Letter to Senator Barak Obama:
by: Timothy Michel
April 18, 2006
Mr. Obama, I got your message today from the DSCC and I read how you say it is time for change. What I didn't read was what change you believe is needed. What I see, is a United States Congress that is hoping all the problems created by The White House will simply go away when the guard is again changed. But I see no action on the part of Republicans or Democrats. All I see is inaction and compromise. I see no Articles of Impeachment being brought by the House. I see no censorship of the Secretary of Defense being brought by the Senate. All I see is a tacit acceptance of the policies of this administration by both major political parties. I would like to ask you, what do you think needs to be done to bring this government back into compliance with the will of the people, who are, by definition, the sovereign of this nation. How do you plan to make an example of this president so that any successor executive would never again dare violate his fiduciary duty to the people of this country? Are you going to ask your colleagues in the House to bring articles of impeachment? Are you going to ask for the removal of Donald Rumsfeld from the office of Secretary of Defense? I would like to remind you that President Andrew Johnson was impeached for firing his Secretary of Defense (War) without first presenting a request for his removal to the Senate. That was considered a high crime against the United States. George W. Bush lied to congress to initiate a war and claim unusual powers for the executive. This act has changed our government without act of Congress and what acts were agreed to by the Congress were voted on amid a climate of deliberate misimformation. Since the war on terror is proclaimed to be an endless war, this act by this President amounts to nothing less than a blatant usurpation of the powers of Congress. Yet I see Congress doing nothing at all to address this issue. So I ask you again, what are you going to do?
Here are some suggestions:
- We need to reopen the 9/11 investigation and get to the bottom of who perpetrated the attacks on the WTC and the Pentagon. This means discarding the original 9/11 commission report as flawed and begin anew.
- We need to begin the process of impeachment proceedings against this President in the interest of returning the sovereignty of this country to the people where it rightly belongs.
- We need to repeal all provisions of the Patriot Act and return the government to the state it in was before the passage of this act since this was passed on the premise that our country was under attack by a foreign entity.
- We need to close the office of Homeland Security and return those functions to the administrations it replaced.
- We need to end faith-based programs because they blatantly violate the separation of church and state. This was not tolerated in this country because the framers of this country's Constitution freshly remembered the endless bloodshed caused by successive reigns of Catholics and Protestants in their mother countries. Not only that, faith-based programs require no government oversight even though they enjoy the use of taxpayers money.
- We need to end merger mania and restrict corporate growth both vertically and horizontally in the interest of making this country responsive to changing needs of the people. As we learn more, old industries need to be abandoned and new industries embraced so that we remain responsive to changing landscape of environmental exigencies. Huge conglomerates seem unable to meet these requirements.
If you don't take action now, how am I to believe that you will do so in the future?
Letter to Senator Ted Kennedy And Senator John McCain
by: Timothy Michel
April 18, 2006
I would like to share some experiences I have had with Illegal immigrants in this country in the hopes that you temper your enthusiasm for what you decry as fair immigration legislation. I worked at a franchised upscale pizza and beer establishment for 9 months and found myself systematically disenfranchised of my right to work at that establishment. Immigrant workers wishing to place their fellows still in Mexico would target non-immigrant workers who showed any sign of vulnerability. I'm a fighter, so I didn't go down so easily, but I finally did succumb as a result of failures in transportation services outside the pizza parlor establishment causing me to be late to work one day. But the pressure was real. As a non-immigrant, I wasn't appreciated in "THEIR" work environment. This wasn't an isolated case either. I worked at a restaurant prior to my employment at the pizza parlor and I had to work extremely hard to gain the acceptance of the illegal immigrant work force at that restaurant. Though I won acceptance, my performance was still continually under the microscope, much more so that any illegal immigrant with which I was working. I am also aware that any illegal immigrant may have a criminal background that doesn't show up in the United States because other countries do not keep fastidious records on their citizens like we do here. I am therefore very reticent to accept blanket citizenship for the 11 million illegal immigrants currently in this country. That represents over 10% of the population of Mexico. This is just unacceptable. There first needs to be an Americanization process. Classes in History and the politics of "The United States." There needs to be the requirement that there be satisfactory completion of classes in English. There need to be classes in the appreciation of the American fight for democracy and why that is important as distinct from the Mexican strongman political atmosphere. Illegal immigrants see the average American as vulnerable because the average American believes in the rule of law instead of the rule of force. Because of this, illegal immigrants need to be required to complete courses in "The United States Way of Life," English and "United States History" in other words they need to learn appreciation of America values if they want to remain in this country. If they can't read or write, then we have to assume that these people then become a liability to the legal population of the United States and we have to ask, can we support illiterate contingent of 11 million illegal immigrants with a dwindling budget. There has to be some criteria for the granting of citizenship. There has to be some hurdle that needs to be vaulted to show significant desire to take up the causes of the American People. People who crossed into this country illegally cannot see this as a triumph of Mexico over the United States. If you don't require an appreciable hurdle placed in the path of citizenship, I can tell you from my experience on the street that riots will ensue in the cities of this country. Not that I support riots because I don't. It is just that living among the poorest of our country impresses me with a sense of building anger that will find a relief in ways that none of us may wish. You can't just grant citizenship because so many immigrants have evaded detection for so many years. Those that truly want to be citizens will exhibit significant effort to meet the additional requirements needed to have their ILLEGAL ENTRY into this country forgiven. I as a citizen am required to obey the law and any transgressions of that law I have to bear for life. If an immigrant enters this country illegally and is then forgiven his trespass, he effectively is given a fresh start. There are legal citizens in prison and on parole or probation that never have any hope that their transgressions will be forgiven. You have to operate with equity here. If you don't, you might initiate civil unrest, which will rock the foundations of this country. You cannot remove all barriers to citizenship. I have a friend who lives in Zatatecas Mexico. I worked with her here when she was living here illegally. She has chosen to return to Mexico, apply for citizenship, get on the list for immigration and complete her bachelors degree at a university in Mexico while waiting. What do you think granting citizenship to 11 million illegal immigrants does to her impression of going through legal channels?: She will feel like she was a fool and that If she would have stayed illegally, she would now be granted citizenship rather than waiting another ten years for her name to go through the regular INS rotation process. Whatever legislation you craft, craft it very very carefully. Remember there are 11 million abjectly poor legal American citizens who will loose any chance of regular employment if you just grant citizenship en mass to 11 million illegal immigrants. Just because someone was here for five years illegally shouldn't be the test to determine his or hers eligibility for citizenship, you have to show desire to want the American system over your native system. Isn't that why our forefathers came to this country in the first place? He or She needs to be willing to exhibit very significant effort to acquire American values through education. Just swearing off allegiance to Mexico cannot be viewed as evidence of desire to be Americans, because they already showed contempt for America by avoiding the legal immigration process. What should be illegal, is for American businesses to take advantage of immigrants desperate disposition on both sides of the border. NAFTA and CAFTA need to be repealed and prosecution of businesses who take advantage of illegal immigrants needs to be enforced. The immigrant doesn't need to be villainized as a felon, but neither should their transgression of immigration laws be brushed off either. Those who really want to live in this country because they believe in the American way of life over the Mexican way of life will meet the challenges of completing the necessary courses providing them with a firm grasp of what it really means to be an American. Those who don't rise to the challenge have to be seen as not really wanting to be American, but only wish to escape the economic misery of Mexico, Central America or South America. All Americans are looking forward to facing very difficult times. We will need everyone on board willing to accept the difficulties that lie ahead to ensure that a government of the people continues in perpetuitas. Consider that when crafting legislation. We will need in the years to come all hands on board to protect the virtues of this country. We certainly can ill-afford to fight over the preference of one way of life over another. We have to be in agreement on the form of government we support. If you wish only to destabilize this country, then go ahead and grant cart blanche citizenship to all who have transgressed the immigration laws of this country. If you are hoping for 11 million new Democrats to push the Republicans out, you may win some elections, but loose the country. You have to apply the law here, no matter how intense the demonstrations across the country become; you have to uphold existing law. If you find the logistics of deporting 11 million people overwhelming, then you better craft legislation that sets the bar high enough that only those who truly embrace the American system of government survive deportation. That legislation had better consider the rights and needs of legal citizens as well, or you will loose stability. Remember, this country was crafted on the belief that the people are sovereign, and that the legislature was created in order that the lives and property of the people be protected against foreign invaders. By granting citizenship to illegal immigrants, you could be seen as violating your fiduciary duty to the people of this country by allowing a foreign invader to seize their property and deny them of their lives. Proceed with the utmost caution.