Op-Ed from reader Sam Doyle, Mountlake Terrace
SNAP cuts are hurting hard-working local families. Tariffs are hurting local businesses. Civility has gone by the wayside.
Medicaid cuts threaten millions. The democratic process is being attacked at multiple levels. Tanks roam Washington, DC, without justification, criminalizing the unhoused. Grocery prices rise.
Billionaires bask in obscene wealth at the expense of working people like me and you.
It is disheartening to feel powerless right now. America is better than this. The soul of America is NOT as xenophobic, angry, uncaring, misogynistic, or as racist as the behavior that the loudest and most brash people in the nation have been exhibiting without restraint for months.
It is disheartening to feel powerless right now. America is better than this. The soul of America is NOT as xenophobic, angry, uncaring, misogynistic, or as racist as the behavior that the loudest and most brash people in the nation have been exhibiting without restraint for months.
This country is becoming increasingly diverse and those typically in power are using any means necessary to fight that tide, as they lose grip on what they see as their natural born right to control this country. Ceding and sharing power is rarely peaceful, even if it is just.
I believe in the inherent goodness and promise of this country and of her people. I dream of an America where power and plentiful resources are shared equitably and where our constitution is upheld; it is possible.
I believe in the inherent goodness and promise of this country and of her people. I dream of an America where power and plentiful resources are shared equitably and where our constitution is upheld; it is possible.
I acknowledge that we are imperfect, with bloodstains on our flag from African-Americans, women, Japanese-Americans, LGBTQIA folks, and other historically marginalized communities. We have had other tumultuous periods in history and clearly we are in the midst of one now.
Despite the struggle, we cannot give up. YOU cannot give up. It is not an option. We cannot let hatred and division tear our cities or our country apart. America is for everyone-- immigrant, refugee, queer, disabled, trans folks--America is YOURS too.
Despite the struggle, we cannot give up. YOU cannot give up. It is not an option. We cannot let hatred and division tear our cities or our country apart. America is for everyone-- immigrant, refugee, queer, disabled, trans folks--America is YOURS too.
To each of you who have attended a rally, written to an elected official, donated to a food bank, voted, reached out to a new neighbor, defended a marginalized person--thank you. You matter, your actions matter, and thank you for believing that this country is worth fighting for.
Keep going.
We are in the midst of almost unbearable national and communal pain as previously underground forces that seek to maintain White supremacy’s dying grip on power threaten our bonds to each other and to our nation. We must not let these bonds break, although we feel them bending.
Keep going.
We are in the midst of almost unbearable national and communal pain as previously underground forces that seek to maintain White supremacy’s dying grip on power threaten our bonds to each other and to our nation. We must not let these bonds break, although we feel them bending.
Remember, everyone is hurting--even those whose actions we neither understand nor condone while they fight to retain their solitary grip on power. Work to find compassion for them as people even as you fight against their actions.
Sam Doyle
Mountlake Terrace, WA
From Maya Angelou in her poem “On the Pulse of Morning”:
“History, despite its wrenching pain
Cannot be unlived, but if faced
With courage, need not be lived again.
Lift up your eyes upon
This day breaking for you.
Give birth again
To the dream.”
Sam Doyle
Mountlake Terrace, WA
Thank you
ReplyDeleteThis is written so well and is timely and appropriate for many of us. Thank you, Sam.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely message to share! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteThank you.
ReplyDeleteIllegal immigrants do not get due process. That is reserved for citizens and legal immigrants on the path towards citizenship. Illegals need to be arrested and deported; each one is a slap in the face to those legal immigrants who followed our laws and became or are on the path towards citizenship. Illegals are felons and need to be deported. You don’t like it, fine. Protest all you want but interfering will get you jail time. You seem to think that our immigration laws are of lesser importance than other laws.
ReplyDeleteSo you don't believe in the constitution? Without due process you can't determine who is here legally. Citizens who fit the visual description are being illegally detained.
DeletePeople who are going through the legal process of becoming citizens are being detained.
Everyone who is within the bounds of the USA is entitled, ENTITLED to due process and the other protections our constitution provides.
Everyone on American soil is owed due process. It’s literally in the constitution. It doesn’t say *citizen*. It says *person*.
DeleteThe US Constitution (5th Amendment) states clearly that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without the due process of law. Note that this says person, not citizen, and over the years the Supreme Court has consistently ruled that the Due Process Clause applies to all people in the United States. This means non-citizens, including undocumented immigrants, are entitled to fair treatment under the law. This includes the right to defend themselves in court.
ReplyDeleteEvery PERSON gets due process.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this message Sam.
ReplyDelete"Anonymous" needs to read the US Constitution, which states "No person shall ... be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." That means "no person." So everyone in the country is entitled to due process. Furthermore, you are wrong in stating "illegals are felons." Illegal entry is a civil offense, not a criminal offense. And please don't use the term "illegals." It's so offensive. No person is "illegal." We are all human beings.
ReplyDeleteThank you - we all need to remember this as we push back against the insanity.
ReplyDeleteIt's easy to indulge oneself in the hyperbole of this post, but harder to honestly examine how one's own political choices can lead to negative outcomes.
ReplyDeleteTake crime for instance. Seattle used to be one of the safest cities in the country, but now we are 4th worst for overall crime at a rate nearly 3x the national average. This happened because the people tolerated crime, electing judges and legislators who tolerated it as well. Crime imposes enormous hidden costs on all of us. Crime increases our taxes, increases insurance rates, and increases retail prices including grocery prices. Mounting losses cause businesses to close their doors. These effects dwarf those of tariffs.
Then there's the enforcement of immigration law. Nobody would argue that it isn't messy, but whose fault is it that something like 7 million people sneaked over our borders or overstayed their visas between 2021 and 2024? When the law goes unenforced, it makes the cleanup worse for those who follow.
Illegal labor undermines American wage earners, particularly at the bottom. There's a real ugliness to the commonly expressed belief that certain jobs are beneath native-born Americans, and that without importing labor, we won't have fruit pickers, child care, maid service, and construction workers. The market's answer to that problem is that wages need to rise in all those sectors until Americans take on those jobs.
My grandmother picked cotton as a teenager during the Great Depression, because 90 years ago we had a social contract that able bodied people had to work if they wanted to eat. We've lost that reverence for the value of work. Why do we feel we have to import low wage labor today? It's because we encourage idleness through our welfare state. The coming work requirements for Medicaid and SNAP benefits will drive healthy idle people back into the workforce where they belong.
Resources are not rights to be shared equitably. Resources are earned through fair labor participation. It's a core American value to work hard and get ahead. Cheap, easily exploited labor undermines everyone's ability to work hard and thereby secure resources for their families. America is finally standing up for its native-born unskilled laborers.
Thank you for your well written words and for fighting for what is good and right. I admire your effort to do good in the midst of a crazy and scary time.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if you can like at this site so I will give you a something to google for all those who think these deportations are illegal. "Expedited Removal" by ICE. The original law went into effect in the 1990's and was greatly enhanced under Biden in 2022. All of you who think everyone of these guys get their day in court are dead wrong. They do not and Biden made it possible for many more to be deported.
ReplyDeleteWell said. I've never seen this many comments on a SAN Op-Ed. Awesome.
ReplyDelete