A Moral Moment

                                   

Dear Sen./Rep. _______,

I'm guessing you didn't pay any attention to the marathon speech Cory Booker gave, so I'd like to give you a Cliff Notes version of it.

Quoting Heather Cox Richardson (whose Letters from an American it would do you good to read): 

" Booker called out the Trump administration’s violations of the Constitution and detailed the ways in which the administration is hurting Americans. Farmers have lost government contracts, putting them in a financial crisis. Cuts to environmental protections that protect clean air and water are affecting Americans’ health. Housing is unaffordable, and the administration is making things worse. Cuts to education and medical research and national security breaches have made Americans less safe. The regime accidentally deported a legal resident because of “administrative error” and now says it cannot get him back.

"“These are not normal times in America, and they should not be treated as such,” he said. “This is our moral moment. This is when the most precious ideas of our country are being tested…. Where does the Constitution live, on paper or in our hearts?”

So many things to address. Could YOU begin by being outraged that, through an administrative error, a legal resident has been sent to a foreign prison and the administration that sent him there isn't trying to get him back? 

Let this be YOUR moral moment. Or is the word "moral" on the ever-expanding list of words proscribed by this immoral regime?

Your sincerely outraged constituent

 

 

Democracy Awakening--A Tour de Force

                                                                     

Heather Cox Richardson delivers a solid, historically based examination of America's contradictory approach to democracy.  From the Founding Fathers, whose fine words about equality only pertained to White males, to today's gerrymandered system that puts people in office without a majority of votes, Democracy is endangered. Throughout our history, there have been two opposing views of what government should do: protect property (including enslaved people) and give business free rein or protect people.

I found as I read this book that though, as a faithful reader of Heather's "Letters from an American" I had already been aware of much, even most of the historical and current incidents she discusses, the piled-up effect of reading about one deplorable event after another--Dixiecrats, supply-side economics, CREEP, the botched election in Florida (hanging chads, anyone?) the Iraq War, Russian interference, the insane hold the former guy has on the GOP--one shameful thing after another, I had to put the book aside and read something like Agatha Christie--an escape to a nice fictional murder before continuing on with the real-life murderous attempts on our democracy.

It's the history of our democracy suffering death by a thousand cuts--or our democracy as the hapless frog in the pot of water that comes to a boil so slowly the frog doesn't realize he's being cooked.

Heather's clear and careful prose, backed by her encyclopedic grasp of American history, make for utterly compelling reading. It's nothing less than the struggle between right and wrong, between democracy and authoritarianism. 

I wish everyone had had a history teacher like Heather,

There's a fine, detailed review in the Washington Post HERE

                                                                                 

A Must Read

                                                                                        

Neil Gaiman or Patrick Tull (narrator of the Aubrey/Maturin series) read me to sleep most nights; Heather Cox Richardson kickstarts my mornings with her Letters from an American. 

Her calm rational prose generally makes sense of today's chaotic-verging-on-surreal political situation. With her intimate knowledge of our nation's history, Heather (as we readers of her daily newsletter call her) brings her deep understanding of our nation's past and the ongoing struggle to live up to the ideals of democracy to bear on the events of today--when that same democracy is under threat from authoritarianism.

Her latest book is here--I pre-ordered--and I look forward the understanding it will bring. And I urge all of you to read it. 

Heather is a national treasure--and you can find her on FB and at heathercoxrichardson@substack.com. 

Now, I have a book to read . . . I'm pretty sure it won't disappoint.