By Bill Watanabe
So this administration can snatch anyone off the street or from your own home, claim you are a criminal or gang member, and without any trial or hearing, without producing any evidence or proof, they can arrest you or fly you out to another country and then claim they have no jurisdiction anymore.
If you go along with that, then no one is safe from illegal kidnapping and deportation without any due process, whether you are a citizen or not.
Are you OK with that?
Congressional Republicans are pushing for our federal budget to cut out funding that helps the poorest Americans in order to save tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, while creating billions or trillions of dollars of increased federal deficits.
Are you OK with that?
The conservative-leaning Supreme Court ruled that the president of the U.S. cannot be prosecuted for crimes committed while in office – therefore the president is above the law and cannot be held accountable for even criminal actions.
Are you OK with that?
If you are not OK with these examples and other breaches of our U.S. Constitution and of our moral principles as Americans, then you may need to put your ideals into action.
We JAs experienced getting rounded up and incarcerated without due process, so we know this is not OK. Due process is clearly defined in the Bill of Rights as a constitutional right.
We Americans who support the idea that the government should serve the people, all the people, and not just the wealthy, know that this is not OK.
We who believe in the principle that “no one is above the law” and this should apply to everyone no matter how high their position know that to exempt the person most likely to abuse power is not OK.
There may come a time when courageous action may be required from each of us. It has been said that the best way to know whether you are living under an autocratic regime is if you feel threatened or feel afraid to speak out against or criticize government leaders in power. Do you feel afraid to speak out? That is not OK, but it is a clear sign of a growing threat to our democratic institutions.
We who hold dear our freedom and constitutional rights must band together, despite the fears, to stand up for our American democracy. Soldiers in times of war have sacrificed for our democracy – we may be called to do so too.
Bill Watanabe writes from Silverlake near Downtown Los Angeles and can be contacted at ybwatanabe@gmail.com. Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of The Rafu Shimpo.