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Like it or not, President Donald Trump is making a head-spinning series of mandates and laws.
Everything from cutting funding to imposing tariffs to ridding the country of illegal immigrants to owning the Gaza strip to bringing back plastic straws has been on his radar and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
He is doing so much so quickly and that has some thrusting their fists in the air in agreement and others worried and frightened.
The bottom line in Congressman Sean Casten’s (D-6th) world is that checks and balances are going unchecked and unbalanced and he hopes that can change and put people’s minds at ease.
Casten represents a district with many communities in the Southwest Regional Publishing readership area as well as those in the western suburbs and, on Feb. 6, he had a telephone Town Hall meeting to talk with his people about the whirlwind turn of events since Trump took over for his second term.
“We’re doing what we can,” Casten said of Congress. “We are using our oversight abilities. I would remind everybody that our founders, contemplating moments like this, had checks and balances built into our constitution if a member of one branch is not fulfilling their obligation to the constitution and is breaking the law and to act as a check.”
But what happens if the White House refuses to comply with the words in the Constitution?
“We do have a challenge,” Casten admitted. “As a legislative branch, our job is to write the laws. What do you do if those laws are not going to be enforced? What does that mean if the Department of Justice is tasked with enforcing the law and choosing only to enforce the laws against its enemies?”
Casten reminded his constituents that history can be a guide.
He likened Elon Musk, a billionaire tasked with overseeing the federal government and making massive cuts under the Department of Government Efficiency initiative, to Jim Crow, who made laws enforcing racial segregation in the late 1800s.
“The general initial advice is to learn from our history when we’ve had these moments before,” Casten said. “My mind goes back to the 1880s or 1890s…it was the Jim Crow era and we had a federal government that was captured by what we called ‘robber barons’ at the time. They are not much different than Elon Musk today.
“In those moments, we got through. Not because somebody in my shoes gave a great speech but because people cared about democracy and cared about decency showed courage and what I know deep in my soul is that courage is contagious.”
Casten also likened the Trump/Musk alliances to bullies.
“Every bully I ever met at the end of the day is a coward,” Casten said. “When you stand up and push back, they fold like a Montgomery chair.”
Meanwhile, Casten, Democrats and other members of Congress disturbed by Trump’s moves, are trying to halt things as quickly as possible.
“We’re moving on a lot of fronts,” Casten said. “I’m not saying we’re doing everything yet, but we need to be guided by No. 1, protecting our institutions and No. 2, safeguarding congressionally allocated funding, whether it’s funding that I agree with and voted on it or not.
“We’re working to make sure we are maintaining our leadership and protecting our allies. We’re working on restoring a governing majority. It doesn’t have to be my party, but, my goodness, we just want a majority of people who care about governance and make sure we can build a better future for everybody.”
Casten added that people can make a difference in getting current leadership to follow the law.
“Leading with love and leading decency and with defense of our Constitution and trying to make the future better for everybody is really infectious,” he said. “It’s on all of us collectively to do that.”
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