The nomination of Scott Pruitt to head the EPA confirms the fact that the U.S. government has entirely lost its legitimacy.

::::::::

For me, it's the last straw. I'm referring to the nomination of Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). His nomination confirms the fact that the U.S. government has entirely lost its legitimacy.

Here I'm not just referring to the idiosyncrasies of an antiquated U.S electoral system. It's not just that we will again find ourselves under an administration demonstrably unsupported by the majority of U.S. citizens. (Donald Trump lost the popular vote by 2.7 million votes.)

No, my claim is more stark. It is that the Pruitt nomination evokes the right to revolution as outlined in the Declaration of Independence.

Pruitt is the Oklahoma Attorney General who hates the EPA and has made a career out of suing it for what he calls regulation "overreach." By that he means laws expressing excessive concern about climate change -- an issue he considers "far from settled."

As a climate-change denier, Pruitt (and the entire Republican Party) not only sets himself against the conclusions of 97% of climate scientists. He also contradicts the will of virtually the entire world as expressed in the recently concluded COP 22 climate meeting in Marrakesh, Morocco. There the Congress of Parties agreed on the necessity of strict regulations of carbon emissions in order to avoid climate catastrophe threatening to deprive our grandchildren of a humanly inhabitable planet.

Such irrational imposition of personal bias on the entire world evokes memories not only of Hitler's Third Reich, but urgent recollection of the brave words of the Declaration of Independence. There Thomas Jefferson described the purpose of government and the circumstances that remove its lawful status. Jefferson wrote:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness, that to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it..."

In the context of a Pruitt EPA appointment, Jefferson's relevant points include:

1. All of us (not just fetuses) have the basic right to life.
2. The purpose of government is to secure that right.
3. When governments destroy the basic right to life, they lose legitimacy.
4. The people then have the duty to overthrow them.

With the nomination of Scott Pruitt, Mr. Trump promises to make human life as we know it impossible. Pruitt thus becomes the embodiment of a genocide far worse than Adolf Hitler's. Hitler incinerated six million Jews, communists, socialists, gypsies, homosexuals, and other "misfits." Pruitt's nomination signifies the intention of the Trump administration to incinerate us all -- or at best to leave our grandchildren with nothing but a planetary wasteland.

The question now remains what to do about this unprecedented disaster.

Setting aside Jefferson's suggestion of armed revolution, it means we all must at least find our voices and denounce the emerging Fourth Reich. As Dr. King said, "A time comes when silence means betrayal." In addition, responding to Trumpism entails getting out of our comfort zones, taking to the streets, and working every day to save the planet for posterity.

I have my plan of response. What's yours?

Authors Website: http://mikerivageseul.wordpress.com/

Authors Bio:

Mike Rivage-Seul is a liberation theologian and former Roman Catholic priest. His undergraduate degree in philosophy was received from St. Columban's Major Seminary in Milton Massachusetts and awarded through D.C.'s Catholic University. He received his theology licentiate from the Atheneum Anselmianum and his doctorate in moral theology (magna cum laude) from the Academia Alfonsiana in Rome where Mike studied for five years. There he also played club basketball for Eurosport and a team within Rome's Stella Azzurra professional organization. In 1972 he served for a year as coordinator of volunteers in Monsignor Ralph Beiting's Christian Appalachian Project. Then for 40 years, Mike taught theology and general studies at Berea College in Kentucky receiving its Seabury Award for excellence in teaching, Berea's highest faculty award. At Berea, Mike founded its Peace and Social Justice Studies program. He and his wife, Peggy, also organized and started the Berea Interfaith Taskforce for Peace. For years, he periodically taught liberation theology in a Latin American Studies Program in Costa Rica sponsored by the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. In Costa Rica Mike and Peggy were fellows at the liberation theology research institute, the Departamento Ecumenico de Investigaciones (DEI) headed by the great Franz Hinkelammert. In Mexico, they also served as fellows and program directors in San Miguel de Allende's Center for Global Justice. Mike's studies and teaching have brought him to countries across Europe and to Cuba (on 10 occasions), Nicaragua (12 occasions), Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Israel, India, Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Brazil where he and Peggy were associates of Paulo Freire. Mike's languages include Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French, Italian, German, Portuguese, and Spanish. For three years he was a monthly columnist at the Lexington Herald-Leader in Lexington Kentucky. He has contributed more than 400 articles to the online news source OpEdNews where he is a senior editor. He has also published in the DEI's Pasos Journal, in the National Catholic Reporter and Christianity Today. His scholarship has been cited in the New York Times. Mike has authored or edited 10 books including one of poetry and a novel based on his experiences in Cuba. His latest book is The Magic Glasses of Critical Thinking: seeing through alternative fact & fake news (Peter Lang publishers). He blogs at http://mikerivageseul.wordpress.com/ Attempting to appropriate his identity as an ordained exorcist (all Catholic priests are), Mike also reads Tarot cards. He is a lifelong golfer and Chicago Cubs fan.