There have been many disturbing days over the past year. I found yesterday to be particularly troubling. Chief of Staff John Kelly called people who had not already signed up for DACA to be “too lazy to get off their asses.”
Our journalist, Kaitlyn D’Onofrio, wrote a very good story about this.
I was emotionally rocked to learn from her article that it costs $495 to sign up for DACA. I didn’t know.
I think there are times in most people’s lives where $495 is simply a bridge too far. Can you imagine being in another country, brought there as a child, without documents What kind of job would you have How much money would you have in your pocket Not being able to open a bank account — having to hide your little savings someplace while you work at your menial job. $495 is a HUGE amount of money.
I’m embarrassed that I didn’t know about the application fee. The chief of staff for the president of the United States has no excuse, especially when he’s going to be a racist and demean an entire group of people that lives among us. There are days when I feel embarrassed to be an American.
Aside from this debacle yesterday, draft-dodging Trump also told our military he wants a grand military parade. (Trump is also known as Cadet Bone Spurs, a great nickname coined by former assault helicopter pilot Sen. Tammy Duckworth.)
The founders of this country were against a standing army — James Madison: “A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions to liberty. The means of defence against foreign danger, have been always the instruments of tyranny at home. Among the Romans it was a standing maxim to excite a war, whenever a revolt was apprehended. Throughout all Europe, the armies kept up under the pretext of defending, have enslaved the people.”
This was on his mind because our country had just beaten the global superpower (England). Here is our Third Amendment: “No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.”
Why was this the Third Amendment The British would kick your door in, throw you out on the street and put their troops in your house, anytime they felt like it.
I have served our military, in several capacities, for most of my adult life. I think a military parade in Washington, other than to celebrate the end of a war, is anti-American; Trump is either talking out of ignorance or simply lying about the strength of our military. At one-third the size it currently is, it would still be the planet’s largest military by far. His focus on nuclear weapons makes me believe that unilateral nuclear disarmament is the only safe way for our planet to proceed.
If Donald J. Trump doesn’t make you a believer in that philosophy, you’re not paying attention. Most people aren’t. Let’s face it, we can’t intimidate a backwards hermitage nation with 1/1200th of our GDP. Something is seriously wrong with our leadership and how we’re spending money.
