Two of my teachers growing up had an outsized impact on my life. They helped build the foundation for my becoming a journalist.

My fifth-grade English teacher was really the first person outside of my family to tell me I had the raw talent to become a good writer. Because she believed it, so did I.

My ninth-grade civics teacher was in her 50s by the time we crossed paths, but she had far and away the most energy of anyone I’ve met. At shorter than 5 feet, she would sometimes stand on her desk to teach or she would move around the room physically performing the lessons, breaking only to suddenly call on one of her students to chime in.

She taught with such passion and wisdom, and she embodied a sense of duty to compel us to be better citizens. It worked on me. If for no other reason, I didn’t want to let this woman down.

Interestingly, she never shied away from the ugly parts of our country’s history – slavery, Jim Crow, Japanese internment camps during World War II. But she never lost sight of how the legal structures of our imperfect system still have always provided the guiding light in our Hegelian struggle toward a more perfect union.

Among those structures are our three branches of government. A key player in the struggle for progress is separation of powers.

In what amounts to a ransom letter the self-ascribed Trump Education Department sent recently to all educational institutions receiving federal money, the department notes its “interpretation” of civil rights law. Or, as a Mississippi State University press release described it, the Trump administration’s “new interpretation” of those laws.

The department’s message and mission: Eliminate any program, language, anything designed to help or promote people of color. White folks (and Asians, apparently) are tired of anyone else getting something that could be defined as preferential treatment.

Putting aside how historically ass-backward (and pointy white hood-like) the department’s argument is, let’s go back to civics class for a moment. The executive branch neither makes law nor interprets it. It executes law, as its name implies. “Interpreting” is a function of the judicial branch, one our venerable hillbilly vice president has publicly said Trump and Co. should ignore if it suits them.

If you don’t understand why the executive branch “interpreting” law is a major problem, or it doesn’t bother you because you believe you will somehow benefit from it, then you, as a citizen, are a threat to the United States of America.

It’s become quite clear to anyone who hasn’t gone full Quisling that Trump intends to rule, not govern, and he intends to do it unilaterally. His attacks on free speech, birthright citizenship and attempts to punish those who don’t recognize his “renaming” the Gulf of Mexico, reek of a man who knows he will get away with it. Sadly, he may be right. And this is just the beginning.

The first time Trump stormed into the White House, he was more Caligula. This time, he’s Nero. Feel free to read up on what happened to Rome while he was emperor.

I guess if you’re white, male or just not concerned that the unconstitutional things Trump is doing affect you, don’t worry. They will. Or if you’re elated that Trump is finally putting “them” in their “rightful place,” don’t worry. As the line we must fall into “or else” moves, you’ll become “them” soon enough.

Unchecked power never benefits the whole. “Efficient” government that cuts out the need to find political consensus or recognize the power of the system’s other branches eventually hurts all its citizens. Paraphrasing a famous poem, being the last in the line of those affected only means no one will be left to speak up for you.

I thought long and hard about even writing this column. Part of me considered being quiet entirely and keeping my head down, but that’s never really been my style. That, and silence is complicity. I want the record to show, whatever may befall me for it, that I am not complicit.

Besides, I do not want to disappoint the memory of my late ninth-grade civics teacher. And however this writing may strike you, dear reader, I know I can answer for it to my wife, my children and Jesus Christ.

Zack Plair is managing editor of The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].

Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.