Speak Out for the Disappeared

 Letter to the LNP Editor; text as submitted March 14, 2025

In the years when I was involved in Latin America solidarity work, we mourned the “disappeared.” They were the resisters, the justice and civil rights advocates, the teachers, doctors, and priests. They were grabbed from homes and offices, classrooms and shops. The fortunate ones turned up in prison somewhere, but most were found as corpses, or never found at all. In many countries the reign of terror lasted for years.

Now ICE is “disappearing” people. Every day we learn another name – Mahmoud Kahlil, Jasmine Mooney, Becky Burke. While each one of these has now been located, all three in brutal detention centers with no clear path for release, in each case it took days for concerned family to learn their whereabouts. These are the few whose names are now public knowledge. I have no doubt that there are and will be others. Cruelty is a hallmark of the Trump-Musk regime’s modus operandi.

German Lutheran Pastor Martin Niemöller’s famous quote, spoken after he was freed from eight years in a nazi prison camp, bears repeating now: “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”

Now is the time for each of us to speak out loudly and clearly. The lawless, hateful destruction of our country must not prevail.

Trump-Musk Abuses Begin

 Letter to the LNP Editor; text as submitted February 19, 2025

Amidst the flood of atrocities coming from the Musk-Trump regime, several common themes stand out. Foremost are contempt for the rule of law, disregard for our constitution, and immense cruelty directed at others.

Senator David McCormick, in reply to my email, wrote “President Trump has nominated a team of disrupters …” In this he is correct. Disruption of once-dependable institutions and services is a tactic of authoritarians intent on taking over democracies. The would-be dictator can then convince a traumatized populace that only he can save them.

In just a month’s time the U.S. under Trump and Musk has become a much less safe place. Vast databases of our confidential personal information are under attack by Musk’s operatives. We do not yet know what malignant actors may have access to our private data with intent to harm us.

The suffering increases daily. Thousands of federal workers lose their jobs. Contracts with farmers and grants for critical medical research are cancelled. Promised support for food and heating aid in poor communities is withdrawn. International cooperation is replaced by threatened land grabs. With the cancellation of USAID, disease and death increase worldwide. Countries that were once our firm allies now regard the U.S. as an adversary, viewing us with suspicion and distrust.

Terrible as this all seems, there is still opportunity to correct course. Please speak out. Join the non-violent resistance as you are able. We live in the oldest democracy on the planet. Don’t let anyone take that away from us.

Paths of Resistance

Letter to the LNP Editor; text as submitted January 1, 2025

The coming year promises to be difficult for many in our nation. A plurality of voters have elected a convicted felon and adjudicated sexual abuser as our next president. He has in turn named a number of cronies as intended nominees for leading government positions. Most range from astonishingly incompetent to intentionally dangerous and destructive toward the agencies they would head. If they succeed in even half their stated plans, our safety and quality of life will be significantly diminished.

Here then are things I intend to do as my small part in maintaining sanity and justice. I recommend them to others as they may seem possible and appropriate in your life.

•            Stay informed. Choose news sources carefully, screening them for accuracy and honesty.
•  Fact check before sharing anything, especially on social media.
• Let your voice be heard. Communicate your opinions to elected officials at all levels of government. Insist on democracy and integrity.
• Help others if you have the means. Don’t hesitate to ask if you need help yourself.
• Maintain your moral standards; don’t accept excuses for others’ bad behavior. Proposing incarceration of political opponents is outrageous. Threatening the territorial integrity of other countries is unconscionable.

Most of all, take care of yourself and those you love. When the chaos and cruelty wear you down, take time to find joy and replenish your energy. We are in this for the long haul. With hope and determination we can preserve our nation from the authoritarian forces now arrayed against us.

Hold to Constitutional Values

Letter to the LNP Editor; text as submitted November 30, 2024

We are living in troubling and uncertain times. Because the president-elect is a frequent liar who floods his social media with torrents of threats and dangerous assertions, it is impossible to know at any given time what he actually means and what is simply gaslighting and bluster. His purpose appears to be to keep his opponents off-balance and unsure of what we must do to protect our nation from the chaos and distress that he generates.

Our response must be measured and in accordance with the values on which the U.S. was founded. We must hold to the truths that all are created equal; that our government is “of the people, by the people, and for the people”; that justice and rule of law are paramount. We must not yield to the temptation to oppose lies with lies, violence with violence, fraud with corruption.

His criteria for choosing staff are clear. Blind loyalty to the president is essential; knowledge and competence are not. The goal is destruction of functional government agencies. Billionaires will benefit; the rest of us will struggle.

We need to sustain our well-being and create communities of resistance. Support those who are in a position to stand strong against tyranny. Run for office and be one of those people yourself if that is your calling. Protect and care for those who will suffer under the dictates of the incoming regime. The good people of our country have overcome oppressive forces before. We can do it again.

Need Kindness and Community in Time of Darkness

 

Letter to the LNP Editor; text as submitted November 6, 2024

Wednesday morning I woke up to the news that a majority of voters in the U.S. had chosen lies over truth, fraud over honest dealings, revenge and abuse over compassion, hate over love. It is a dark and dangerous time for our nation. The inevitable suffering will be great. And according to the voters, this is what we want.

Decades ago I attended a weekend retreat led by renowned German theologian Dorothee Sölle. In one urgent message to us she warned about the drift toward fascism that, even then, she observed in our country. Alas, her alarm was never taken seriously enough by the majority, and now here we are.

It will be up to us who still cherish freedom and decency to find ways to share kindness amidst the oppression. The first groups to be targeted have already been identified by the incoming administration – the immigrants, the LGBTQ+ community, Black persons and people of color. They will need sustenance and protection as we are able to give it. Beyond these, anyone who disagrees with and protests against abusive policies will be labeled “the enemy within,” subject to whatever horrors may be implemented. We must band together to care for each other and to find allies in resistance as best we can.

Above all else, we must not lose hope that someday the U.S. will once again be a nation that respects the rule of law and provides liberty and justice for all. Our young people deserve nothing less.

To Serve and Protect

Letter to the LNP Editor; text as submitted September 1, 2024

Early in my career, the senior officer who promoted me to a position in Loan Administration advised me that my tasks would be to “serve the customers and protect the bank.” Ideally, the goals of serving and protecting should guide everyone’s work with the public, from junior clerk to highest government official. The Republican nominee for President, however, falls dangerously short.

As we prepare to vote, we must not forget that when Trump left office in January 2021, he took with him thousands of official documents, including more than 300 bearing classified and highly sensitive U.S. defense information. It took government authorities more than two and a half years to reclaim and secure all the files Trump carelessly and unlawfully held in his possession. During that time, with thousands of visitors passing through Mar-a-Lago, the danger that national secrets could fall into the hands of our country’s adversaries and other malicious actors was immense.

We may never know the extent of the damage to our nation and to our allies that has resulted from this blatant mishandling of classified documents. The safety of our military personnel was certainly threatened. Lives of foreign nationals working with our troops may have been put at risk.

Returning to office the perpetrator of these security threats should be unthinkable. Yet here we are, with a significant portion of our population ready to do just that. When election time comes, may criminality be rejected and may honesty, service to, and protection for our nation prevail.

U.S. Not a Christian Nation

Letter to the LNP Editor; text as submitted August 2, 2024

It is said that everyone is entitled to their own opinions but not their own facts. Entertaining diverse opinions encourages creative solutions to complex challenges. Dangers arise, however, when stated opinions are based on false data. In today’s political climate careful fact checking is essential in choosing the information on which one bases one’s opinions.

One false, and increasingly pernicious, claim made in far too many opinion pieces is that our country was founded as and intended to be a Christian nation. This is simply not true. The First Amendment clearly states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion…” but for some theocratic advocates this is not enough.

The simplest fact check of this claim is to cite Article 11 of the 1797 Treaty of Tripoli, which was negotiated under President George Washington, ratified by the U.S. Senate, and signed by President John Adams. It begins “As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion …”

To state otherwise endangers the civil liberties of any who do not share the particular kind of Christian belief being imposed. But the claim also threatens the Christian faith itself by depicting it to the public as bigoted, abusive, and authoritarian. More and more Americans, especially youth, are rejecting all Christianity because they see it as hateful and oppressive. For the sake of both our Constitutional Democracy and the Gospel of Jesus, the falsehoods about both must stop.