07/01/2021
All Aboard NOLA Statement Regarding January 6 Assault on Capitol Hill:
I find it incomprehensible that Vice President Pence and the Cabinet still have yet to invoke the 25th Amendment and removed Donald Trump from office. He has made his intentions toward our democracy very clear and doesn't appear mentally competent to administer his own exit from the White House, an exit prompted by a large and convincing popular and electoral defeat. His words and behavior yesterday portray a dangerous and small man, desperately attempting to cling to power like some foreign despot. The anti-democratic threat of the autocrat lingers about him like a stench, and in order to preserve our democracy and our union, his actions must be met with the unequivocal response of immediate removal, impeachment and censure.
Our democracy, among the oldest in the world, has shown itself to be vulnerable to unpatriotic and opportunistic predators like Trump. Freedom and democracy are two sides of same coin, the only worthwhile currency of the American system.
Senators Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, and, shamefully, Senator John Kennedy of my state, along with the other co-conspirators in this despicable attempt to overthrow democracy and illegally reinstall Trump, I demand your resignations. You are all also responsible for the humiliation our democracy received yesterday at the hands of small-minded and fascistic insurrectionists, criminals that you egged on and encouraged. You do not get to condemn their actions now, no more than an arsonist can blame the fire. Your feckless behavior in service to the president has disqualified your capacity to serve in our government any longer. I will not list the names of the others because this statement is already overfull with the names of enemies of democracy.
As a veteran, patriot, and owner of a small, community-oriented business, I will redouble my efforts to avoid conducting business or having relationships with those who continue to support Donald Trump. It is routinely said at the funerals of my brothers and sisters in the military overseas that their deaths were in the defense of the Constitution, which enshrines and instructs us in the difficult business of civics and power-sharing, the cornerstones of our freedom. The oath I swore myself in the Navy covers the same material. Those cornerstones, our fundamental national values, have been under continuous assault, which crescendoed in yesterday's attack.. While it is popular to discuss socialism as a balm to society's problems, or to extol the virtues of capitalism for providing widespread opportunity, the reality as I understand it is that none of that matters a whit without a robust, revered democratic process. Therefore I can't help but see those who are willing to look away from this and continue to support this abomination as enemies of freedom and the American way. We must unite in our commitment to democracy and to extirpate any tolerance for anti-democratic or fascist actors within our government.
Sorrowfully,
David S. Lewis
Founder, ALL Aboard NOLA
