August 23, 2020
Dear Mr. President,
It’s Sunday morning and you must be super busy getting ready for your big party this week. I checked the weather forecast and it looks like rain on Monday and hot and humid the rest of the days, so be prepared, maybe order a tent. You don’t want your hair or Melania’s to get messed up. I plan on watching some of the fun this week, but I will need to tell my friends about what is said because many of them are busy and won’t be able to watch. Don’t worry, I will report accurately.
The list of speakers will be very important, and the list should be all set by now. I guess Steve Bannon has been scratched, or Paul Manafort or Gen. Flynn,
but I think Vlad Putin is still available. The topics will probably include how great you have done on the economy, before it tanked, immigration, but ignoring the children in cages, The Wall, with about 450 miles of old barriers replaced (like it has been in every administration) and a couple of miles of new barrier where none had been. By the way, how much has been spent on this building project? Let’s see, what else can they talk about? Infrastructure, oops, not yet, health care in the time of the Trump Virus, oops, no new plans yet, or how transparent and ethical your administration has been? Hmm, maybe not a good idea to talk about that. The speakers could mention the over 400 executive actions you have taken. They could stress the removal of regulations on environmental issues that got in the way of Big Business. Of course, they probably shouldn’t mention that many car companies are still going to work with the stricter emission standards set by the Obama administration. They should probably not mention that opening drilling in the Arctic hasn’t excited big investors or even some of the oil companies to invest in that idea. They are busy working on some other alternatives. How about the idea that tax cuts for the extremely rich would fuel the economy? No, that hasn’t really worked out. They should probably not discuss the inability of the Republican party to pass legislation funding states to pay for continued unemployment benefits (due to the Trump Virus), payments to hospitals, and schools to cover the extra expenses caused by the Trump Virus or more money needed by small businesses (like, really small businesses) to stay open or reopen. Tell them to avoid talking about the disaster at the United States Postal Service, or they could just blame Mr. Nojoy. It’s not your fault.
This week in the Jewish calendar, we read the portion called Shoftim or Judges (not the book of Judges but the chapter including how the legal system would work in ancient Israel). The very famous line, “Justice, justice you shall pursue” is found here. Rabbi Caine, from our congregation, discussed the tradition of why the word “justice” is doubled. One explanation is that the first time it’s written is for the king or ruler, to remind him/her to keep the laws found in the Torah and read them every day in order to keep the law. It goes further to explain that justice includes having a ruler pay attention to the people and not him/herself. The second time “justice” is used is for everyone else. It’s a reminder that the entire system depends on justice being for everyone. Isn’t that interesting?
I was thinking that maybe, in your acceptance speech where you lay out your plans for helping our nation move forward for all of us, you could promise to keep a copy of the Constitution by your bedside and read a section every night. Every morning you could recite the Pledge of Allegiance and emphasize the line “with Liberty and Justice for all”. Maybe not Steve Bannon (and the others who betrayed our country and our laws.) What do you think?
Dear Mr. President 