Published February 3, 2025 by

Senator, Why Do You Come To Work?

The United States Capitol aka the Capitol building. Washington DC, United States
The United States Capitol Building

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

Way back in Elementary school civics classes, I learned the supposed genius of American government was “checks and balances.” That the separate but equal branches of our government, Legislative, Executive and Judicial, would guard each other against overreach. In theory, if one branch attempted to take actions in violation of our constitution, the other branches would block those actions.

But, recent events have shown that those checks and balances only work if government officials actually take action. So, today, I wrote another letter to my senator asking why he even bothers to come to work.

The Background

I’ve previously written to both my North Carolina Republican Senators, Thom Tillis and Ted Budd. Budd is a former congressional “Freedom Caucus” member and freshman senator. I don’t expect much from him and based on what I see, he is exceeding my expectations. Tillis is currently considered the “most endangered” senator, as North Carolina is turning Blue (would be solid Blue without Republican gerrymandering), and he is up for re-election next year. So, for this letter I focused on Tillis.

The Letter

My topic of this letter is on senators actually using checks and balances to control Trump’s “shock and awe” attack on America since his non-Bible swearing in a meer two weeks ago. Specifically, I have asked Senator Tillis to do his job as a senator.

The Honorable Thom Tillis
113 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

February 3, 2025

Dear Senator Tillis,

My name is Ron Charest. I reside at [ …address… ]. I am a Navy veteran, approaching retirement from the federal government workforce (Department of Homeland Security), and I am a resident of this lovely state. I am writing today to ask why you continue to go to work each morning?

I ask this in consideration that you voted to approve the nomination of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, even after inviting his former sister-in-law to testify. According to published news sources, you stated her testimony would be enough to sink Hegseth’s nomination. Then you voted to confirm Hegseth anyway.

Meanwhile, in just the two weeks President Trump has been in office, he’s taken these actions in violation of federal law:

  • Added billions to his personal wealth by launching a scam crypto meme.
  • Fired over a dozen agency or department inspectors general (IGs), without following the statutory process of providing Congress 30 days’ notice and specific reasons for the firings.
  • Purging the FBI of anyone who worked on the January 6 investigations, or other investigations that personally impacted President Trump.
  • Implementing mass suspensions and projected firings of career civil servants whose work touched diversity or equity initiatives;
  • Implementing mass suspensions and projected firings of career civil servants whose work involves foreign aid.
  • Conducting retaliatory firings of career civil servants involved in investigations or prosecutions of Trump and the January Sixth insurrectionists, with the threat of mass firings to come.
  • Created impoundments of federal funds on a scale orders of magnitude greater than any former president has ever attempted. These impoundments are in violation of federal laws, Supreme Court decisions, and for which President Trump was impeached during his first administration.
  • Shut down USAID without citing any legal authority to take this action.
  • Allowed unelected civilian billionaire Elon Musk to take control of the federal government’s IT systems, which manage personnel data and and trillions of dollars in financial transactions. Musk’s actions threatens cybersecurity and privacy. He is also using control of these IT systems to create yet more illegal impoundments and personnel purges.

Beyond his blatantly illegal actions, President Trump has taken the following dangerous actions that demonstrate lack of ethics and questionable mental acuity:

  • Pardoned the January 6 prisoners, many of who violently assaulted police officers and defaced our Capitol Building, in attempts to overturn an election.
  • Started a trade war with our allies, for no apparent rational reason.
  • Threatening military actions against Panama to place the Panama Canal under direct U.S. Control.
  • Threatening military actions against the Danish territory of Greenland to make Greenland a U.S. territory.
  • Nominated the most unqualified cabinet in modern history, several of whom are actual national security risks. Which you and your fellow Republican senators are rapidly approving with minimal scrutiny.
  • Blamed a horrific airline crash on “Diversity Equality Inclusion” (DEI) policies without any evidence. This crash occurred just one week after President Trump fired the head of the Federal Aviation administration and disbanded the Aviation Security Advisory Committee.
  • Directed the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers to waste millions of gallons of water in California, nearly flooding out farmers, for a photo op of turning on water for the state.
  • Shutting down dozens of Government public information websites and datasets.

Our system of government is based upon checks and balances between the three branches. However, our system only works if someone is willing to perform those checks and balances. Through all President Trump’s actions, Congress has done nothing. I am not aware of any Republican senator, including you, who has even spoken out against President Trump’s myriad actions.

I recognize that standing up to Trump in the face of his actions requires personal courage. However, We The People of North Carolina elected you to represent us in the Senate. Senator, if you are not willing to show the courage needed to stand up to the dangerous and blatantly illegal actions by President Trump, and the actions of unelected Billionaires Trump is apparently serving, then you should go home.

I ask that you start performing checks on President Trump’s blatantly illegal and dangerous actions that threaten to destroy our government.

Respectfully Yours,

Follow-up

On my last letter, Senator Tillis’ office did respond with a standard form letter. I felt more insulted reading it, then if his office hadn’t bothered to send it. If I receive anything beyond a form letter on this go-around I’ll be sure to publish it.

Cross-posted to Daily Kos as “Senator, Why Do You Come to Work?“

(Visited 22 times, 1 visits today)
Ron Charest

Ron Charest

Ron is a native New Yorker and 22-year Navy veteran. He retired from active duty in 1996 as a Senior Chief Electronics Technician (Submarine Qualified) and went on to build a successful post-Navy career in logistics and information technology, focused on the shipbuilding and ship-repair industry. He currently works for the US Coast Guard at the Washington D.C. headquarters. When he's not on a boat, traveling, or working home improvement projects, he spends his time writing and building websites.

Opinions & Commentary

Letter to my Senator Politics