Not giving up

I visited House Oversight Committee Chair Jason Chaffetz’s office today. If there’s nothing else good to say about him (and there may not be) at the very least his staff is warm and polite, even when you are implying things about their boss.

Here is what I said:  “Hi, I have a book I would like to give to Congressman Chaffetz.  It was written by President Kennedy and it’s about eight different Americans who were brave enough to do what was morally right rather than what was politically advantageous.  I’ve made some bookmarks too.  On each is a statement or allegation about President-elect Trump that deserves investigation.  Some of them are things that President-elect Trump has even admitted to, or have been admitted to by foreign governments like Russia.  Many of these things have been condemned by people like Republican Senator Lindsay Graham or the chief ethics counsel of George W Bush.  Anyway, I’d like for the Congressman to read the book, and the bookmarks, and then reconsider investigating President-elect Trump’s behavior.“

This was of course a symbolic gesture. I doubt Chaffetz will even hear about the book, although he might due to the novelty of it.  In a way, this was for me far more than for Congressman Chaffetz.  It felt good to walk past the Capitol and into the congressional office buildings.  It was a reminder that I am still a part of the US Government, that it is still accessible to me, it still exists to represent me, even if it often feels more remote and unreachable than ever these days.

Trump wants us to feel powerless.  Trump, Pence, Bannon, Sessions, Ryan, McConnell, Chaffetz - they all want us to give up.  They want us to roll over and let them destroy the progress we’ve made, let them take away the liberties enshrined in our constitution.

But I am not inclined to do or feel a single damn thing that Donald Trump wants.