"WE THE PEOPLE"

September 4, 2019

Our Country’s Constitution begins with:  “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”    Abraham Lincoln expanded on this idea in his Gettysburg Address by talking about “Government of the people, by the people, for the people” and how it “shall not perish from the Earth.”  Today, these words are as valid as they were when they were written.

We are all “the People.”  But we find ourselves in a situation where our elected officials are making derogatory remarks about our ethnicity, chiding us for our opinions, and governing in accordance with their own agendas.  We “the People” want to be heard.  We do not want to be chastised for our opinions because they differ from yours.  We want to be treated with respect and not tagged with ethnic slurs or treated differently because we may have immigrated from another Country or speak another language.  We do not want to be discriminated against because of our race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or religious beliefs.  We deserve better.  We deserve representation in our government that will provide a better life for all of us.

We are stressed.  We are concerned about traffic, the economy, our environment, our schools, and housing.  We are, in effect, being alienated and our voices are not being heard.  We are disappointed in our elected officials because they are not keeping the promises they made when we elected them.  Our anxiety level is high.  So, “we the people,” as a collective, are rising up and are trying to do something about it.  We are refusing to remain silent.  We are not “angry.”  We are frustrated.  We are voicing our frustration and trying to channel it into action that will shake up the establishment such that our voices will not only be heard, but will also be taken into account and be respected.  We are using legal channels to express our displeasure in various situations.  After all, this is supposed to be a “Government of the people, by the people, for the people.”    

We are all entitled to free speech unless it becomes an expression of rampant racism and discriminatory rhetoric based on sexual orientation, religious beliefs, and ethnicity.  We are all entitled to feel safe from gun violence, to send our children off to school without wondering if they will come home safe and sound or to go shopping without the fear of being shot.  Our children should be free of being bullied because they dress differently or have a disability.  We are all entitled to have a place we call home.  We are all immigrants, unless we are of American Indian descent.  We built this Country.  “Land of the free and home of the brave.”  We deserve better.

Let’s grab a cup of coffee and chat or feel free to email me at cmahanpour@fostercity.org.