As President Donald Trump and his administration attempt to thwart our nation’s laws, with Republicans looking the other way, may I remind us that these officials are elected to be our public servants?
As citizens, we pay taxes. I pay taxes. And I want my taxes to be spent running our country soundly, based on truths, based on reason, and especially based on our Constitution.
And yet … Our people’s lands and national parks are being dismantled. We love these environments, no matter our political leaning. Our children should be able to continue to enjoy this beauty for centuries.
A reminder, too, that legal immigrants are here for a reason. And they have rights. Our nation consists of millions of immigrants as well as native peoples. We are a humanitarian melting pot that needs to get along.
Undocumented immigrants should not be dehumanized — but that’s what Trump and team are doing. All persons in the U.S. have the right of due process. Do not shackle and shave, send to concentration camps and make disappear. What has happened to the ethics of our nation?
Before this federal administration, the United States had been a defender of democracy worldwide. We need to continue to be so. Get other nations to step up more, yes. But threatening to conquer other countries, our allies — Canada, Greenland, Panama — using economic sanctions, and devastatingly worse, military force, is not who we are.
Our civil servants who track weather, discover scientific advances, protect our food from poisoning, shield our financial systems from hacks, provide our nation with transparent information? They exist because we as taxpayers pay them to serve in these capacities.
No matter your religion, you are free to practice in this nation. How wonderful is that? No one is keeping this from you. Trump says he’s bringing Christianity back to the United States. It never left. And, any religion is welcome.
American children should be offered an education. I pay taxes for this important investment even though I no longer have kids in school. My money helps fund public education. If we raise America’s young with the ability to read, do math, think critically, understand science and practice the arts, we will continue to raise the standards of our entire nation. But it must be for all children, not just some. This opportunity is presently being destroyed.
You and I have the right to free speech. So do Israeli Americans, for example. So do Palestinian Americans. So do students on college campuses. So do people in their houses of worship. Journalists should share truths without the threat of harm or confinement from our government. This right is being threatened. Our Constitution is being threatened. We should never give up this right. Ever.
And we should fight as parents, grandparents, as taxpayers, as borrowers of this gorgeous Earth, for the future of decency, truth and the care of people both like and not like us. We should fight to save endangered elephants, whales and bees; for clean oceans, for fresh air and for a sustainable future.
But these are not the fights President Trump and company are initiating; instead, they seem to be driven to destroy.
Call me woke, but more importantly, call me a grandmother who cares that all our youth will get to have similar opportunities as we have had for most of our lives. Our youth should be able to continue experiencing the beauty we walk upon, swim within, see in vivid color and just breathe. This is what I pay for as a taxpayer. This is what I will be fighting for.
Kelli Lundgren lives in Kaanapali and has owned a short-term vacation rental for more than 13 years on Maui’s south shore.
