Letter #8: W

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Please excuse some substantial recycling of language from my first letter to Dr. Condoleezza Rice. I did update a couple of things to reflect the current state of horror.

I do not think George W. Bush’s presidency was perfect, nor did I agree with all of his policies (though I think it’s clear he’s tacked toward rather than away from me on some important things since he left office). However, I do believe he is a fundamentally decent man who understood and respected the gravity of his office. (I loved that he wouldn’t take his suit jacket off in the Oval Office, for example.)

I hope to hear from him meaningfully.

Dear President Bush,I am writing to ask your advice on how I can most effectively counter the wanton destruction Donald Trump is wreaking upon the United States. A full litany of his sins would be prohibitively long. I am most immediately concerned about: • Unprecedented and opaque access the unelected Elon Musk and his minions have to numerous critical U.S. offices, including the Treasury, the IRS, and Social Security; • Thousands of federal employees terminated with no critical analysis except for positions with audit or other watchdog authority over executive power, which are being either systematically eliminated or populated with Trump loyalists; • As a logical result of the first two bullets, potential for an unchecked, weaponized federal government with near-unlimited power to pursue its enemies with no regard for their privacy, liberty, or due process; • Orwellian assault on information, alarmingly embodied by widespread removal of medical data and confirmation of a vaccine conspiracy theorist as health secretary, as well as wholesale revisionist history nakedly intended to erase accomplishments of women, people of color, and other long-marginalized populations; and • Naive, inflammatory, destructive foreign policy that has angered and frightened longstanding allies, and poses the greatest threat to peace in Europe in 80 years. John Adams said “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” It is clear to me that Trump does not match this description and has no loyalty to the Constitution he has “sworn” to protect. I am writing and calling my U.S. Representative and Senators. I have joined the ACLU. I choose my volunteer work with purpose and conscience. I vote my convictions. What else can I do? President Bush, when you served you consistently conducted yourself with decency and sincerity, as well as obvious, abiding respect for the institutions with which you were entrusted. We now operate with an executive branch devoid of all of these things. I hope you have some guidance for me and millions of other Americans who want to object to our country’s current state as strenuously and effectively as possible. Thank you for your consideration.
Asking George W. Bush’s advice. (Click for larger.)

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