Restore Decency and Justice

Letter to the LNP Editor; text as submitted January 3, 2026

As the new year begins, let us consider the year just past and begin to plan a way forward. For those watching closely, the chaos and cruelty of the Trump administration was evident from day one. Lawlessness and corruption increased as the months went on. The compliant Senate approved a host of Trump sycophants for top-level positions, creating a leadership noteworthy for both incompetence and ignorance.

As the atrocities grew, so did the resistance. We are now at a place which in some ways echoes the situation of our country’s founders 250 years ago. And like them, we must rally to reject authoritarian rule, to declare that all are created equal, and to demand a government that respects our rights.

Unlike our 18th century founders, we have a constitution and established laws that provide for the good of the country. But as historian Heather Cox Richardson recently wrote, “It’s not simply that [Trump and his cronies] have broken the laws. They have acted as if the laws, and the Constitution that underpins them, don’t exist.” We must insist that this behavior is totally unacceptable and un-American. It must cease immediately.

Our task in the coming months is to define clearly the kind of governance that we desire, then vote in the November elections for those candidates who demonstrate the skills and determination to restore decency and justice to our nation. Those who are undermining our community and destroying our democracy must be held accountable. Let it not be said that our generation surrendered to dictatorship and evil all that our ancestors bequeathed to us.