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We are witnessing a coup
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As a student of Soviet political science, both in college and graduate school, I have long studied authoritarianism. What you may not know is that the U.S.S.R. had checks and balances: three people as the triumvirate ruling the huge country for decades.
In 1977, Leonid Brezhnev was First Secretary of the Communist Party. He arranged the ouster of one of those three (Nikolai Podgorny, Chairman of the Supreme Soviet’s Presidium) and added that post to his. Alexei Kosygin remained the Premier, and Brezhnev remained what we’d call a President but with twice the power. This happened while I was there with a group from university, but we had no idea until we were out of the country. It was quick and bloodless, but a coup nonetheless.
In 1991, hardliner Communists attempted a coup against Western-leaning Mikhail Gorbachev who was held under house arrest at his dacha near Yalta in Crimea, Ukraine. I was there then, too, having rented a car to drive around the peninsula, likely past his dacha, completely unknowing of what happened until we were out of the country. The coup failed, and the Soviet Union collapsed.
For the past two weeks, the United States has been under attack from the inside, a coup against nearly everything our forefathers had established as a democratic government. In this case, however, I’m able to read and watch it, nearly as it happens.
For starters, and quite unbelievably, the U.S. government has been sold off to billionaires who expect favored status with lawsuits, EPA standards, worker standards and unions, consumer protections, and more. The favors have already begun.
One of those billionaires who has “bought” the U.S. government was appointed (contrary to all Constitutional procedure) to a position that didn’t exist, in a new department of oversight that likewise was created unconstitutionally. Neither elected nor approved by Congress (not even a routine security check), this one man has gained access to all Federal employee records, to the $6 trillion Treasury disbursements system and all of our financial information, to USAID and top-
secret State Department files, and today to Education records – all contrary to both established law and to the Constitution. 2.3 million Federal employees have been told to quit or be fired. That’s everyone, at every level, in every department. 2.3 million.
Programs have been summarily halted, entire departments being dismantled (USAID, Education), and millions being asked to quit or be fired – all against the Civil Servants law and the Constitution. Civil servants are not political appointments, and by law require 30-days notice AND a specific and lawful reason for termination (“to align with the President’s agenda” is not a lawful reason, no matter how loudly some may proclaim it).
Today, Musk has declared war on Lutheran Social Services. You read that right. They are accused of using the “Lutheran” faith to launder money (those are their words, and quotes. I’m guessing no one in this group attacking LSS is Lutheran, and they have no idea of all the social services they provide that are not provided by the government. Really? LSS?
Also targeted are our Ukrainian refugee friends. Their specific program, Uniting for Ukraine, has been halted along with all other refugee programs. Both Ukrainian refugees and their U.S. sponsors are vetted before they are invited to come to the U.S. (at their own expense). They are granted a two-year parole status, with permission to work. They work hard, and they pay taxes and are here legally – with the paperwork to prove it. But now they are on the list to be deported if they have been here for fewer than two years. Most of them have nothing to return home to: Russia has literally flattened much of the area in the east of Ukraine, the very place so many of our Ukrainian friends have fled from.
We know about this because of resistance and opposition.
This isn’t a shake-up, it’s not “disruption;” it’s throwing the baby out with the bathwater. It’s elimination of every established value (including rights to privacy of our personal information) of these United States. Lives will be lost (without communication about avian influenza, for example, and without the USDA, CDC, and HHS staff to monitor and advise about how to limit the spread of the disease to more humans). Who will be left to do the work of government if all seasoned and experienced employees are purged? Who will do the work we don’t want to do after all immigrants (documented or not) are rounded up for deportation?
Before you write any of this off as just left-wing propaganda on one TV news station or another, keep in mind that I am both a journalist and political -scientist. I know how to research, and to double-check and -triple-check facts. And I have -dozens of trustworthy sources at my fingertips (as do you).
You may still think this doesn’t affect you in any way. I urge you too think again. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Department of Education, Centers for Disease, National Institutes of Health, National Labor Relations Board, Federal Aviation Administration, National Transportation Safety Board, Commerce Department, 18 Intelligence agencies, Federal Emergency Management Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and hundreds more. Imagine them all without staff, or eliminated entirely. The food you eat, air or train travel, Ebola outbreak, your rights at work, the privacy of your personal and financial information, severe weather announcements, natural disaster relief, Meals on Wheels – all this and more have been put at high risk. Pretending it’s not there can’t help!
If any of this concerns you, please let your U.S. Senators and Representative hear from you!
Contacts:
U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar
425 Dirksen Senate Office Bldg.
Washington DC 20510
(202) 224-3244
U.S. Senator Tina Smith
720 Hart Senate Office Bldg.
Washington DC 20510
(202) 224-5641
U.S. Rep. Michelle Fischbach (District 7)
2229 Rayburn House Office Bldg.
Washington DC 20515
(202) 225-2165
U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer (District 6)
326 Cannon House Office Bldg.
Washington DC 20515
(202) 225-2331
U.S. Capitol Switchboard
(202) 224-3121