The Trump administration’s attack on brown immigrants, transgender people, education, diversity, and history itself is upsetting, but there is so much more to add to the reasons to worry.
Repairers of the Breach released an open letter on the first day of Lent, calling on the nation to engage in a season of nonviolent moral dissent. “We are calling on political leaders to stand against extremism and dangerous budget cuts being proposed by the new administration and Congress, which threaten the lives of millions of people” the letter began.
The long letter also included these strong words: “Even though we know what could be done to end death-dealing poverty and we have the means to do it, we have allowed extreme inequality to fester like a sore in our common life, and a false populism has emerged in response to pit us against one another across dozens of dividing lines.
This moral travesty has…resulted in the current Constitutional crisis, which has not been resolved by our system of checks and balances. In violation of law, Donald Trump is abusing the power of the Presidency by allowing Elon Musk to freeze funding allocated by Congress…While Congress has a responsibility to check this abuse of power, it has instead invited its rogue executive to address a joint session while instructing its committees to prepare a budget based on the same lies that have been used to justify the illegal funding freeze.
We must be clear…We decry the tyranny of technology and refuse to bow to the god of efficiency because this distorted faith is a violation of our moral commitment to equality and freedom that an imperfect government was fashioned to sustain. If people’s lives and livelihoods can be dismissed as “waste” without due process, we forsake our moral commitment to equality. If an unelected technocrat can delete the financial commitments of a government established for the people and by the people, we betray our moral commitment to liberty. If political leaders are willing to forsake their oath to establish justice and ensure domestic tranquility in order to appease billionaires, we reject our ancient faith and the moral foundation of our common life. If Congress will not stand by the commitments we have made to partners and vulnerable neighbors around the world, we abandon the moral foundation of the fragile peace we hope to sustain.”
The letter continued: “We…pray for the nation we love because we know that the people of our communities have the power to reclaim our moral commitments and reconstruct our government. This work is not easy. It will take time, and it will take sustained effort. But it begins by telling the truth about where we are, repenting of the part we’ve each played in forsaking our moral commitments, and standing together to insist that we can become the America that has never yet been.”
The Queer God Squad shares these sentiments and this commitment to restoring integrity, compassion, and equity to our nation’s shared life and governance. Join us in working and hoping for better days in this weary land.
