Your Voice Matters. Join the Resistance!
Since Trump’s “Day One,” we have awakened to news reports of this Republican administration’s efforts to lift any constraints on the president’s power and to destroy our social safety net. In his first week in office alone, Trump fired the Inspectors General at 17 federal agencies charged with monitoring the use of federal funding and investigating any suspected waste, fraud, and abuse. He then Then Trump took on the Justice Department, an institution that has, for decades, worked hard to rise above the political fray, and he sought to transform it into an institution designed to do his bidding. Departments, agencies, and programs have been eliminated or weakened by indiscriminate firings, layoffs, and the promise of some extra cash for those who leave voluntarily.
While all of this was happening, we watched as immigrants, some who are in the country legally, have been apprehended, incarcerated, and sent to prisons abroad. And we saw our president and vice president humiliate an ally on national television and defame judges whose decisions they don’t like. While we wait for the courts to determine how much of this precipitous action will hold, how do we, ordinary North Carolinians, find our agency and resist?
No single action is going to solve this problem, but if we join with others and show up at the demonstrations, participate in the boycotts (current ones target Tesla, Target, Walmart, and Amazon), and speak out repeatedly against the decisions made by Trump and the fellow billionaires he has empowered, our collective concerns will be impossible to ignore.
Through phone calls and letters to elected officials, we need to press our legislators to meet with constituents in town hall meetings and to put the needs of constituents above party. Reach out to your silent Republican leaders to do something and encourage your Democratic representatives to do more. Thank those who do speak out, particularly those who back up their speech by drafting legislation and voting for legislation that protects us.
Consider the actions in Washington or in the NC General Assembly that might harm you, your family, or your fellow citizens. Pick one issue and write a short letter. There are several issues to choose from: the elimination of the Department of Education, massive cuts to scientific research, drastic reduction of health services, the destruction of our alliances with allies in favor of cozy friendships with autocrats and oligarchs.
But the list doesn’t end there. You can focus the trouble with tariffs, those economic instruments that are little more than consumer taxes, the prospect of drastic cuts to Social Security, the demise of FEMA, the Muskrats getting access to your private data, cuts to our veterans, and Medicaid cuts that will fall on the most vulnerable. Consider the North Carolinians living in nursing homes, 64% of them covered by Medicaid.
You can address the harm to North Carolina farmers, who often sell their products to Canada and Mexico. Sadly, in the same week that Senator Thom Tillis spoke out forcefully about the harm that NC farmers will feel from the tariffs on Canada, he failed to stand with four of his fellow Republicans who joined Democrats in an effort to rescind Trump’s 25% tariff on Canada. A week later, however, Tillis supported the Trade Review Act, which would require Congressional review of all tariffs sought by the president. Not surprisingly, Trump has threatened to veto this Senate bill, but if you support your Republican senator’s effort to reach across the aisle, let him know.
You can write, too, about the fact that North Carolina ranks 4th from the bottom in per pupil expenditure and teacher pay, yet our Republican-controlled General Assembly has found $464 million to provide vouchers to students attending private K-12 schools. Many of these private schools discriminate against students with disabilities, and two-thirds have a religious requirement.
In submitting a letter to an editor, only submit to one publication at a time, and keep it short (150-200 words). Some publications will require that you subscribe, but the rate is often only $1-$2 per month.
NC Publications that invite letters to the editor include: Asheville Citizen-Times, Charlotte Observer, Clinton Sampson Independent, Durham Herald-Sun, Eden News, Forest City Daily Courier, Gaston Gazette, Greensboro News & Record, Henderson Daily Dispatch, Hendersonville Times-News, Hickory Daily Record, High Point Enterprise, Indi Week, Lenoir News-Topic, Marion McDowell News, Richmond County Daily Journal, Salisbury Post, Sanford Herald, Statesville Record & Landmark, Washington Daily News, Winston-Salem Journal.
The following NC papers have a shared site to which you can submit a letter to the editor: The Daily Reflector. Rocky Mount Telegram, The Daily Advance, Bertie Ledger-Advance, Chowan Herald, Duplin Times, The Enterprise, The Perquimans Weekly, The Standard.
To share your opinion with:
- President Trump, VP Vance, Gov Stein, Senators Budd and Tillis—gov
- Congressional Representative, NC House member, or NC Senate member — https://www.ncleg.gov/findyourlegislators For helpful advice on making calls to your representatives, take a look at 5 calls.org.
Welcome to the Resistance!
