https://dexterchapin.substack.com
Stepping stones form a pattern, or not. Stepping stones lead somewhere, or not. These stepping stones will be about cultural resilience, education, and thrivancy via General Systems Theory and Natural History. I am fascinated by questions of how we know and what we know. I always look for patterns. Long-term, these posts are explorations of patterns that maybe I see locally, nationally, culturally, socially, and environmentally.
Previous posts are at the substack site.
The latest Post:
Pres. Musk Kills CR, VP attacks Citizenship
Dec 19, 2024
Deacon Samuel Chapin arrived on the Shores of Massachusetts sometime between 1630 and 1635. After a bit, he moved West to Springfield, where he served in various offices until 16651. I tell you this because 24 generations later, I am a direct descendant of the Deacon. During those 24 generations we have been incredibly wealthy, suffered penury, served in government, and shed a great deal of family blood both on this continent and elsewhere to protect this country.
Sure, I’m proud of the family history, but that is not why I tell you this. I tell you this because my birth certificate states the hour and minute I was born, the names of my parents, and where I was born, Miami Beach, Florida. It does not state where my parents were born. It does not claim they were American citizens. The only important point is where I was born. That fact is my only claim to American Citizenship. Welcome to birthright citizenship as guaranteed by the 14th Amendment, Section 1.
To quote;
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
That is a clear statement. There does not seem to be any equivocation. You are born in the U.S.; you are a citizen. You can be naturalized in any one of a dozen different ways. Naturalization is a legal procedure and might be undone in a dozen different ways, especially in cases of perjury, looking at you Elon. Being born cannot be undone and cannot be revoked.
The felonious, rapist, in-chief has no greater claim to citizenship than around 87% of the folks walking down the sidewalk2. The question is, if he gets the bought-and-sold SCOTUS to agree with him that the Constitution does not say what it says, are you safe?
With the coming wave of vigilantism,4,5 your neighbor might decide you are not American enough and turn you in as an “illegal alien”. Are you ready for that? Could you defend yourself? What would it cost you?
Once the courts start chipping at the 14th Amendment rock, it will be powdered just as Roe V. Wade was powdered. We already have a Trump judge saying that we are being invaded and the children of invading aliens cannot be citizens.3 The judge is wrong6. They are not invaders. They are legitimate asylum -seekers, refugees, and immigrants. All of whom are controlled by international law.
The Head Kidnapper, Tom Homan, removed over 4000 kids from their families in the previous Trump reign, many (most?) are still separated and isolated from their caregivers, because of sloppy, arrogant, misfeasance, and non-existent record-keeping. We are about to do this again, on steroids, breaking international law7,8
The program is to drive the parents out of the country to wherever nobody knows. The child, an American citizen, can either self-deport with them or remain behind, which is absolutely within their rights. Question, what do you do with the child who stays? Put them in a poor-house? Rent them out to a meat packer? I am sure some members of the House and Senate have some ideas about what to do with them.
Are we really going to do this horror again? It seems we are. As I write that last sentence it occurs to me that my writing has changed. Before November, I wrote about what I saw, what I might be thinking about, and sometimes just explorations of ideas. Sometimes I was staggered by what I saw, and sometimes I learned a lot. No matter the subject, I have always thought the World was potentially going to be better tomorrow.
I no longer think so. At least not in the immediate future. Elon Musk is proving the point. As I write this, he has killed the continuing resolution funding the U.S. government. In doing so, he has proved himself just as stupid as we thought he was. Every point he railed against is false. And he focused on the money for climate change disasters, and assistance for farmers struck by drought.
President Musk raised his stink before V.P. Trump was even aware that something was happening. Truth be told, “Trump is following. He’s trying to pretend otherwise but he’s following.”9 Musk wants the Federal government shutdown until the new Congress is sworn in, about 30 days. That’s not a better tomorrow.
For me, inherent optimism has been replaced by anger, disgust and revulsion as a bunch of white males, raised as massively privileged failsons, a “status earned through a display of equal parts incompetence, stupidity, and arrogance,”10 take over the government.
Anger, disgust and revulsion are not a healthy baggage to carry for long. So, I call to mind a favorite quote,
Each of us has the power to make our life into a work of art that expresses our deepest values. Don’t ask, Will my acts save the world? Maybe they won’t. But ask, Are my actions consistent with what I most deeply believe is right and good?…And here is the paradox of hope: as we move beyond empty optimism and choose to live the lives we believe in, hope becomes transformed into something else entirely. It becomes stubborn, defiant courage. It becomes principled clarity. And when courageous-hearted, clear-minded people find one another, it becomes a powerful creative force for social change. K.D. Moore11
1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Chapin
2) https://www.pewresearch.org/race-and-ethnicity/2020/08/20/facts-on-u-s-immigrants/
4) https://thehill.com/opinion/criminal-justice/583282-the-serious-and-growing-danger-of-vigilantism/
5) https://theconversation.com/us/topics/vigilantism-47179
6) This judge has argued forcefully in favor of birthright citizenship. Two weeks after the election, he changed his mind and argued against it. It will be a tough competition between him and Cannon for the next Justice opening.
9) https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/trumps-trump
11) Moore, Kathleen, D. (2016). Great Tide Rising. Counterpoint. Page 318.