"We The People" Must Find Unity In Accountability And Truth
As we know, on Wednesday, January 6, 2021, the United States of America was attacked. For the first time in our Nation’s history, a President, Donald Trump, head of the Executive Branch, incited a mob to attack our first branch of government, the Legislative Branch. Five people died including a police officer who was beaten to death by the mob.
The attack on our Nation’s Capitol occurred with the express purpose of violently stopping the counting of our States’ certified electoral votes as required under the 12th Amendment of the United States Constitution. Let’s be clear, the President of the United States incited an attack on a co-equal branch of government and on the sanctity of the vote of American People–our Constitutional Republic, and thus the United States of America, itself. The attack on January 6th was grievous, and continues still. This must stop.
The current Representative of Indiana’s 2nd District, Jackie Walorski, is complicit in this ongoing attack. She has failed in her duty as our Representative. Accordingly, it is up to all of us to preserve our Constitutional Republic. As a citizen of this Congressional District, and as the most recent Democratic Nominee for the House of Representatives from this District, I respectfully urge all of the people of District 2, Republican, Democrat, and Independent alike, to do the following as American Citizens:
First, we must seek the immediate removal of Donald Trump as President. Donald Trump has been impeached, but because the Senate will not immediately hold a trial, Donald Trump will remain in Office until the Inauguration. This is a threat to our National Security and Constitutional Republic. Accordingly, I ask all of us to contact the Office of the Vice President, Mike Pence, to urge him, along with a majority of the Cabinet, to communicate to Senator Mitch McConnell and Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, their written declaration that President Trump is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Vice President Pence would immediately become President until Joe Biden is sworn in as President on January 20, 2021.
This action will help stop, or at least reduce the additional armed violence currently being threatened throughout our Nation, including on our Nation’s Capitol and all fifty (50) State Capitols by Donald Trump’s armed insurrectionists—the vast majority of whom have not been arrested or appropriately charged for their violent attack on the United States. This action also will prevent illicit pardons of the insurrectionists by Donald Trump, secure our Nation’s nuclear arsenal, and assist in preventing an attack on the United States or its allies by opportunistic adversaries in the days leading up to the Inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect, Kamala Harris, on January 20th.
In conjunction with urging Vice President Pence and the Cabinet to exercise their Constitutional duty, each of us should also contact our US Senators Mike Braun and Todd Young urging them to communicate to Vice President Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment, or in the alternative, promptly vote to convict President Trump in the Senate on the Article of Impeachment for incitement of insurrection which passed this Wednesday in the House of Representatives.
We must remain alert as we approach January 20, 2021 and the Inauguration of Joe Biden as President and Kamala Harris as Vice President. In particular, I urge each of us who know persons who have fallen prey to Trump’s propaganda and hateful rhetoric, to urge these fellow Americans to honor our Union — not Donald Trump’s toxic demagoguery.
Second, in conjunction with promoting a safe transition of power within the Executive Branch on January 20th, We, the People, must demand accountability for Donald Trump, Jackie Walorski, and others under the law in order to preserve the rule of law. Once out of office, Donald Trump should be prosecuted for the crimes he is alleged to have committed, including most recently conspiring, inciting and thus participating in (1) sedition, (2) insurrection and (3) a riot. Donald Trump incited these violent acts by perniciously lying to his supporters that he had won the election even though multiple courts (including the United States Supreme Court), multiple recounts and states’ election officials (including Republicans), unequivocally proved his claims to be false. A skilled propagandist, Donald Trump attacked people’s faith in our electoral process through unrelenting dishonesty and then incited and encouraged violence through his tweets and rallying speech just a short time before the attack on our Capitol.
Representative Walorski has aided and abetted these illicit actions by:
- publicly echoing Donald Trump’s lies;
- joining in a notoriously seditious lawsuit filed in bad faith by the Texas Attorney General seeking to disenfranchise American Voters; and
- objecting on January 6, 2021 to counting certain states’ duly certified votes (again disenfranchising voters) even after Congress was violently attacked by Donald Trump’s insurrectionists.
I, therefore, urge the Republicans, Democrats and Independents of this District to contact Speaker Pelosi and other Congressional leaders to seek:
- the expulsion of Representative Walorski from Congress under the 14th Amendment of our Constitution;
- her public censure and removal from all committee assignments; and
- a possible referral to the Department of Justice for investigation regarding the depth of her prior knowledge and possible incitement of violence, at minimum, by publicly repeating known falsehoods to Indiana-based Trump supporters.
I also ask that we contact Representative Jackie Walorski to condemn her complicit action and demand her immediate resignation.
As citizens of Indiana and the United States, we should encourage use of the full weight of the law and charging by federal prosecutors commensurate with the violent insurrection which occurred by all participants who attacked Congress, and those who aided and abetted them by their dangerous rhetoric and other actions. To date, such charges have not occurred, and we must insist that they do occur.
Third, and finally, once we are through the current crisis, we must work ceaselessly to destroy the greed and systemic racism which has torn at the soul of this Nation since its founding and has attacked ferociously our Senators and Representatives—the Seat of our Democracy, on January 6, 2021. Americans killed other Americans on January 6th within our Capitol. Americans sacrilegiously took down the American flag and flew the treasonous Confederate flag—a flag of torture, rape, and the enslavement of African-Americans. T-shirts celebrating the slaughter of Jewish people in the death camps of Germany were worn. The insurrectionists erected a guillotine and a hangman’s gallows while chanting, “Hang Mike Pence.” The insurrectionists also feverishly asked, “Where is Nancy Pelosi?” while wielding zip-ties, guns, and military assault gear. Arrests were not made, the domestic terrorists knew what they were doing, a handful of Capitol Police valiantly fought them, allowing our Representatives and Senators to escape, while other officers posed for selfies and calls for the National Guard were delayed by the President and the Pentagon.
An investigation is required to show the depth by which these insurrectionists were aided and abetted by others within our Executive Branch, Legislative Branch, police and military ranks. Much will be required of us as a Nation as we attempt to regain our moral and Constitutional footing after the carnage of the Trump administration.
Our Nation is in danger. We, the People, with the rule of law as our buckler and the Constitution as our shield, empowered by love and a commitment to the common good, will prevail. We must prevail. It requires all of us to act, and the time to act is now if we are to protect our Union and fulfill its mandates.
I am profoundly grateful to those of our Representatives and Senators working ceaselessly and bravely now to protect our United States and ensure a peaceful transition of power within our Nation.
A Message of Gratitude from Pat
Dear Friend,
Thank you for supporting this campaign and our shared values. Your exemplary goodness and multiple generosities are sources of great hope.
Regardless of the outcome of yesterday’s election, our path forward as a Nation and in this Congressional District remains a renewed commitment to Dignity and Justice for All, not the few. Additionally, our path forward requires the reclaiming of our voice and values in Washington. We must reclaim our Constitutional and moral authority as We the People if our Nation is to continue and contribute internationally toward the common good.
Now, more than ever, good government requires our Hoosier work ethic, and mandates our understanding of hospitality where all have a seat at the table. In our national crisis of COVID-19, we must pursue just economic policies by which the hungry are fed, the naked are clothed, and the thirsty are given drink. Now more than ever, we must heal the sick through access to healthcare, and we must not abandon the imprisoned to the immorality of racist, profit driven penal systems.
The forces at work in our Nation, seeking to divide us one from the other, are virulent and pernicious. They include financial corruption, racism, and the subjugation of women and sexual minorities. They also include an authoritarianism and religious licentiousness in our federal government that are attacking our 1st and 14th Amendment liberties –– while also attacking our Nation’s commitment to reason, evidence, and science which are the bases of our rule of law, democratic norms, and political decency.
Going forward, we must hold our Representative in Congress accountable, and We, the People, must stay vigilant.
With a full and grateful heart,
Pat Hackett
Pat's Primary Acceptance Speech
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One Year Ago: An Overview of the Jurisprudence of Marriage Equality
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Now when rights of LGBTQ families are threatened and their families are not counted in the census, it is extraordinarily important to remember our Constitution requires equal protection under the law. Marriage equality exists because of reason, evidence, science, and the law applied to real families. In Obergefell v. Hodges, the Supreme Court affirmed these truths. Religion is not a license to discriminate. Have a listen.
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