By Margarita Velez
How much are we Americans willing to take from this administration?
It’s bad enough that people are fired, benefits diminished, the deficit increased by trillions, and tax breaks go to the rich while the poor get poorer. President Donald Trump bombed Iran without approval from Congress. Unable to stop the Ukraine-Russian war he promised would end on his first day in office, he starts another.
He exploits the Oval Office to fatten his family interests and gives orders to arrest people suspected of being in this country illegally, jailing legal residents on trumped up charges. Good Lord, help us!
My father, a Mexican immigrant among thousands like him, enlisted in World War II, and returned a decorated hero. He endured bigotry because of his dark skin and broken English but taught his children respect for the Constitution and the rights of all citizens.
Today, he might just get deported. Meanwhile, the president holds a parade with soldiers and tanks that damage asphalt roads. Will he pay for those repairs? Hell, no, he never paid El Paso for police protection from the 2020 campaign.
Alex Padilla, a United States senator from California, was manhandled and thrown to the floor when he wanted to ask questions. Staff surely provided Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem a brief identifying California’s senators and representatives. But she and her officers ignored the Senate seal on his jacket and humiliated the nation.
My head spins with the many violations committed by this administration, which has sworn to protect our rights provided by the Constitution.
As regional director for U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm, every year I visited schools throughout West Texas speaking to fourth- and fifth-graders about the Constitution they were studying. It was gratifying to see their faces light up when they realized how that 246-year-old document guarantees our rights.
Those students must wonder where we went wrong. We didn’t go wrong! The Ozymandias did! (Ozymandias refers to a megalomaniac tyrant whose arrogance is undone by time).
How much more are we Americans willing to take from this administration and the Ozymandias mouthing diplomacy while ordering bombings?
So far, our rights for freedom of religion, to assemble, free speech, bear arms and against unreasonable search remain intact, albeit threatened. We must send a message to the president and those gutless Cabinet members sitting on their hands. Let them know that we demand respect for the fundamental values of our Constitution.
Flood Republican and Democratic representatives and senators with calls and letters to show that we stand shoulder to shoulder against those who threaten to change the values and beliefs that made America great.
The time is now!
Margarita Velez is an El Paso writer and former district director for U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas.
The post Opinion: To protect the Constitution, we must stand up to Trump administration appeared first on El Paso Matters.
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