It's time for a new Times magazine cover. The April 8,1966 cover asked the question: "Is God Dead?" The April 3,2017 cover asked the question: "Is Truth Dead?", and on page 5 in the "From The Editor" section, Nancy Gibbs opened with the words: "When a President can't be taken at his word," and closed with these words, "As citizens it is vital that we be able to believe our President; it is also vital that we know what he believes and why. This President (Trump)has made both a severe challenge." I totally agree with Ms. Gibb's conclusions.
It is sad that former president Trump only used a book to cover the light from his phone when he went to bed and apparently never bothered to learn how to read. If he had, Sir Walter Scott could have told him: "Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive," and we might have been spared seven long years of chaos and division.
As of this writing, the arrogant and deceitful man who wanted supreme power to dictate his ideas, to totally disregard nearly 250 years of Democracy, and to tear up our Constitution is facing 94 felony charges with televised trials by jury to be held in the states where he committed his crimes rather than spending his time in office working to form a more perfect Union, to establish Justice, to promote the General Welfare, and to secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.
We are the people referred to in the Constitution. It is our collective voices, based on our votes and our willingness to contribute to the common good, that guarantee our God-given freedom of choice. It is not the authoritarian voice of one man or one woman or of any group of people with the sole purpose of creating power by leverage of their wealth who dictate the rules we live by. We must never lose sight of the important differences between Democracy with freedom for all and a dictator who wants total control of our lives.
We are the people who will determine our future. Our job now is to repair the damage done by Donald Trump, to study and understand the history of our country and how a Democracy works, to remember that we are all immigrants who have become citizens, to rediscover how fortunate we are to live in the United States, and to realize that people around the world who are enduring authoritarian regimes will continue to apply for citizenship in our country.
Or we can read a new Time magazine cover that asks: "Is Democracy Dead?"
