Thread by @RepWillBailey

THREAD: Architects & Engineers: I’ve been sitting on an airplane flying over the greatest nation on the planet and I have a few thoughts I’d like to share.

2/ I’m listening to my Spotify playlist and a song came on called You Were Born (link below.) It begins, “You were born into a strange world. Like a candle you were meant to share the fire. I don’t know where we come from. I don’t know where we go.”

3/ My great-grandparents were first-year immigrants. They came from Poland looking for a better life. They didn’t speak English. In fact their accents were so poor that the translation by immigration officers at Ellis Island actually altered our family name.

4/ They arrived with nothing, which was more than they needed. My great-grandfather got a job cleaning potato sacks and sweeping fire-place ash. He and his wife were poor Americans with nothing. And with that “nothing” they raised 6 amazing children.

5/ They raised three sons and three daughters. All of their sons went to fight in WWII including my grandfather who was badly wounded in Africa when he was 18. He was awarded a purple heart, but was not sent home. He wasn’t finished fighting for his country.

6/ The America that my ancestors came to was a beacon of hope in an otherwise darkening European landscape. THAT America made promises. One of the greatest offers our country makes to the people of the world is posted proudly above our doorway:

"7/ Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

8/ This is not just an offer of good-will nor a promise of a better place emanating from the heart of a young nation. This is the sentiment of our species and is in our DNA. And for those that are spiritual - It is also a biblical avocation.

"9/ Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.
  — Proverbs 31:8-9"

"10/ Do not exploit the poor because they are poor and do not crush the needy in court, for the Lord will take up their case and will exact life for life.
  — Proverbs 22:22-23"

"11/ Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act. Do not say to your neighbor, "Come back tomorrow and I’ll give it to you"—when you already have it with you.
  — Proverbs 3:27-28"

"12/ A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.
  — Proverbs 11:25"

13/ Our forefathers were not perfect. They did not evaluate human life on equal terms. They owned slaves. They had mistresses. Some of them profited off the outcomes of the revolution.

14/ And as we all know from our civics classes, the “sausage making” of laws and political campaigns has always been something unsavory.

15/ But they got a few things right. The got this right “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

16/ They got this right “That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government…

17/ … laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.”

18/ They got this right “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech…

19/ …or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

20/ Since our forefather’s time we have had great leaders. Great Men and Women. BRAVE Men and Women truly leading us. Each has been hesitant to secure their legacy at first. Lincoln treaded lightly at first.

21/ Kennedy, during the civil rights movement started with great trepidation. And Suffrage before that was met with resistance by the people in power.

22/ But there is no greater force at play than progress. And there is no greater nation on the planet to push forward than America. Yet - there are people who have increasingly been given (or who have STOLEN) power that do not believe in progress.

23/ These people are familiar and easy to spot. These are the people that side with Nazi-ideals, sexual assaulters, liars, pedophiles, racists and misongynists. These are the people who align with foreign powers (a topic for another thread).

24/ These are the people who want to steal from the poor to give to the rich. They want to wipe out the promises on our statue of liberty and the proverbs in the bible. Because they are greedy.

25/ I believe that a small government is an effective government. But I also believe that the will of the government should be the Will of the People. And THIS government is getting larger, less effective and is focusing its will on 1% of the nation at the expense of the many.

26/ There is a war on progress coming from the halls of congress and the White House. It is in the news and social media. And the worst part is that it is successful.

27/ Progressive politicians are resigning (albeit for unacceptable behavior) while staunch anti-progressives hold steady in their seats. The false equivalence is mind-numbing and the cultish behavior of their followers is dangerous!

28/ The #TaxScam is an abomination. The lack of regular order is disgusting. The stolen SCOTUS seat of Obama’s being easily handed to Trump is shameful and immoral and unethical.

29/ The rise of the Neo-Nazis and defense of pedophiles is something I never thought I’d see in my lifetime.

30/ And all of this has to be explained to our children. And we can’t just tell them what happened. We can’t just tell them “We were hijacked by a terrifying racist fascist ideology from within.”

31/ We have to answer the hard question, “What did you do about it?”

32/ Our forefathers gave us the single greatest gift possible. They made us, the people, the Architects and Engineers of the greatest nation the world will ever know. They empowered us with ways and means to re-write and re-build our nation in the image of progress and equality.

33/ They promised us that if ever, we got hijacked we could halt authoritarianism in its tracks and say “No More!”

34/ That time has come. It is time for us to act and tell our children what we did! It is time for us to tell them that we are the Architects. And WE are the engineers.

35/ And WE will build the American that we believe in. Not this hateful dishonest, party-over-country, Russia over America, Money over people party that we are seeing today.

36/ It’s time to peacefully overthrow our government. We must Impeach this monster. We must defeat Moore in Alabama. We MUST overthrow this GOP in 2018 and take back congress and the White House in 2018 and 2020!

37/ As Democrats we must strengthen our backbones and not cower as has been the case for far too long. We need a new campaign and a new promise! We must truly FIGHT and not be meek. There is no shame in progress! There is honor in it!

38/ Our forefathers didn’t just give us the tools to progress. They mandated that we MUST:

39/ They said “When a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.”

40/ You see, it is our duty as Americans to object to the “long train of abuses and usurpations” that permeates our government. For WE are the Architects. And WE are the Engineers.

41/ It felt good to pause and bask in the glory of President Obama’s election. It felt good to pause for a moment and enjoy what American had finally become. But that pause is over. And it’s time to get back to work!