Constitutional Crisis

On November 8, 2016, with the election of Donald Trump as President, followed by the formal confirmation by the Electoral College and the inauguration, the United States of America entered into a Constitutional Crisis Era.

Prior to November 8, many variables and significant uncertainty contributed to the confusion over why and how Donald Trump might win the election. The polls showed he was not going to win the popular vote.  On November 8, 73.6 million people voted for someone else, while 63 million voted for Trump.  He lost the popular vote by 10.6 million.

The tipping point was when a foreign government exploited a weakness in America’s election system so that a minority of states, and a minority of voters within three states, determined the outcome of an election for President in the Electoral College.

The Constitution and our laws were designed to create a system that would protect against an authoritarian President.  However, the Russian government was able to organize at least 1,000 people in their months long propaganda campaign to not allow Hillary Clinton to become President.  At the same time, they were able to elect a man who’s very existence as a successful businessman depends on the investments approved by the highest levels of the Russian government.

The justification and methods to remove a President from office have worked successfully in the past so that America slowly worked our way through a crisis period.  In 2017, America has a Constitutional Crisis because we have no clear way to resolve our current dilemma.

With the Republican Party controlling the House and Senate, and the office of the President, plus the House of Representatives inexperience and unwillingness to impeach a Republican President, Trump will be able to continue as President.  The majority of voters in America recognize this as a crisis situation, and we are anxious, nervous and afraid of the consequences of inaction by the Republican controlled House.

The dilemma of inaction feels like watching in slow motion as an airplane full of people spirals slowly down toward the ground and never crashes.  We are living a nightmare.

Why and how do the people remove a POTUS when the House of Representatives will not act?  How do the people modify the Constitution and our laws to prevent a foreign government from ever again exploiting the Electoral College, while the Republican Party is obstructing every attempt to have an ethical and moral government.

You and your elected colleagues need to raise your voices and call this situation a Constitutional Crisis.  We need to find a way to remove the President and his appointed officials from office as soon as possible.  Otherwise Russia will expand their economic, political and military control over Europe and Asia, without resistance from America due to inaction by POTUS and the Republican Party controlling the House of Representatives.  People without affordable health care will die.  People will experience the consequences of climate change caused by CO2 pollution of the atmosphere.

We have a Constitutional Crisis defined by one Party controlling all the positions of power, and a President who’s family business success is controlled by a foreign government that is clearly America’s enemy.  Russia threatens Europe by cutting off natural gas deliveries, raising prices, interfering in elections, invading Crimea, starting a proxy war in Ukraine, and probing America with a spy ship, a cruse missile launch and close encounters between military planes.

Evidence exists to show that Republicans have significant contributions from the healthcare and fossil fuel industries.  The repeal of the ACA and EPA are their top priorities to benefit those industries.  Again, we have a Constitutional Crisis with Republicans in control and making decisions to benefit a few rich people. There is no clear way to resolve the power of money to influence political decisions.

Why and how is the Democratic Party going to transcend this Constitutional Crisis?  There does not appear to be a third way for America to successfully remove an illegitimate administration, and corrupt politicians from control of the federal government.  The FBI and CIA are investigating Trump’s ties to Russia.  But will the Republicans take action based on evidence or ideology?

You must work hard to develop a strategy that uses non-violent methods (198 listed by Gene Sharp at http://www.aeinstein.org ) to create a movement of movements, to get #TheResistance to form an alliance.  All the tribes, clans, clubs, chapters and huddles must be aligned with one purpose in order to overthrow the minority now in control of the federal government through illegitimate means:  interference of a foreign government and corrupt politicians doing what corporations want.

We have a Constitutional Crisis unlike any crisis in America’s history. The resolution of this crisis will change America forever.  The crisis climax will surprise everyone, except those of you with the foresight to stretch your minds across time and space for the truth.

Solar City Estimate

Intersections

Government exists only by the consent of the governed.

At the intersection of racism and climate change is air pollution.
"...several forms of domination intersect – we know, for instance, that the most affected by air pollution are often people of colour, living in popular neighborhoods and more generally, there is rising evidence of environmental racism (an issue that Black Lives Matter has contributed to raise within the climate movement)."

We tend to lean on a passive approach of solidarity by depending marching to build a movement.

"Muslim leaders gathered in Istanbul adopted a declaration on climate change that went further than Laudate Si – e.g. explicitly calling for divestment. Yet we have done little about it. It’s time to fill the gap! This will have an impact on both our divestment campaign and on our capacity to be more efficient when it comes to building solidarity."

Resisting

Withdrawing Cooperation

Building Genuine Solidarity

In the words of Hoda Baraka
“Climate change knows no boundaries and neither will we”.

THE MAN IN THE ARENA

THE MAN IN THE ARENA

Theodore Roosevelt

Excerpt from the speech "Citizenship In A Republic"

delivered at the Sorbonne, in Paris, France on 23 April, 1910 

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. 

People’s Climate Mobilization

Dear friends,

New year, new resolve. Time to mark your calendars for April 29th, 2017.

That’s the date of the People’s Climate Mobilization, a major march in Washington, D.C., when we will come together with hundreds of thousands of people to reject Trump’s attack on our communities and climate, and push forward with our vision of a clean energy economy that works for all.

Sign up to be part of it here, and connect with others near you who will be taking action in the run-up to April.

We believe that in this moment of division, turmoil, and fear, it's important to put forward an alternative vision that inspires and connects. If we don't put forward our own vision -- of an economy built on justice and powered by clean, renewable energy -- then we let fossil-fuel-soaked nationalism, xenophobia, and hatred win. We need to show that more people still believe in our shared vision for the future than in Donald Trump's.

That's where you come in: The only way this mobilization will work is if it’s driven from the bottom up by people like you. That's why we want to get you involved with the People's Climate Mobilization starting today -- whether you've helped organize a dozen marches before, or if you're a first-time participant.

Click here to plug in, so that you can be part of making it all come together.

Lots of us took part in the first People’s Climate March in 2014, when 400,000 marched in New York City and hundreds of thousands more people marched in cities around the world. That march made a huge impact, helping drive forward the Paris Climate Agreement and push President Obama to make climate action (including rejecting the Keystone XL pipeline) a priority during his last two years in office.

The motto of that march was “To change everything, we need everyone.” This spring, we're renewing that vision -- to show that our movement is just as ready to fight Trump's racism and hatred as we are the fossil fuel industry that's poisoning our future.

Click here and sign up if you want to be part of it, so that you can be the first to know as mobilization details are finalized.

The People's Climate Mobilization is part of a larger strategy to push back on Trump's agenda of climate denial and fossil fuel expansion, and then double-down at the local level fighting fossil fuels and lifting up real climate solutions.

Over the next month we'll be in resistance mode, fighting back against Trump's Climate Denial Cabinet and other dangerous appointees (including on January 9th with the #DayAgainstDenial national day of action, and then 100 hours after his inauguration with a national student walkout).

But we'll need your energy, creativity, and leadership right where you live too -- to resist fossil fuel infrastructure projects and promote clean energy solutions in your own cities, towns, and states. That’s our best chance of continuing to keep playing offense, even as we defend everything this administration wants to take away.

That’s why we’re calling this the People’s Climate Mobilization instead of just a March. We see April 29th as the culmination of our work to fight Trump during the first 100 days of his administration and the launch pad for a larger, nationwide movement to fight fossil fuels at the local level.

That’s the plan. This is going to be one of the largest challenges we’ve taken on as an organization and as a movement. But with Trump in office, we have to be willing to take risks and go big.

We hope you’ll be part of it with us -- and with the many partners and allies who are helping to make it all happen.

The People's Climate March in 2014 was the largest climate march ever, anywhere. If we want to push back on Trump's vicious agenda and build the future we need, it will require us matching that kind of ambition, and then some.

Let’s make history again this year,

Recommendation

The following is a non-violent strategy:

If enough people lie, often enough, then we will destroy verbal communication.

As a Boomer, my role in this Crisis Era is to show the moral and ethical direction.  My role is to show a moral path, bond with Millennials and stand up to authoritarian aggression.  Here is an attempt to make a moral case for #TheResistance (twitter hashtag)

http://turnock.blogspot.com/2016/12/morally-unacceptable-trump.html

Governor Jerry Brown’s speech to the AGU on 12/14/2017 inspired me to envision a non-violent disobedience campaign based on “Reductio ad Absurdum."

Reference:

California Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. delivered remarks Dec. 14, 2016, at the American Geophysical Union's Fall Meeting in San Francisco. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWSgncpqWtE&t=347s

“There is a paradoxical benefit when someone takes to an absurd length a completely erroneous position because that then unmasks the error in such a vivid way that allows everyone else to refute, to join together and to be embolden to move forward.”

Reductio ad Absurdum = "Reduce to absurdity and when you do that everybody sees the absurd path you are on."

Proposal:   As a form of protest, non-violent disobedience in violation of social norms would be lying like Donald Trump.

Action: After Jan 20, 2017, everyone behaves like Donald Trump. The absurdity of everyone behaving like Trump means everyone acts in morally unacceptable ways. 

The position of President, whoever fills that position, represents a role model for everyone.  Therefore we should behave like the President.  After 1/20/2017, I plan to behave like President Trump.  Hashtags will be #TheResistance #donthecon #LieLikeTrump

If enough people lie, often enough, then we will destroy verbal communication.

Morally Unacceptable Trump

President Trump’s interpersonal practices cannot represent morally acceptable modes of behavior if they do not align with general rules that can be applied to anyone as social norms.

Governor Brown

California Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. delivered remarks Dec. 14, 2016, at the American Geophysical Union's Fall Meeting in San Francisco.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWSgncpqWtE&t=347s

“There is a paradoxical benefit when someone takes to an absurd length a completely erroneous position because that then unmasks the error in such a vivid way that allows everyone else to refute, to join together and to be embolden to move forward.”

Lying

President-elect Trump lies by telling falsehoods at his convenience (over 500 lies: https://www.thestar.com/news/world/uselection/2016/11/04/donald-trump-the-unauthorized-database-of-false-things.html#analysis ). When this behavior is generalized and becomes a social norm, this would destroy verbal communication.  Since the practice of lying at your convenience reduces to absurdity when implemented as a general rule, this is judged to be morally unacceptable.

Example of President-elect Trump lying:

"If Russia, or some other entity, was hacking, why did the White House wait so long to act? Why did they only complain after Hillary lost?”

Fact: Accusations came months before the election.

Self-Contradiction

President-elect Trump has turned the self-contradiction into an art form.  The social norm is that when someone is "caught out in a contradiction" in this way, their position self-destructs in a reduction to absurdity.  When implemented by everyone as a general rule, self-contradiction destroys verbal communication. Since the practice of self-contradiction reduces to absurdity when implemented as a general rule, this is judged to be morally unacceptable.

Example of self-contradiction:

"The @nytimes states today that DJT believes ‘more countries should acquire nuclear weapons.’ How dishonest are they. I never said this!”

Fact: DJT did say that.

Unsatisfiable Instructions, Definitions and Specifications

President-elect Trump has issued instructions that are absurdity.  The social norm is that instructions, definitions and specifications must be able to be satisfied. When they are in principle unsatisfiable, they are for this very reason absurdity.  Since the practice above reduces to absurdity when implemented as a general rule, this is judged to be morally unacceptable.

Example of issuing instructions that are absurd:

Trump tweeted: ”We should tell China that we don't want the drone they stole back.- let them keep it!"