REPRINTED FROM THE EVORABERG INDEPENDENT
A number of letters have come to the paper complaining bitterly about President Trump’s planned military parade. I have asked the Woodhull Journal to reprint Mrs. Eleanor Harrington Parker’s letter for its readership on this serious matter which should concern all citizens.
David Ogden, Editor, The Evoraberg Independent
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
May 14
Dear Sir; I was leaving the Village Hall this past Friday when Biddle Simon hurried into the hall. His expression was quite sufficient to tell me that something had happened. I was dismayed when Biddle told me of the president’s plans to conduct a military parade that will cost taxpayers $45 million dollars with additional costs for road repairs due to heavy military vehicles. The occasion for this celebration, to be held on June 14th, is the president’s birthday. More importantly, as your readers are well aware, this is a significant date in American history.
On this date in 1775 during the American Revolution, the Continental Congress established the Continental Army. Two years later, on this date, they passed the Flag Act to adopt the Stars and Stripes as the national flag. The military parade through the streets of our nation’s capital is a pretext for honoring not these important events and the men and women who served, and serve in the Army but to highlight the president’s power and authority. These events portend the bleak future of the United States under Donald Trump’s leadership.
The clouds of uncertainty and anxiety have been hanging over the United States since President Trump’s election. I, like many of you have watched the Administration undermine both Congressional and Judicial authority well established by the Constitutional Convention of 1787. The separation of powers, checks and balances and federalism that limited the government was advocated by James Madison. Most importantly, I believe that it is the responsibility of the government to protect individual rights and liberties.
When asked about the expense of his birthday parade, the president responded that the cost is peanuts compared to the value of doing it. I wonder if others have been thinking, as I have, that $45 million isn’t peanuts when viewed through the Administration’s determination to reduce the federal budget. These reductions, if implemented, will remove the social safety-net for our most vulnerable citizens. There will be an increase of poverty, hunger, and disease, a decrease in educational opportunities and community services, and an increase in alienation should the Administration’s budget pass Congress. Once this is understood, no one in this country should doubt the ultimate outcome. Our nation has lived up to the rules of civilization, it will probably take us years to undo the damage. We must stand together without fear, insecurity and weakness. We are a community, not lone individuals.
I have thought innocently that the law in this country would automatically be complied with by this Administration. I have waited a while before saying anything about the Un-American Activities of the Trump Administration that is growing more ludicrous daily. This is a presidential Administration of little people, frightened and insecure. They would impose on us a police state. I believe as never before we must mobilize and fight for complete freedom as did my ancestors during the American Revolution, and for the freedom of others during the Civil War, the First and Second World Wars, and the Civil Rights Movement. We must come together as a nonpartisan organization and march on Washington, and cities, towns and villages across the country on June 14th as a Day of National Defiance.
Very truly yours,
Eleanor Harrington Parker, Village Trustee
Image: George Washington
Artist: Artist: Charles Willson Peale (American, Chester, Maryland 1741–1827 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
Credit: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The American Wing, Gift of Collis P. Huntington, 1897
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