She says, “Without due process, without belief in the Constitution, we are not Americans. “ This is a common (and once widely held) notion. As Pres Biden used to say, “We are the only nation founded on an idea.” If you’ve ever heard me talk about the Constitution, you’ve heard the same thing. - ThreadSky

petersagal.bsky.social • 13 days ago

She says, “Without due process, without belief in the Constitution, we are not Americans. “

This is a common (and once widely held) notion. As Pres Biden used to say, “We are the only nation founded on an idea.”

If you’ve ever heard me talk about the Constitution, you’ve heard the same thing.

Reposted from Representative Becca Balint

On April 24, ICE agents broke into a home of a family of US citizens in Oklahoma. The family repeatedly said we are citizens, you have the wrong people. ICE terrorized the family, ripped apart the house.

It's not "other people" that this is happening to. It's us. Open your eyes. Wake the hell up.

Comments

soleless.bsky.social•12 days ago

Not American or living in America, but through sad experience, I have found that law enforcement officers believe if you are on their list for any perceived crime, you are automatically guilty. And they will happily manipulate the evidence to support their case. Not believing the target is normal.

mchiapparini.bsky.social•12 days ago

“We are the only nation founded on an idea.” Also on the blood and bones of the First Americans...

lonnahex.bsky.social•13 days ago

What do you expect when Mammon himself is running the country? Trump doesn't want poor people. He wants only the rich. Othering Hispanics and Latin people was an easy target. Now it's mandated, and now he can get rid of the poorest of the poor and insert fear into the hearts of the people.

n25s.bsky.social•13 days ago

👏👏👏👏

7h3-4m37hy57-w17ch.bsky.social•12 days ago

ICE officers need to start Dropping, like the Nazis they are.

bronte1966.bsky.social•13 days ago

And it’s only going to get worse..

sandpiperbailey.bsky.social•12 days ago

The Constitution strikes me as a politically correct document. Glaring examples are the Dred Scott Decision of 1856, which ruled that slaves had no more rights than a horse, and the overthrow of Roe v. Wade. Politics will always decide the outcome, never the facts.

duskydesert.bsky.social•13 days ago

surely no other country was founded on an idea right guys

nemonescit.bsky.social•13 days ago

You mean
The Netherlands: kick out the Spaniards
Belgium: kick out the Dutch
Congo (Rwanda) kick out the Belgians
?

freedom2b.bsky.social•13 days ago

Haudenosaunee Confederacy: Gayanesshagowa.

nemonescit.bsky.social•13 days ago

From Europe: in all honesty, I feel your anger, but will it get you anywhere? The best you get is a shrug from those who can change this weird situation. Or worse: you get a laugh because they have managed to anger the liberals. Have you not passed the point of no return?

veeay.bsky.social•13 days ago

We are indeed past the point of no return. Our system has been dysfunctional for a long time, and it has finally burned down. On the plus side: American culture is not our political system. It’s mostly still good! We’re going through a period of darkness, but a new system will emerge. Good will win.

shirley-sirius.bsky.social•13 days ago

By ANY means necessary. The Irish used violence for 400 years to get rid of the English, Gandhi used nonviolence and got it done in 40. Don’t dick around, get this done! I have RAGE, but I will not let it get the best of me. BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY does not mean what you might think.

midwestfolkpunk.bsky.social•12 days ago

Gandhi wouldn't have been able to accomplish what he did without Bhagat Singh.

falalala50.bsky.social•13 days ago

Love her!

hexsalted.bsky.social•13 days ago

Not everyone has realized yet that there isn't good in everyone.

dutchieh.bsky.social•13 days ago

In truth, Canada was also founded on an idea.

That idea being "We are not American"

shadowfixxer.bsky.social•13 days ago

And none of what she said mattered in that chamber. They still won the vote to fund this insane criminal attack on innocent people. American decency has been murdered by Republicans.

datadrivenfp.bsky.social•13 days ago

at 0:59
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWsNzxe0e-k&list=PLVCQzZV_RdaoIFxm-0L_qj58H8Pl0dsEp

"We hold these truths to be self-evident," they said, "That all men are created equal"
That was the first time in history that anyone had ever bothered to write that down.

ravenmachado.bsky.social•12 days ago

She’s right! I love the passion and we need more of this every minute of every day! Wake the fuck up GOP or you will be held accountable and imprisoned eventually.

roberthernon.bsky.social•13 days ago

Peter Sagal for President

declassifyuap.bsky.social•12 days ago

America fell, yo. We are literally living in the aftermath.

AI-infused cyber-dystopia? ✅
Hundred-billionaire techbro villains? ✅
Insane cartoonish fascist overlord? ✅

I imagine we ended up in cyberpunk because we utterly failed to conjure any futures other than it. Victims of our own spell.

msommerer.bsky.social•13 days ago

Children born on American soil are citizens. I am an American citizen because of where I was born; not because of who I was born to. If a child born in these United States can be deported, then there exists no protection for any such person.

maryvedovi.bsky.social•13 days ago

Last night Rep Swalwell walked out of House Judiciary after every R voted to allow felon to deport US Citizens. This is Violation of Oath, A Federal crime since 1955. Please call your reps & tell them we want them to call out oath violators https://house.gov/representatives
https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title18-section1918&num=0&edition=prelim

antoosh.bsky.social•9 days ago

Trump Says ‘I Don’t Know’ When Asked About Due Process and Upholding Constitution
President Trump repeatedly said he didn’t know when asked in a TV interview whether every person on American soil was entitled to due process, as guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/04/us/politics/trump-meet-the-press-interview-due-process.html

bilgil68.bsky.social•13 days ago

Come to my house, PLEASE I’ll take as many out as I can!

always4bangtan.bsky.social•12 days ago

📌

smfbooth.bsky.social•13 days ago

If you pay people on the basis of how many migrants they can remove, they are not going to be too complicit in their own crimes. At Nuremberg it was not an excuse to say ‘I obeyed orders ‘ . In USA is it an excuse to say ‘ I was paid to deliver that order ? ‘

growingfamily.bsky.social•13 days ago

My husband has an employee who is married to a woman from Mexico. They recently moved to a new town. ICE came to their house and said they were looking for someone. The husband told them the man didn’t live there. The husband let them search the house! I think some MAGA neighbors set this up. Scary.

lonnahex.bsky.social•13 days ago

I wouldn't be surprised if they did. Six houses are being watched by MAGA on our street because we are "known Traitors of Trump." Three of whom are widows.

growingfamily.bsky.social•13 days ago

I was at a tiny protest in one of the Chicago suburbs and there were Maga there. 90% of the anti Maga were women. There was this menacing guy there that was behind us filming us. He called us names and he felt violent. It was scary. I can’t describe how much hatred he had against women.

lonnahex.bsky.social•13 days ago

And they wonder why women aren't having babies. That's horrible! I'm sorry that happened to you. These MAGA people are insane and all deserve a way ticket to Arkham.

silverhairdontcare.bsky.social•12 days ago

Why this wasn’t featured on every mainstream news outlet yesterday is beyond me.

mrsgarrigue.bsky.social•12 days ago

Did the bill pass?

headlinesmc.bsky.social•13 days ago

I liked it better when we were being lectured by Paula Poundstone. But here we are…

granny24.bsky.social•12 days ago

Thank you for your service!

oldandsharp.bsky.social•12 days ago

So when can we, the people, expect some action from congress??? Talk, talk, talk, blah, blah, blah...
All you DEMS on these committees keep putting Orange's choices in office. Why are you voting FOR them. Sick of this...

defeq79.bsky.social•13 days ago

“The President cannot summarily declare that a foreign nation or government has threatened or perpetrated an invasion or predatory incursion of the United States, followed by the identification of the alien enemies subject to detention or removal,” a trump appointed judge wrote in his decision

aroundne24.bsky.social•12 days ago

I think this is great that the rep from VT is calling this out. My ? is where the heck are the reps from Oklahoma? This was a constituent of theirs. The two senators and reps should all be screaming about this.

nancysknotsandlace.bsky.social•12 days ago

She is 100% correct. Wake the hell up!

midwestfolkpunk.bsky.social•12 days ago

Becca Balint's awesome. I like her style. Zero tolerance for bullshit.

bleepingidiot.bsky.social•13 days ago

If only we had a heavily armed populace that could combat this sort of thing

tr13sk.bsky.social•12 days ago

It's so frustrating because she's right about everything else :(

Due process is not a justification for American exceptionalism. Due process is a RIGHT that everyone ought to be guaranteed.

We need to uphold it because it protects human rights, not because it gives us something to brag about.

natecochrane.bsky.social•12 days ago

Biden was wrong.

cosmotheshaggydog.bsky.social•13 days ago

I'm awake now.

bluedotling.bsky.social•13 days ago

👏👍👊🤬

geophysicsprof.bsky.social•12 days ago

This was called 'Kristallnacht' when it occurred in late 1930s Germany.

baekjoh-eunwei.bsky.social•12 days ago

Some people, unfortunately President Trump, do not understand that due process means that the state must prove that you are guilty as charged beyond reasonable doubt, and that you are presumed innocent unless and until. You do not have to prove your innocence.

trishly.bsky.social•12 days ago

then arrest trump.

ryangermann.bsky.social•13 days ago

Hypothetical: if the victims killed the law enforcement officials would they have been justified in protecting themselves i.e. would their self defense of illegal actions by law enforcement have been "legal"?

tonysomo.bsky.social•13 days ago

Rep Becca Balint is speaking for all of us who value democracy and our Constitution.
Check out her Town Hall given in Bellow Falls in Vt. It’s available on line.
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

dangerwithin.bsky.social•12 days ago

Trump can't spell or pronounce "due process"! JACK

dblaw.bsky.social•12 days ago

baeralios.bsky.social•12 days ago

😂😂😂🥶

thinkbeyondpolitic.bsky.social•12 days ago

Yes, and when constitutional rights become optional depending on someone’s background or name, they’re no longer rights. They’re privileges granted by power. The moment we tolerate that, we step out of the idea of America and into something much darker.

petersagal.bsky.social•13 days ago

My term for it is a “civic religion,” which I came up with, but others have as well. What binds all Americans together is not culture or “race” or ethnicity or common origin or history, but a shared belief in democracy, the rule of law. I’ve heard people like former Sen. Sasse say the same thing.

6dbl5321.bsky.social•13 days ago

50.1% ruling over 49.9%
No thanks.

misterrora.bsky.social•13 days ago

I always thought this scene from “The Wire” summed it up beautifully. Even in the most downtrodden neighborhood, they still believe that people deserve a chance.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AAg7AmyG2Ys

pjdoland.bsky.social•13 days ago

This is already a thing: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_religion

petersagal.bsky.social•13 days ago

As I said: I came up with it independently — yay, me — and quickly discovered I was far from the first to do so.

jmraykowski.bsky.social•12 days ago

Yes, it's how judges allow government to smuggle Christianity past the 1st Am.

spriddler.bsky.social•13 days ago

I think the notion goes back to at least Jean Jacque Rousseau in the 18th century. It is a concept that we lose at our own great peril, for it underwrites all our rights. Without it, constitutional rights are little more than empty words on paper as we are seeing now.

euell.bsky.social•13 days ago

Didn't EVERY Okla. county vote for #FOTUS? Reminds me of the Mexico Beach woman's comment after the hurricane, "He's not hurting the people he's supposed to." #Oopsie

rachely336.bsky.social•13 days ago

My once-a-sociology-student who wrote a masters thesis on Jews and civil religion...Robert Bellah coined that term in 1967.

petersagal.bsky.social•13 days ago

This very idea, though, is now controversial. The Vice President of the United States made a rebuttal to it the cornerstone of his speech accepting the nomination.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2024/07/17/jd_vance_america_is_not_just_an_idea_it_is_a_nation.html

tacos-in-denver.bsky.social•13 days ago

No, it’s an idea. As an idea, you CHOOSE to be a part of it! That’s Americas strength!

petersagal.bsky.social•13 days ago

There are a lot of ways to think about our current… disagreement. But at its core, I think it’s this: is America a nation, or an idea? Hardware or software? Can it be shared, or can it be walled off?

cferejohn.bsky.social•13 days ago

For people who are so obsessed with the Roman empire, their blindness to lesson #1 of it - that the Romans were very expansive and inclusive in granting citizenship - continues to be maddening.

mrontology.bsky.social•13 days ago

The more pertinent question is — Can we rebuild it from scratch, but more robust this time? Because this one is no longer functional.

jaynestarkey.bsky.social•13 days ago

JD Vance is just a wanna be. There is no substance.

jaykellett.bsky.social•13 days ago

I see it as this: Does the government of America exist to support the citizens? Or do the citizens exist to support the government?

stevennicholson.bsky.social•13 days ago

ICE storms a citizen’s home. No cause. No apology. No law. JD Vance says America isn’t an idea. If he is right, if rights and due process mean nothing, then this is not a nation of principles. Just a violent place with a flag. And they are proud of it.

empiresandnations.bsky.social•13 days ago

Does JD Vance even have a competent understanding of what a “nation” would be?

dpbsmith.bsky.social•12 days ago

"Why is the goose-step not used in England? ...plenty of army officers who would be only too glad to introduce some such thing. It is not used because the people in the street would laugh--George Orwell. Idea or culture? Are we still a nation where the people dare laugh at authority?

dpbsmith.bsky.social•12 days ago

"The republic is a dream.
Nothing happens unless first a dream."
--Carl Sandburg, "Washington Monument by Night"

beaccountable.bsky.social•12 days ago

Turns out the “Deep State” is constitutional order. Decent and dedicated citizens upholding the rule of law and defending the constitution. What American would be against that?

crobink.bsky.social•13 days ago

A portion of humanity is soulless and evil. Always has been, history proves it out repeatedly.

Does the US embrace or reject that evil as one of it's principles?

The US has talked a good game over the years, but it's history is violent/predatory and rarely lived up to it's supposed principles.

sndgrrl.bsky.social•13 days ago

I think America is more like an operating system. Both the hardware and software must be compatible for everything to function properly.

jimbeau22.bsky.social•13 days ago

America as a nation would require a shared culture. America as an idea would need share values. Right now the focus on fear and differences prevents any conversation to find common traditions or values. What is needed is a voice that articulates something we can all believe in for the common good

toneleone.bsky.social•13 days ago

Of course it’s both. The problem lies with the autocrats systematically turning the ‘idea’ into one that reflects a notion of nationalism rejected by Americans.

warren.nyc•13 days ago

Vance sees more political opportunity in making it about The Folk

adelleloiselle.bsky.social•13 days ago

Canada was born on an idea. Peace, order, and good governance, but it’s grown beyond that. The land shaped us. It’s rugged and the conditions can be inhospitable in many places. You HAVE to take care of each other. It’s grown beyond that since.

sethb78.bsky.social•13 days ago

It definitely has many, many viruses at the moment. Likely from questionable to problematic deep dives into thw dark web.

guffmenot.bsky.social•13 days ago

It is also a Shitshow.

tmbdeclan.bsky.social•13 days ago

Learned Hand called it the Spirit of Liberty. (I’ll never get over how cool that name is)

jhnoonan.bsky.social•13 days ago

An administration that insists "no one is above the law" while it operates contrary to the Constitution can go straight to hell.

bluemess.bsky.social•12 days ago

“What binds Americans together is a shared belief in democracy” is wild. It might be accurate. But at the same time, USA was NEVER a democracy. You’ve always had the illusion of it. Now has gone too far, so some of you are waking up. Oligarchy is what it always was.

albertjferro.bsky.social•13 days ago

I believe

#2a #4a #constitution

wigmeister69.bsky.social•13 days ago

The problem is when enough of the people no longer believe in that idea in earnest. Then we have nothing substantive left to hold us together.

kbonward.bsky.social•13 days ago

Who are these ICE brown shirts and why not dox the hell out of them? They dress like wannabe ninjas, abduct people with impunity, get it wrong with out consequence? No.