Loyal opposition
Call, write, text, email. Remember: it isn’t our eloquence that sways a representative. It is our sheer numbers.
This week’s heart-rending conversation was with a colleague who teaches part-time for our department. Their day job is with an organization that is a federal contractor, engaged in data analysis. My colleague earns significantly more in that job than teaching, but they reached out to ask about teaching full-time.
You see, my colleague said, I am not sure I can watch this. My team members who are employed by the federal government are being told to scrub their data of terms related to gender and race, rendering most applications for those data useless. Their own jobs are threatened daily. And they cannot even indicate their own gender in their email signatures.
My colleague’s eyes were red-rimmed from crying. They continued: Some of my fellow contract workers see this as an opportunity for us to pick up more work as federal agencies are gutted of experienced, talented people. But I just can’t. I can’t see this as good for us with all the suffering it is causing.
Our state’s budget is in deficit, too; even so I am hopeful we will be able to offer this colleague a full-time contract for next year. They have a high-demand skill set and a heart for teaching.
But even if this person finds a place to land, what about the thousands and thousands of others? Federal employees who have contributed time, effort, and diligence to their work are now being treated as criminals (at worst) or as useless baggage (at best). And why?
Because narcissistic billionaires want the federal government to be their plaything.
I often remind my students: we sometimes define leadership as “influence.” But influence used only for one’s own personal gain is the opposite of leadership: it is manipulation.
The manipulation of news and information is ramping up. Meanwhile, millions of ordinary Americans are flooding the phone lines and emails of our representatives and senators, demanding accountability and insisting they uphold their oath of office to defend the Constitution. That is the critical role of loyal opposition: Loyalty to the Constitution, opposition in all non-violent forms to its destruction.
If you are talking with friends and family, caring for immigrant neighbors (or yourselves), making calls, sending emails, insisting on a fact-based world, you are part of the loyal opposition.
Some ways to help are below the photo. There are often scripts in case you aren’t sure what to say, but remember: it isn’t our eloquence that sways a representative. It is our sheer numbers.
Doing anything is better than doing nothing. Do one thing this week that demonstrates your loyalty to the Constitution and your opposition to the crime spree that is underway.
Be safe and well, take good care, we have only begun.
https://indivisible.org/resource/explainer-how-senate-democrats-can-delay-defy-trumps-agenda-procedural-hardball?
