Good evening Senators Durbin and Duckworth,
Thank you both for being a voice for Illinois. I am a special education teacher and a doctoral candidate who teaches on the West Side of Chicago. The damage that Elon Musk is doing will be devastating to the West Side Community, and especially my students. People with disabilities frequently rely on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid in order to have their needs met. The idea that Elon Musk, a foreign billionaire, would be allowed to run roughshod over their rights and attempt to take their entitlements is beyond reprehensible to me. Already, he is announcing that he is taking the private data of American citizens and using it for purposes that only benefit him and his billionaire flunkies. The West Side community is a strong one, and they do not deserve to have their rights trampled. But I would expect nothing less from Musk, a man who grew up benefiting from exploited black South Africans during Apartheid. He is a man whose wealth depends on the suffering of others. Communities like those on Chicago’s West Side deserve much better.
It is clear to me that Elon Musk will not stop with these programs. He will continue to gut America while draped in the American flag. He sees the people of America as nothing but a resource to dominate. He will continue to do stupid things while claiming to be a genius. Josh Gann, in a recent newsletter post wrote: “Musk’s total idiocy is structural: it goes back to the very origin of the Greek term idiotes, a person who cannot understand the shared political life of the city.” And unfortunately for Americans, men like Elon destroy what they cannot understand.
I have no doubt that in short order, he will turn his gaze onto the Department of Education and direct his lackeys to wreak havoc. He will destroy America’s capacity to educate its children, devastating their ability to take their part in our great experiment. He will turn our educational system, one of the great successes of American progress, into Bantu schools designed to subjugate future generations under his boot. In this pillaging of our children’s future, students with disabilities will suffer the most. Students will be denied their right to an education and their right to determine their own futures. Prior to the advent of special education, people with disabilities were often ushered into institutions without consideration of their wishes and promptly forgotten. Programs like our education system, medicare, medicaid, and social security do not simply provide services and care, they provide dignity and self-determination. If that is not the definition of our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, then we are truly lost as a nation.
Programs like those discussed in this letter make me proud to be an American. I am proud to know that my tax dollars go to support families in need. It humbles me to see the strength of America expressed through our compassion for our fellow citizens. It inspires me to continue the work of improving this country and take up the mantle of leadership left by the generations who came before me. I believe that I am doing this in my work as a teacher. Not only am I teaching students to read and write, to analyze and think critically, I am also teaching these students to one day pick up that mantle themselves. Many people think that the American dream is the house, the yard, and the white picket fence. To me, the American dream is standing lock-step with my fellow citizens to ensure that none of us are left behind. It is working so that every day Americans do not have to live in fear of the retirement home or the doctor’s office. The American dream is the duty that we have to our fellow citizens that improves all of our lives and defends all of our rights.
Musk embodies very callousness towards the rights of every-day people that many brave Americans have dedicated, and in some cases sacrificed, their lives fighting against. His actions, which have been enabled and encouraged by Donald John Trump and James David Vance, are a flagrant disrespect of Americans who have fought battles on the picket lines, in the courtrooms, in protest marches, and on the front lines of military conflicts. Every right that we have as Americans was fought for in at least one of those arenas.
Many people still believe in the promise of America and are willing to fight for it. My brother has served proudly and honorably for nearly 20 years in the United States Marine Corps. In his service, he has sustained injuries that impact him for the rest of his life. He will rely on the quality of government services in order to receive the best healthcare possible. The “efficiency” that Musk and his flunkies are selling is nothing more than avarice in disguise. It is snake oil. I know that the actions of this administration, led by Elon Musk, will have a devastating impact on his health going forward. I love my brother and ask that you stand up for him. The senators to whom this task belongs have declined to do so.
Therefore, Senators, I respectfully request that each of you do all that you can to hinder the agenda of this foreign billionaire and his enablers in the administration. I respectfully request that you both deny unanimous consent in any and all senate business. I respectfully request that you both force your Republican Colleagues to jump through every procedural hoop in order to attempt to enact their agenda. Finally, I respectfully request that you both vote a strong and resounding “No” to every cabinet nomination and piece of legislation put forth by this Republican majority. I respectfully request that you take these actions until Elon Musk and his lackeys are made to testify in front of a congressional committee. He is a threat to the security of the American people, and there is no order of business that could be possibly more important than that.
Thank you again to each of you for your faithful service to this country and the state of Illinois. We are counting on you,
Travis
The Mann Cave Blog 