Get With the Program or Go

There is a mechanism in the State Department to allow staff members to express their dissent of official decisions and policy, in place since the Viet Nam War era http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2017/01/30/512494230/at-state-department-dissent-channel-in-high-gear-with-refugee-ban-protests.  The Dissent Channel is still in effect, and has been recently used by State Department employees who disagree with President Trump's decisions on Immigration. 

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said:  "I think they should get with the program or they can go." I understand that mentality, but he does not understand the intent of the Dissent Channel, which was specifically set up to allow State Department employees to express their opinions.  These state department employees are the experienced professionals who understand how to enact State Department diplomacy. They are not the untried appointees of the Trump Administration, most of whom do not have diplomatic experience or knowledge.

Why is President Trump willing to put our government in the hands of rank, untried, and inexperienced people, when there are tried and true professionals out there who can help him?

The other thing that concerns me about this attitude is that there is a mentality of Trump staffers that people should not be protesting their decisions and actions. Just because Donald Trump was elected President of the United States of America, does not mean that every citizen in this country has to agree with all of his actions, executive orders, and edicts.  The United States of America allows its citizens to dissent against the government, protest, and express dissenting opinions. 

President Trump and his staff need to be prepared for the fact many citizens in this country will be contesting their actions and executive orders. There will be law suits. There will be protests. And hopefully, there will be government employees who know that their allegiance is not to President Trump but to the Constitution of the United States of America.