in a family instead of modifying their loans. Also, in part the high literacy and political awareness in this Country is guaranteed by the Constitution for early public education. Trumps's nominee for Education Secretary, Betsy Devos is a billionaire who admits that her children have never attended public schools and has spent fortunes promoting for-profit charter schools over public schools for more than thirty years. After spending a lifetime depleting funding for public schools that offer equal access to education for children of both rich and poor, she earns a badge from Mr. President to do the same thing on a national level. Mrs. Devos admits she has no training or experience in education or education policies and administration.
The irony of Mr. Trumps agenda at shaking up the fabrics of this Country is so glaring in his pick for energy Secretary. Rick Perry campaigned for Presidency singling out the Department of Energy as one of the three Ministries that were worthless and he wishes to disassemble. He is now to head the same parastatal he promised to dissolve. Scott Pruitt came to National prominence suing the Environmental Protection Agency and is Trump's pick to head the EPA. The EPA has rolled back industrial pollution and protects our air and waterways from dangerous chemicals and pollutants. Of all the great talents this Country has to offer, the President's Secretary of Sate nominee is Rex Tillerson, the Exon Mobil Chief. Under Tillerson, Exon Mobil enriched despots around the world and helped them siphon the wealth of their Country and oil and mineral deposits out of their lands, leaving their lands devastated, polluted and the citizens hungry and impoverished. He received the highest award from the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, whose continued interests to embarrass the United States and antagonize our interests around the world is well cataloged. Why is the new President so eager to roll back everything we have accepted as part of the American fabric, why does it seem so obvious that he is muzzling the free press that has kept our governments on their toe, why does he not hesitate to use his high offices to fight the individual citizen or attack a private business holding or pick every fight with his critics or perceived enemies, why is he so insecure that he surrounds himself only with immediate family or those who have proven loyalty to him.
Take a look at the incoming cabinet … Why is his cabinet so lacking of the diversity that we have come to expect and was practiced in previous regimes. There is not a single nominee of Hispanic origin and the only black nominee is Dr. Ben Carson who supported him early after losing out in the campaign. Dr. Carson, too will head the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) after he ran a campaign that criticized his black brothers as lazy and too dependent on government Housing and other programs that have been engineered to help the poor and weak of our society to live an honorable life than to die homeless on our streets. His all white cabinet is an insult to this Country that prides herself on the diversity of our races and cultures. Immigrants have made this Country the envy of the world by blazing the trails of multinational inventions that power our world. Almost half of the Fortune 500 industries were founded by immigrants or their children. A few landmarks include Google, Uber, Intel, Proctor & Gamble, eBay to name a few. The President of Western Union, Mr. Ersek was born in Turkey and once told a reporter he relocated from Europe to the United States to avoid racism. According to him, in America, "they don't ask where you are from, they ask what can you do". It is utterly depressing to watch Mr. President of this Country of Immigrants disparage immigrants so utterly and with malice. Ironic too that his wife only became a U.S. citizen ten years ago. His "America First" slogan is nothing more than the closed-mindedness and bigotry that have hindered progress in too many Countries and has helped to attract the best talents from all over to the U.S. Others say he has given voice and comfort to white supremacist that most new immigrants did not even know exists in the shadows.
Most third world Countries have missed their economic potential and progress almost exclusively due to tribal and religious feuding and favoritism that have elevated mediocrity over talent and merit. I don't think Americans want to degenerate to the regime of fear of our leaders or our neighbors. We are Americans and will resist any attempt to suppress us from speaking freely and holding our leaders to account. The trust of our democracy is not in our government. It is ingrained in the American spirit. It is a way of life, almost a religion that we are our brother's keeper. We do not give up our beliefs to speak truth to power and to protect the oppressed. Many Countries have trampled on their citizens by eroding the institutions of government and the Laws, but in America, our rights are given by God. They are protected by the willingness of ordinary citizens to march, to protest and if need be to die to protect the rights of fellow citizens. On this Dawn of a new administration, Americans will awake and safeguard our democracy from any "enemies, foreign or Domestic" to bring them down if they trample our way of life of freedom and equality of all. So Help us God.
Charles Abiahu Esq.
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