Stand up and speak out: America’s values need defending in this time of crisis

Six months ago, there were so many ques­tions that need­ed answers:

• Would any­one heed the U.S. intel­li­gence com­mu­ni­ty’s ear­ly warn­ings in 2016 that Rus­sia had inter­fered with the U.S. Pres­i­den­tial elections?
• Would any­one inves­ti­gate how and why Russ­ian sur­ro­gates had per­pe­trat­ed cyber attacks on Amer­i­can insti­tu­tions and individuals?
• Would any­one demand thor­ough back­ground inves­ti­ga­tions of the Pres­i­dent-elec­t’s White House senior nation­al secu­ri­ty appoint­ments – espe­cial­ly those not sub­ject to Sen­ate con­fir­ma­tion – before issu­ing top secret code­word clear­ances to these individuals?
• Would any­one have the sta­mi­na to demand the Pres­i­dent-elect and his fam­i­ly ful­ly dis­close their finan­cial stakes in a far-flung, glob­al real estate cor­po­ra­tion, includ­ing all finan­cial investors tied to for­eign gov­ern­ments or for­eign interests?
• Would any of us have the endurance to keep up the pres­sure on our elect­ed offi­cials to pro­tect our rights under the rule of law?

Six months lat­er, here’s the line-up of inves­ti­ga­tions under­way as of May 13th in var­i­ous Con­gres­sion­al com­mit­tees and at the Fed­er­al Bureau of Inves­ti­ga­tion (FBI).

And six months lat­er, we have learned how to stand up and speak out against unlaw­ful Pres­i­den­tial exec­u­tive orders, a deeply con­ser­v­a­tive Supreme Court nom­i­nee whose judi­cial phi­los­o­phy is cor­po­ra­tiz­ing Amer­i­can pol­i­tics, pro­posed elim­i­na­tion of the Patient Pro­tec­tion Act, cat­a­stroph­ic bud­get cuts to agen­cies that pro­tect peo­ple and the envi­ron­ment, and a Pres­i­den­tial pen­chant for mak­ing per­son­al attacks against cur­rent and for­mer fed­er­al civ­il ser­vants – with late-night tweets his pre­ferred deliv­ery method.

What will the next six months reveal?

We must now demand fol­low-through from the Con­gres­sion­al com­mit­tees. Con­gres­sion­al com­mit­tees are the only ones with the pow­er to hold pub­lic hear­ings. We, the peo­ple, not only have a right to know.

We have a need-to-know. We are the vot­ers and no mat­ter what, we need to know that our nation’s lead­ers are not putting our right to self-gov­ern­ment at risk.

Con­gress must keep inves­ti­gat­ing and hold pub­lic hear­ings to the max­i­mum extent fea­si­ble. Some of the com­mit­tee chairs and vice chairs are per­sis­tent despite obstruc­tions by Speak­er of the House Paul Ryan and Sen­ate Major­i­ty Leader Mitch McConnell – both of whom are com­pet­ing for the role of the cow­ard­ly lion in the twen­ty-first cen­tu­ry’s ver­sion of the Wiz­ard of Oz. It’s time for Ryan and McConnell to do their jobs now. Or step aside for peo­ple who will.

The new spe­cial pros­e­cu­tor lead­ing the FBI inves­ti­ga­tions will do his work – but just like water finds its own path, inves­ti­ga­tions will take their own course. Some inves­ti­ga­tions will lose steam. Trails of evi­dence will go cold.

The FBI’s inves­ti­ga­tions will be behind-closed-doors efforts; it will be easy for those of us on the out­side to lose track of the situation.

That’s why we need con­gres­sion­al com­mit­tees doing their work in pub­lic. When both the leg­isla­tive and exec­u­tive branch­es are work­ing in par­al­lel, it helps us – the vot­ers – have con­fi­dence that one way or anoth­er, some­one will dis­cov­er the facts and reveal the results of the investigations.

A final word about nation­al and inter­na­tion­al secu­ri­ty, alliances, coali­tions, net­works, friend­ships, and relationships.

The next six months will strain all bonds. They will strain our nation’s deep­est, old­est rela­tion­ships with oth­er nations as well as more recent ties forged after the end of the Cold War. We’re all going to be rid­ing the waves of an admin­is­tra­tion that has no moral com­pass, one that lurch­es from moment to moment in pur­suit of per­son­al grat­i­fi­ca­tion and pet­ty pow­er plays.

So we must reas­sure our own allies, friends, and pro­fes­sion­al col­leagues that we’re stand­ing strong even as Don­ald Trump goes rogue.

I am stand­ing up for our rights as a free peo­ple to main­tain alliances, coali­tions, net­works, friend­ships, and pro­fes­sion­al rela­tion­ships with every nation and every per­son who share our tra­di­tions, cul­tures, and com­mon inter­ests in a more equal, just, and free world.

I am stand­ing up for the rights of a free press, our only pro­tec­tion against those in pow­er who abuse pow­er and dis­tort infor­ma­tion to serve their own interests.

I am stand­ing up for the rights of peo­ple every­where to fight for clean air, clean water, clean food; access to hous­ing and edu­ca­tion­al oppor­tu­ni­ties; the dig­ni­ty of work in work­places where they earn a good wage to feed their fam­i­lies, pay for health­care, save for retire­ment, and take vaca­tions with fam­i­ly and friends.

I am stand­ing up for the rights of peo­ple who are the most vul­ner­a­ble, who have no voice to influ­ence the peo­ple in pow­er, and whose lives and lib­er­ties depend whol­ly on those of us who will fight to pro­tect the social con­tract because “there but for the grace of God go you or I.”

I am stand­ing up for the rights of stu­dents to enjoy study-abroad stu­dent exchanges so that they will make friends with peo­ple who speak oth­er lan­guages, know oth­er cul­tures, have dif­fer­ent his­to­ries, and want to expand free­doms and rights for all people.

I am stand­ing up for the rights of immi­grants to choose a new home and forge a new life for them­selves and their fam­i­lies. As a fourth-gen­er­a­tion Irish immi­grant, I still believe that nations of immi­grants are nations that learn how to adapt to change and learn how to solve big challenges.

I’m stand­ing up for the rights of the two mil­lion Amer­i­cans who work in fed­er­al civil­ian agen­cies and serve in the armed forces.

They are the peo­ple who make it pos­si­ble for us to be a self-gov­erned nation where insti­tu­tions serve the peo­ple, not the regime in power.

I am stand­ing up for a future where the Pres­i­dent of the Unit­ed States upholds our nation’s com­mit­ments to our own peo­ple and to our allies and friends, and where the Pres­i­dent accepts the respon­si­bil­i­ty of serv­ing every American.

And I am stand­ing up for a future where the mem­bers of the Unit­ed States Con­gress renew their devo­tion to the Amer­i­can Repub­lic and hon­or their sin­gu­lar duty to pro­tect the rule of law which gov­erns our land.

To every read­er who has made a com­mit­ment to be part of the resis­tance: Thank you and keep up the good work. Stand strong. We’re all in this together.