To the editor:
I often lie awake at night, composing Letters to the Editor that I never send. Here are some of the topics that almost made it into print:
- How America is not taking care of its children, allowing too many to live in poverty, to be underfed, to die from a gunshot more than any other cause, to no longer be protected by child labor laws.
- How almost 75% of Republicans think that Democrats are immoral—a statistic that totally gobsmacked me.
- How a growing number of people are turning their backs on Ukrainian funding, even though just 5% of America’s defense budget goes to Ukraine, and 90% of that 5% comes BACK to the United States because we manufacture so much of what goes to help Ukraine.
- How people who supposedly know the dangers of idolatry nonetheless idolize a man who is a convicted sexual assaulter, serial liar, cheat, and mean-spirited bully, proving that for at least 40% of the American populace, character no longer matters.
I won’t continue listing the letters I never put to paper, but after last week’s “border bill” debacle in the Congress, I know I have to speak out.
I watched Republicans receive the border bill THEY had asked for, and then—in a two-day period—reject that very bill under orders from one self-serving politician. This rejection was a defining moment. America had reached a fork in the road, and Congressional Republicans set us on a dark and dangerous path. It seems most Republicans in this Congress care less about the common good of our citizenry, and less about the goal of an orderly world, than they do about obeying the finger snap of a vainglorious, power-hungry politician.
Mr. Trump wanted an issue for the upcoming election; he wanted it to be immigration; when he demanded Republican members of Congress give it to him, they obliged.
I was not alone in my despair. I began to read essay after essay about what Thomas Friedman calls this “hinge moment” in our nation’s history. David Brooks (a conservative, mind you) stated, “We’re living through one of the most dangerous periods of modern times.” He warned that “the storm clouds are gathering” as Republicans have opted for a “Post-American world.”
Friedman suggested that by failing to secure our own border and to support our allies, “it is looking more and more like [America is waving a] white flag, autographed by Donald Trump.” He ended his opinion piece with a warning: “Remember this week, folks—because historians surely will.”
I have never understood how one person can totally whip into submission a huge swath of an electorate, but last week I saw that it truly has taken place in my own lifetime. I have no idea how to counteract such an occurrence, but I know it’s time to stop writing Letters to the Editor that I never send.
Fred Kight
The Plains, Ohio
