My Thoughts on Impeachment

As a sophomore in high school 21 years ago, we were assigned to write a persuasive essay over Christmas Break. I stayed at my cousin’s grandparent’s turn-of-the-century home while on vacation. The light flooded through their parlor windows on the piano and on my fingers as I revised and rewrote my essay. I chose to write about the importance of having righteous leaders in our country and when to oust them as leaders. I used scripture references from The Book of Mormon where King Mosiah instructs his people on setting up a representative democracy.

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My parents watched the Clinton impeachment hearings almost every day. When I visited my parents recently, the Senate impeachment hearing was on the background while my parents, brother and I talked. Twenty-one years ago and now, we had discussions about the freedom of our country and the role of the President. I imbued those values in my writing and speaking. I lost that persuasive essay from 21 years ago, but I still have one poem.

To the Senate

I hope with all my heart
Each one will do their part —
With courage stand tall
And make the giant fall.

I hope they won’t take light
The judgment for not doing right.
Why do they cower
Now at the eleventh hour?

Why do they not defend
Truth to the very end?
Why do they fuel the battery
Of the giant’s flattery.

I compare Bill Clinton’s actions to Donald Trump’s actions now to evaluate whether we should oust one President or not. Bill Clinton and Donald Trump are both womanizers, but Bill Clinton raped women and lied about it. He was impeached because he lied and obstructed justice about his actions toward Monica Lewinsky and Paula Flowers. Donald Trump paid for prostitutes, but it was between two consenting adults. I imagine Trump could easily be convicted for sexual harassment on multiple charges.

Bill Clinton is a slippery man and a flatterer. Donald Trump is an arrogant jerk. Trump purposefully pushes peoples buttons in obvious ways. I believe if people ignored him, some of his poor behavior would go away. Is he a good president? Sometimes he accomplishes good things depending on who you talk to. I appreciate that the economy has improved under Donald Trump’s presidency. Personally, I think some of his actions — or inaction — has been good. But he can be nasty too.

Do I think Donald Trump should be outed as President?

I believe he has overstepped some of his bounds as far as power goes. Maybe not purposefully, but because he is brash. He isn’t one for formal rules. I believe he abuses power when it suits his purposes. But I don’t think it would be useful to impeach him. There is only one year left in his presidency. I would prefer Mike Pence over Donald Trump.

I trust Trump will act in his self-interest; thus, he will be predictable. He acts rashly on Twitter with no filter, but he is a strategist.

I won’t vote for Donald Trump in the next election. Either major party — give us a morally decent centrist candidate. Anyone who follows the Constitution and Bill of Rights. I will probably vote libertarian or some third party candidate.

No One Has Privilege When We Pull Each Other Down

I hear of males having privilege or females having privilege. The whites have privilege or blacks have privilege. In the intersectional hierarchy, white males have the ultimate privilege. But you go down and people of color, LGBTQ, and women don't have privilege. You talk to others that say that women have more privileges than men now because they are in the majority attending college and so forth.

Who really has the privilege? No one, yet everyone.

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My high school Spanish teacher taught us a life lesson he learned on the beach in Mexico from a man catching crabs. The teacher asked the man why he didn't cover the bucket of crabs. Surely, the crabs would escape. No, he reassured him, the crabs pull each other down.

We are all crabs in a bucket trying to get out, only we are pulling the other crab's legs in our struggle to climb the ladder.

I believe that sometimes men have advantages and sometimes women have advantages. Sometimes, white skin has advantages, but sometimes black skin has advantages. Historically, black skin in America most often meant slavery or subhuman treatment. Sometimes, being a minority helps a person land a job or a scholarship. But being a minority also might mean getting your braids whipped by a TSA agent.

Occasionally, I felt at a disadvantage in China with white skin and being a tourist. I was charged more at times and whispered about some. I was told not to look "poor" by the school I volunteered at when I crocheted blankets on a trip. I was supposed to be the "rich American." Well, I was a poor American then. My white skin has advantages in the US for not being profiled for crime.

Man versus woman plays out in the courtroom so often with rape claims, sexual harassment claims and divorces. Generally, men have a physical advantage over women. Some men physically or emotionally abuse their girlfriends or wives and children. On the other hand, some women physically or emotionally abuse their boyfriends or wives and children. There is also legal abuse that is a huge problem. We have false accusations that tarnish reputations of men or women. These come with restraining orders and child custody battles. Fathers or mothers sometimes won't see their children for years. Depending on which gender you favor most, the legal, religious, and social leaders tend to side with that person and defend with that man or woman to the end. I watch cases where it doesn't matter what the truth is: only ideology matters.

I really hope people look at their biases clearly here with who is right or wrong. Sometimes, we feel that a woman is weaker and has been trampled on by her abusive husband. Other times, we look at the man and feel he has been nagged to death by his wife. But are we really looking at the truth? Sometimes one or both parties is lying. We need to do our best to discern truth from error. Nevertheless, in a breakup situation, both need love. Both need help within the necessary boundaries people can give.

Ultimately, evil and pride are what prevails in winning the battle in a fallen world at times. It is what destroys individuals, marriages, families, and nations. It is the pitting of one group against another based on some characteristic such as gender, race, nationality, and so on. Satan or the humanistic tendency toward pride and chaos causes the divisions among us. Paul stated "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." Our differences are fine as long as we don't use them as a tool to divide one another.

Fear Blocking Truth

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Last year I had applied to two linguistic MA programs, which had been my dream to be accepted for over a decade. When I was not accepted, I asked for the reasons why from one school: my GRE essay score was too low and my thesis topic was not a fit for the school. The school had an unusual number of applicants last year too.

I felt the logical steps were to pick a topic that faculty has some specialties in and retake the GRE. So I formed an idea of a second language acquisition project based on peer learning. I would start making a peer-to-peer website that people can match with each other to play games to learn language with each other. I started my TESOL certificate and beginning programming with this goal in mind. I am signed up to continue these online classes. I have some passion for this idea because I would love to make quality, free peer learning available worldwide.

But my passion isn't necessarily all in this area of linguistics. I wrote a focused draft of my statement of intent about peer learning and second language acquisition. I sent this to a professor and my idea to another professor. These professors suggested I look into different majors of TESOL and Second Language Teaching because of my focused idea. I felt defensive because I wanted linguistics. I wanted to learn about phonetics, spelling, comparative/historical linguistics, poetics, philology, and language acquisition. But I hadn't communicated that to them. I had lied to them and to myself. So they gave me suggestions based on my lies. I had been afraid of being rejected a second time from the linguistics MA. I sent emails back to them explaining my fear and lie to myself and them.

I feel like an idiot, but I am only human. I never felt like I was lying because I felt I was acting logically. I am recognizing that I was acting out of fear. Fear is not a good place to act from because it brings poor results. I am working on a new statement of intent that better reflects my general interest in linguistics. I can still have the same tentative Master's project, maybe.

By the way, I retook the GRE and scored one point higher on the essay score out of six points. I have an almost average essay score, so it's significantly better than before. Much more focused.

Whatever the future brings will be fine.