The War Department Isn’t the Only Agency That Needs a New Name
So now we have a War Department instead of a Defense Department.
Legally, we don’t. Congress must approve renaming departments of government. But since the Republican majority has assumed its “Yes, sire, anything you say, sire,” position on every White House whim, we can assume changing Defense to War is a done deal.
Why the name change with the $1 billion or so of our tax dollars it will cost? Here’s Trump’s answer: “I think it's a much more appropriate name, in light of where the world is right now. It sends a message of victory.”
Where Trump’s world is now is in launching missiles into Iran and Yemen without consulting Congress, illegally blowing up boats and killing people in international waters off the coast of Venezuela, threatening attacks in Mexico by marshalling U.S. forces off Mexico’s borders and continuing to assist Netenyahu’s merciless killings in Gaza. Trump even dressed himself in combat gear in a recent online post and threatened to go to war with Chicago.
In light of where Trump’s world is now, the “War” Department does feel appropriate.
Other Agencies That Deserve Renaming
But if we’re going to be consistently appropriate, a few other name changes are in order.
We can hardly call an agency being used to prosecute Trump’s political enemies, even in the absence of any crimes, the Department of “Justice.” The “Department of Injustice,” is a better description of its current mission don’t you think?
The “Department of Homeland Security” is making us all feel a lot more insecure as masked agents prowl streets, workplaces and schools hunting down people of color, shackling and disappearing them. “Department of Homeland Insecurity” is the apt name here.
Federal Communications Commission? Not under this regime. “Federal Coercion Commission” describes an agency that threatens to pull broadcast licenses if stations air voices that are “politically incorrect.”
From Protection to Pollution in the EPA
Oh, and think of what’s become of what once was the Environmental Protection Agency. Shortly after taking office, Trump’s EPA director announced, “We are driving a dagger straight into the heart of the climate change religion.” Since, not only has the administration moved to reverse every action on the books to fight climate change, it’s doing away with regulations that protect us from air and water pollution, mercury and arsenic poisoning and anything that keeps black belching smoke or chemical waste under control. Surely, this agency needs a new name. It’s obvious: the Environmental Pollution Agency.
(Irony note: As Trump is about to invade the “hell-hole” city of Chicago, people have begun swimming in the Chicago river for the first time in 100 years.)
Defense or War: What Government Was Meant to Be
Trump’s reinvention of the role of government makes you wonder how all those constitutional amendments, laws, government agencies and regulations got on the books in the first place.
Possibly because “We the People,” had in mind a government that established justice, not injustice, insured domestic tranquility, not uncivil division, provided for the common defense (not domestic warfare), promoted the general welfare (like health, economic opportunity, etc.) and secured the blessings of liberty (not fear from political persecution) for ourselves and our posterity.
That document was titled, “The Constitution of the United States.” A lot of people like that name and what it represents. Nice little document we’ve had here for 249 years. It’d be a shame if anything happened to it.
Here’s this week’s STEM Winder: A weekly look into the future.
Comments? Criticism? Contact Joe Rothstein at jrothstein@rothstein.net
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What happens when a fun-loving, charismatic, reform-minded Mexican-American billionairess becomes president of the United States and strikes fear in the pocketbooks of a cabal of the rich and powerful?