We are in this together

“We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” 

Martin Luther King Jr. Letters from a Birmingham Jail 1963

My cousin asked me, during one of my rants about the current Trump administration, how the regime has affected my life personally. I came home and considered her question. I am retired and comfortable. I have health care and can afford life’s necessities. I am free to travel. I read the books I want to read. I worship how I want. I enjoy my friends and attend concerts and shows. I hike, ride my bike, play tennis, and take afternoon naps on hot summer days. Yet that comfort feels fragile. Just because my life appears normal on the outside does not mean I am untouched; underneath it runs a river of dread and sorrow. What harms my fellow Americans affects me personally.

I see the pain many Americans are experiencing now and imagine horrors to come. Friends and neighbors have lost health insurance. Mothers have lost SNAP benefits that help feed their children. Immigrant neighbors fear for their lives and futures. Many Americans are living through economic stress, pressure on free speech and civil rights, and a steady barrage of public falsehoods that makes shared truth harder to sustain. Our national forests and parks are opened to extraction and neglect. Climate change is wreaking havoc around the world. I see the writing on the wall. Democracy is in grave danger in the United States, and I worry for my children and grandchildren. What kind of world will we leave them?

The past eighteen months have seen a systematic dismantling of our democracy. The institutions that have preserved our freedoms and stability are being hollowed out by Russell Vought, loyal sycophants, and private power brokers, while experienced civil servants, scientists, and professionals are eliminated. The architects of Project 2025 continue to systematically dismantle American institutions while Trump’s chaos, lies, and antics distract the public from the scale of the damage.   

It is un-American for masked, armed agents to seize and sometimes kill people on their way to work or while dropping children at school. It is gut-wrenching to see immigrants and citizens live under the threat of state violence and detention carried out with little accountability. It is not normal in America for the government to target protesters, critics, and journalists for asking questions and telling the truth. It’s grotesque to celebrate cage matches and gilded ballrooms while families struggle to get by. In a democracy, it is not normal for a president to use the machinery of justice to pursue political opponents. American law was designed for justice for all, not political retaliation. It’s not normal, moral, or prudent to launch reckless military actions or stumble into wars without a coherent foreign policy. The money spent on war could feed hungry children, provide health care, and expand opportunity. The regime’s corruption and self-dealing are draining public trust and transferring wealth upward. We were once called a shining city on a hill, but now our other countries don’t trust us. Our allies have become our enemies and enemies our allies. Our credibility is diminished. We are sliding toward authoritarianism, a Christian Nationalist theocracy fueled by idolatry of money, power, and racial hierarchy costumed in Christian language. This is a vision of America that Jesus does not approve of.

These days echo Nazi Germany in the 1930’s when Hitler was amassing power. I am peering over the abyss and wondering whether the promise of America—with liberty and justice for all—can still be salvaged. I vacillate between hope and dread. I cannot predict the future, but I can choose hope. I hope every American, wherever they fall on the political spectrum, wakes up to the beauty of this country, even with all its failings and flaws. I hope Americans reject the lies used to divide them. I hope we remember the strength of our diversity and the promise Thomas Jefferson wrote into the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” I hope truth rises from the earth and matters again. I hope Americans unite to defend democracy before oligarchy and authoritarianism take deeper root. There are more of us than them.

So, the best answer to my cousin’s question about how the regime has affected me personally is this: I have become radicalized in defense of democracy, willing to spend my time, attention, and resources protecting it. The question I keep asking myself is, “What is mine to do?” I may have gone overboard in joining resistance groups, but I know I must tell the truth, seek the truth, and act on the truth through every avenue available to me. I have been protesting, registering voters, donating money, listening, learning, and preparing to give more. I believe my choices and actions matter. I cannot abandon those being crushed by this administration. I will use my voice, my vote, my time, and my resources to defend democracy, and I ask others to consider what is theirs to do before it is too late.