Birthrighters, Senators, Representatives... Oh My!

America The Possible: A CITIZEN'S GUIDE TO HOW AMERICA WORKS #5

May 22, 2025

🇺🇸 Got hats? Snag one HERE! (Use code: MEMDAY for 10% off at checkout)

🤯 YOU CAN’T MAKE THIS STUFF UP!

💡“Melania Trump sawed off at the ankles. Police investigate disappearance of Melania Trump’s statue in her native Slovenia.” (Associated Press)

The police in Slovenia are on the hunt for the criminals who sawed off the bronze statue of the First Lady at the ankles and carried it away to a place unknown.

The life-sized sculpture was unveiled in 2020 during President Trump’s trip to Sevnica, in central Slovenia, where Melanija Knavs was born. 

“The original wooden statue was torched in July 2020. The rustic figure was cut from the trunk of a linden tree, showing her in a pale blue dress like the one she wore at Trump’s presidential inauguration in 2017. The replica bronze statue has no obvious resemblance to the first lady. Franja Kranjc, who works at a bakery in Sevnica that sells cakes with Melania Trump’s name in support of the first lady, said the stolen statue won’t be missed.

“I think no one was really proud at this statue, not even the first lady of the USA,” he said. ‘So I think it's OK that it’s removed.’”

(Aesthetics aside, whoever absconded with the footless First Lady had best return her pronto or suffer SEVERE Slovenian consequences.) 🤣 

THIS WEEK’S FRONT PAGE

MUSK TO STEP BACK FROM POLITICAL SPENDING: ‘I THINK I’VE DONE ENOUGH.’ Politico

Given that Elon Musk is the world’s richest businessman, he must be doing some sort of cost-benefit analysis. Like, what’d I get for my $290,000,000? No pun intended, it’s a downer.

  • Tesla profits and revenues down 71% 

  • Favorability down from neutral to minus 10.

  • Tesla and SpaceX down from 8th to 95th place among America’s most visible companies.

  • The Tesla brand is down to dead last in the character category and near the bottom in “Ethics” and “Character.”

  • Tesla has suffered attacks and boycotts internationally, including vandalism and protests targeting Tesla properties.

  • In Europe, new Tesla sales registrations are down 47%, year over year.

  • Polling data shows support for Musk among Democrats down to just 6% (previously, along with the climate concerned, his most committed Tesla buyer groups).

Bottom line: No pun intended, it’s a real downer. $290,000,000 is a lot for a hat.

BEHIND THE MICROBYTES

⭐️ Behind every social media length post, there’s an interesting backstory, which puts a little meat on the bone. They’re just too good to pass up.

MICROBYTE: THE BIRTHRIGHT CITIZEN DEBATE: WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT? 🔥 watch now

With only our computers or our cell phones watching, let’s, for just a moment, set aside the conspiracy stuff, the misinformation, the nefarious political fear mongering, and take an honest look at where it all began and why Birth Rite Citizenship came to be and why it’s so important.

Let’s begin with the 14th Amendment guarantees that people born in the United States are automatically granted the right to be citizens of this country, regardless of whether their parents are also citizens––no matter whether they got here by The Queen Mary, Virgin Atlantic, or swimming across the Rio Grande.

Period. 

Nevertheless, a debate is raging over whether to strip that right from the Constitution. 

“But taking away this right would have effects far beyond what its critics may realize, Walter Dellinger, who served as a top legal official in former President Bill Clinton's administration, told The Huffington Post this week. Today, it serves a very important function, that no one can go back to previous generations and find out that your claim to be a citizen is faulty because your grandparent or great-grandparents were not lawfully in the country," Dellinger said. "That's the critical importance of wiping the slate clean.

"If it weren't for birthright citizenship, people could go back and say, 'We found out your great-grandparent arrived at Ellis Island under a different name, and therefore none of her descendants are citizens either,'" Dellinger added. "Birthright citizenship eliminates all of those questions.”

Now you know

MICROBYTE: WHAT WERE THE FOUNDER'S THINKING WHEN THEY CREATED SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES? 🔥 watch now

Do you know what the founders feared almost as much as a President wanting to be King? We the People getting caught up in a momentary passion and turning everything up for grabs. They were more interested in slowing things down rather than speeding things up. And that is why they created the Senate: wise men, deliberative thinkers, respected elders, you can think Roman Senate because they were. 

The House was meant to be more in touch with the people and therefore more representative of current needs. But the bicameral legislature wasn’t all the result of high-minded governmental philosophy. The two-house legislature was as much a sop to the selfish interest of both large and small states. The Big States got more representatives according to population, the Small States got two Senators regardless of population. 

It’s not the most efficient kind of government; in fact, it’s probably the least efficient. And, given that they fled a world of Kings and Khans, Dictators, and Aristocrats, it all makes sense.

BTW, in the beginning, Senators weren’t elected by all the people; until the 17th Amendment was passed by Congress in 1912 and ratified by the States in 1913, they were appointed by State Legislatures. That is another story for another time.

Now you know.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

House Speaker Mike Johnson recently drew a sharp contrast between Donald Trump and Joe Biden regarding the transparency of their actions, particularly in the context of alleged corruption and foreign business dealings. 

In a press briefing, Johnson stated:

“The reason many individuals label Bidens the ‘Biden crime family’ is due to their behind-the-scenes activities; they attempted to hide their actions, repeatedly deceived the public, established shell companies, and the entire family was involved in profiting from it.”

He then contrasted this with his view of Trump: “Whatever President Trump is doing is transparent; there’s no attempt to hide it.”

POLITICAL JOKE OF THE WEEK

AI will replace somebody’s Grandfather: “My father’s father, my grandfather, was an elevator operator; he drove an elevator, his whole career was replaced by a button.” Jimmy Kimmel

WHAT I’M READING NOW

STATECRAFT. And how to restore America’s standing in the world.

“Statecraft is as old as politics. Plato wrote about it, Machiavelli practiced it. 

After the end of the Cold War, some predicted that statecraft would wither away. But, in the Globalized World-with its fluid borders, terrorist networks, and violent unrest-statecraft is more necessary than ever. Ross contends that the current our current problems stem from several administrations' failure to deal with them artfully, using the tools of statecraft- diplomatic, economic, and military-to advance our national interests. Walter Isaacson: “With the rise of terrorism, the art of statecraft is more critical than ever. This is an essential book for our time.”

(Dennis Ross, Middle East Envoy and the chief negotiator in the Presidential Administrations of George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton.)As an Amazon Associate, we earn commission from qualifying purchases.

BOOBY PRIZE OF THE WEEK

🙄 Rolling Stone: SCOTT BESSENT COMPARES TRUMP’S QATARI JET GIFT TO STATUE OF LIBERTY.

Well, let’s all hope that our Treasury Secretary is better at numbers than he is at analogies.

First of all, the Statue of Liberty was given by France to the nation, not as a personal gift to Grover Cleveland. The gift was approved by Congress and accepted by Cleveland on behalf of We The People.  

And, I don’t know, if I gave somebody a 400 million dollar gift, I might expect something more in return than a Gee, thanks!

How 'bout you?

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WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE US TO COVER?

❓️ Got a question about how something works in our government or a topic you think more people should understand? Hit reply and let us know. We might cover it in an upcoming edition.

HOW TO TAKE ACTION

Because knowing what to say can be intimidating, we wrote a script to make calling your senator or representative easy.

1: Call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard  (202) 224-3121 

2: When the operator answers, say: “Hi, I’d like to be connected to [Rep/Senator Full Name]’s office, please.”  (You can ask for your House Representative or either Senator.)

3: Once you're connected to the office, use this script (Most likely you will get a voicemail):  “Hi, my name is [Your Name], and I’m a constituent from [Your City]. I’m calling to ask [Representative/Senator’s Last Name] to [support/oppose/speak out on] [brief description of the issue]. This issue matters to me because [one short personal reason or fact]. Can you please make sure they know this is important to their constituents?” 

Tips: Be polite and concise. You may speak to a staffer or leave a voicemail…both count. Calling once a week on key issues keeps the pressure on!

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