Donovan Gwinn

Give me your tired, your poor,

Your

huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,

Send these, the

homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the

golden door!

This saying was a welcoming to immigrants who sought refuge to America decades ago. A nation that was built upon immigration and the thought of freedom to come to a new land free from tyranny, where one could begin anew, with freedoms listed in a magnificent document, filled with flaws, but designed to be perfected by later generations to continue promising and protecting freedom as the times changed. Have we forgotten that sacred vow we made when we took up arms against oppressors? Have we forgotten that we fought to free ourselves from the shackles of those who would imprison us for petty ideals without a fair trail or persecution for simply who we were or where we came from? For now, it seems we wish to repeat the very same principles that we sought a revolution against.

How are we to be a nation that welcomes immigrants when we tear a family apart? When we hold them indefinitely without representation, a trial, or accommodation of any form? When we can plead no fault when those within our custody are assaulted by people we tasked with supervising those we placed in detention?

How can we be the beacon of liberty to the world when a representative of the Department of Justice, a cabinet that is supposed to lead the charge on defending the rights of everyone, not just those they deem worthy, can walk into a courtroom, look several judicial members in the face, and tell them that denial of necessities is not required by them, nor is it unsafe or unsanitary? Is it not ironic that a cabinet named after the practice of seeking retribution for victims, will defend the victimization of those at the mercy of the government?

How will history look at us when they look back and see that rather than placing them in proper facilities, we hoard them together in confined spaces, with barely any room to walk, where children look after children, where those same children are punished for showing affection towards their siblings, where deaths of migrants from illness, which could most likely be prevented if trained medical professionals were the first to screen them at actual medical facilities? I would dare to compare it to how we now look at allowing the institutions of slavery to exist.

The people who practice these policies wish to guise it as national security purposes. They will blame a party that holds no power within the executive at fault for not drafting legislation to stop them from committing human rights violations. How telling it is when the perpetrators of infringements of liberty will tell others that they will not stop until someone prevents them from doing so, for a moral person does not look at what is legal or not legal, but whether an action is right or wrong. They stop an act when it harms someone for that is the human response which separates us from the beasts in the wild.

A common defense is the rule of law of gaining entry legally. But how is one to gain entry legally when they sold everything they have and now cannot prove who they are, a requirement this administration of heartlessness requires? Are they to wish their identities into existence? They sold nearly all their belongings to get here. They have no choice but to break the law to enter a land that they were told would bear fruits of a better life. Are we to blame them for being born less fortunate? How many of us would be willing to trek across dangerous land for a better life? Most of us would never think about such an idea. Yet we punish those that are determined to help contribute to our nation.

These primitives have the audacity to bellow at us that the term concentration camps is offensive and demeaning. But what else do you call a facility that overcrowds an ethnic group for political reasons, with armed guards keeping them in? Do we have to wait until they are victims of genocide to call it what it is? It never starts with mass killings. It progresses its way to death as punishment. Any steps that seem to repeat atrocities should be avoided at all costs. It is offensive to the memories of Holocaust victims to say rounding people up and caging them is not comparable because that is exactly what happened to them at first.

Let us argue the insanity of denying basic liberties that we are all born with for nothing more than a minor violation of a foreign law. How can one rationally argue the complete denial of a human being’s freedom for stepping over a boundary? For the defense of such a heinous act is the defense of tyranny. Did we not fight to free ourselves from the clutches of such to preserve our liberties? Therefore, why do we wish to be oppressors?

Yet people dare to defend such. And it is not grown men and women we punish. No. How heartbreaking it is to see little ones being crowded together, taking care of each other because guards refuse to assign a caretaker? Alas, what have we become! How can we be the leader of the free world when we punish children for showing affection to their siblings? When we can say that our most vulnerable sleeping on a cold, concrete surface in the harsh desert they traversed across, that it is safe and sanitary? That denying food and water is caring? Where inspections reveal disease thriving and outbreaks an inch away. Even infants are there to suffer, being denied clean dishes to drink from. How many will suffer before we take a final stand against this and force these tyrants to reverse course? Or will we repeatedly just raise our voices, but not show our might and let the lion roar?

Villians of humanity, destroyers of freedom, practitioners of hate, this I forever name you. I refuse to be suttle about this. I refuse to let the ground crumble and the foundations of the most inspiring nation the world has come to know, be torn by a regime hellbent on laying waste to justice and implant authoritarianism in its place. History has set its eyes upon this nation. And it will be written that all who supported such invasive attacks on America’s meaning be confined to the hall of tyrants.

The failure of our leaders to negotiate for funding of our government is perhaps the greatest failure a public official can commit against the people of the nation they were elected to represent. Few things amount to surpassing the lack of integrity and responsibility of one chosen to take care of the nation they swore to take care of.

To hold the American people hostage to push one’s political agenda is not only cowardly, but it shows that one only cares about themselves. They do not care about advancing the nation. They do not care about ensuring funds reach the agencies and people that require them. They just care about their legacy.

The idea that leaving the debate about funding a structure has to be now, not later is a falsehood built on the worries of those running out of time to fulfill promises that they made to their constituents and will kill their chances of reelection. Fiscal budgets always include spending set aside to be used for projects that at the time of the budget, have not been created.

The GOP hopes that they can shift the blame across the aisle to put the pressure of the public upon them. Yet it was not the Democrats who floated the idea of putting a gun to Americans’ head in order to fund a border wall. The head of their party did. And their head of their party took full responsibility by literally saying they would hold themselves accountable for it and proudly would. And now that Trump has fulfilled his promise of such after Democrats refused to fund a wall within the fiscal budget, the GOP was put in a position of despair due to their idea of trying to force them to fund the wall, they had to change the narrative because they are nothing more than spineless cowards unable to understand the definition of accountability.

And yet as hundreds of thosuands of Americans are being used as pawns, forced to work without paychecks, their families becoming increasingly worried and resorting to rely on welfare programs to get by, the food stamps program being threatened as the clock ticks toward funding running out, public areas being unattended as trash and biological waste builds or destruction of the property increases, the GOP continues to not budge on their tantrum.

If our Founders saw what our nation has became, they would be enraged. We built this nation on the principle of the public being the priority, not political agendas, hence why the power belongs to the people, not the elected. Politics is a game of chess. And while pawns may be deemed dispensable, people forget how dangerous they are when they reach the opposite side. The people must rise up and remind those whom we entrusted with running our system, that we don’t serve them, that they serve us.

The old saying goes, “Blood is thicker than water.” There are many reasons you back your family. Because you love them. Because they and you ate there for each other in times of need. Because it is nature taking its course due to the bonding traits of a species relying on the social aspects to sustain the sanity of an individual. And because it is what it means to being human. But is that bond unlimited and not to have limits? The answer is a very simply and hard no.

Family can only support each other if they are willing to go down the same path as each other. Toxic principles will not always be replicated among all of us. Some of us share them. Some do not want to experience them. We all have a different sense of right and wrong, even if our viewpoint of morality is in fact right or wrong. And people have the right to go against their flesh and blood to speak how they wish, whether for the better worse.

I cannot fathom, no matter the time spent thinking about the topic, why people will feel betrayed by someone for not holding the same beliefs, as if they feel we all should be some mindless species with no free will. There is nothing wrong with having a different belief. But what makes it wrong is when those beliefs are against people’s basic human rights or attacks them simply for existing.

If people wish to feel that holding family accountable for the mistreatment of others is traitorous, I suggest that they just leave society altogether. A society that wishes to expand and better itself relies on the not tolerating hatred and to elevate decency above greed.

Betrayal is well known in politics. It’s nothing new. It’s as old as the first society. But it never ceases to shock us when it flares up. Sometimes it isn’t that bad. But other times, it creates a ripple effect across the nation. People will accept it in some scenarios. They aren’t bothered by it. Why would they be bothered when they are so infatuated with their partisan beliefs? But there are times when the waves become so high, they start to wash away people’s bias and draw them to the other side.

The scorpions, they will act sincere. They will act like they care. But they can’t ever help from screwing others over, no matter if they get drowned too. They don’t care about the frogs that they will take out. They just care about their core beliefs. Their nature.

What was supposed to be a hearing to seek justice, was turned into a partisan inquisition. It was turned into an attack on the opposition. It was no longer about hearing what Ford had to say and protecting victims of predation. No. It was to score political points. They wanted to rile up their base. They wanted to sow seeds of doubt. They used fake outrage to act as if they cared about impartiality and seeking truth.

The scorpions will act like letting her testify was giving her a crown. But they set unfair standards. Unfair procedures. They blamed Democrats for not participating in an investigation, but the investigation was a phone call. How can one call justice served without the person being in front of them? How can one say that calling upon the best federal investigation is inadequate? That they don’t reach conclusions, that “they just report?”

And the scorpions, they don’t stop there. No. They keep scheming. They act like a day was enough. That it was no longer relevant to find truth. But that is where truth is found. By choosing to vote the next day, they stuck their stinger into the frog. They proved what the real farce, sham, disgrace was: To push the alpha scorpion to a higher position to elevate their playing field. The truth, that can’t be discussed. They have to make sure they survive. So, they want to make sure it’s as speedy as possible. A delay to them is unacceptable…Even though the scorpions waited nearly a year to pick one of their own.

We don’t have much of a choice right now. The line is thin. The clock is ticking. This scorpion who has drowned so many frogs, he has chosen to not cooperate with outside sources to clear himself, versus the frog that has. It is time to stop trusting the arachnid. It is time to let them try to swim on their own. Let them earn their way up the stream to the bench. Let us not give them a ride because we agree, just so we can all drown. Let us be better.

The choosing of a Supreme Court Justice is a rare choice. They are appointed for life, with retirement, impeachment, or death being the only way to be removed. When a seat becomes vacant, a president is able to nominate any person eligible that he/she sees fit, allowing them to put another mark of accomplishments to their legacy. And it is something not to take lightly , such as we do with elections. Why? Because only the president may choose a nominee.

The concern from one person being able to choose a justice lies in the issue that they are usually chosen based on alignment with the sitting administration’s core values. It is rare for one to choose one outside of their own party, which was what made then-president Barack Obama’s pick being denied any hearing so controversial and an insult.

For those unfamiliar with what had happened, Justice Scalia had died in February 2016. He was a very conservative judge, ruling against many rights for many groups of people for decades, ruling based off what is called “originalism” and “textualism.” With Obama in his last year of his second term, Kentucky Senator and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, had denied any confirmation hearing to replace Scalia with a new justice, denying Obama his right and his duty, guaranteed in the Constitution, to choose a new justice, with the excuse being, “The people should decide after the election.” The insult was that Obama had chosen what both sides could consider one of the most non-partisan choices a president could make: Swallowing their pride and nominating a person that lies in the center. Merrick Garland had support on both sides on the aisle, but was given a no because the Republicans wanted to choose a justice themselves. For a year, the Supreme Court was divided, sometimes coming into an evenly divided decision because they had no one to be the tiebreaker. The Republicans chose party before country. After Trump was elected, Sen. McConnell allowed a vote on Trump’s nominee, to which Neil Gorsuch was voted on and won, with his decisions already threatening people’s rights.

But why am I telling you all this? Because Justice Kennedy resigned. Our official tiebreaker that was more centrist than other justices and held more reason in him, screwed us over twice in the same week and in one of the biggest political “Fuck you”s, resigned that same week in June. And that allows Trump and the Republican Senators to nominate and confirm a second justice to seal their partisan beliefs in the highest court. And like I said: A justice is chosen with a life on the bench. What they rule usually results in decades of being law of the land because their job is to interpret the law of the land and rule whether people violated it. And the only way to change a ruling is to amend the Constitution to where what they said is invalid or have another case, to which if struck down, the newest ruling becomes the new law of the land. The Supreme Court is arguably the most powerful branch of government because they are the final say in any legal disputes. They can rule against or for rights, to which makes partisanship a huge threat to liberty. One case can literally ensure the persecution of an entire group of people.

With Trump’s nominee being Brett Kavanaugh, his views are a threat to the rights of abortion, the separation of church and state, and setting the president above the reach of the law. In 2017, he voted in favor of placing an undue burden on an illegal minor, purposefully trying to prevent her from obtaining an abortion and attempting to prolong the case to the 20th week of pregnancy, to which it would be against Texas law to obtain one, to force her into a sponsorship. He voted in another case in 2012, saying a group that has a religious objection to perform certain acts will have an undue burden by signing papers to exempt them. This was when Priests for Life objected to having to fill out paperwork that would exempt them from providing contraception as mandated by the Affordable Care Act. And lastly, in 2009, he made a claim that president should be given exemptions from any justice someone might seek, whether civil suits and criminal investigations and prosecutions, with the reason basically being “Just impeach them.” And that is just the top of the list of radical views that he holds. There are many more issues to cause concern over, but would take hours to explain.

Right now, what we need to do is inform our Senators of our views. We need to let our voices be heard. A second pick from the administration will result in disastrous outcomes. And with him being younger than the others, it might be decades until another president can put someone on the bench to balance the scales again. We cannot afford to let that happen.