Some weeks ago, I wrote in this space about speaking with our neighbors with civility and acceptance. I stand by that philosophy today and want to exhort people to pick up this mantle. Last week a new administration was sworn in and began a flurry of activity by issuing Executive Orders and memos by the dozen. Many of our community are overjoyed by this new administration’s agenda. And many are as terrified as the others are overjoyed. Immigrants, LGBTQ+, and others are concerned. My observation months ago was that the then-candidate attempted to distance himself from Project 2025. But time clarifies things, and this last week, what has been crystal clear to me is that Project 2025 is already in full swing.
This agenda will not simply serve to “Own the libs.” It will diminish our nation wholesale in nearly every capacity, fully disrupting not only our national politics but the way in which the US has been viewed internationally. Efforts to stamp out DEI have gone down the rabbit hole so far as to call for the striking from US military professional military education (PME for you vets out there) the teaching about the Tuskegee Airmen. And those of the overjoyed I described category above are too often giving full-throated support to this. Last Monday, our new president went to church and was openly and unabashedly called upon to act with mercy. His response was to brush it off. And the response of a notable Republican Congressman was to suggest that the priest/minister who delivered that call for mercy, who is a US citizen, be deported.
This is but the tip of a massive iceberg of what I find to be unacceptable behaviors. And these unacceptable behaviors are causing, for good reason, a great deal of fear among our neighbors. Having grown up here on the shore and enjoying most of my life in a community that has come together when awful things happen—from storm surges that flooded bayside villages to the long hard winter of 1977 when watermen could not get their boats out—this community leaned on one another to get by. But in recent years, the community has devolved into tribalistic behaviors that do not serve any of us.
We are being manipulated by massive forces controlled by people with unimaginable wealth to act against our best interests. We do not have to accept this. We are called to reject this and seek to bond with our neighbors with compassion and peace. We are better when we take care of our neighbors, and whether we agree or disagree on whatever nonsense is being propagated from Washington, there are more of us out here in rural America than there are of the oligarchs and politicians. The power they have is theirs only because we gave it to them. If you feel anxious in these times, try to find just a single issue that you might agree on with someone that you otherwise disagree with. Show them your humanity. Show them that you are so very similar to them that they can no longer see you as “other,” and you may begin to see them as “neighbors” just the same.
We must reject this division or risk that the nation and world that we came up in will be irrevocably altered—and for the worse, far worse.
James Siegman
Talbot County
William Keppen says
You and I saw this coming, warned others, and cast our ballots in an attempt to avoid. Far too many others believed his lies or joined him in his white nationalistic views. They/he won. Project 2025 is being introduced and forced on civil society. We have lost, for now. But we have not lost, forever, unless we give up being decent, civil Americans who are able and willing to fight the good fight. I’m all in.
trudy wonder says
With you all the way, William.
Hal De Bona says
William, I wholeheartedly agree, however to fight the good fight we need to roll up our sleeves and get scuffed up a bit.
James Siegman says
I am hoping that there are enough people that can take more action in this fight than I. Unfortunately, my time is limited by work demands and so I am finding my “resistance” in writing and getting ideas into the public sphere to be shared and dispersed as widely as possible. I believe we are better than the divisions that have been amplified. We just need to find ways to connect with those who have jumped on a band wagon only to find out it was not really going where they thought….or at worst, have not realized the impact that propaganda has had and would like to feel a closer sense of community. Most of all, it is imperative that we CEASE to see one another as “other”….and we can only do that by seeking common ground.
Jean Rhian says
I appreciate this letter.
Thank you
Bob Parker says
Unlike Donald J Trump, our “so called” President who has nothing but contempt for those who have the temerity to disagree with him, we should strive to treat our neighbors with Christian love as suggested by Bishop Budde. We should remain civil when having a conversation with those who harbor views different than our own while we continue to espouse, and support, those views we learned as children; “do unto others…”, “love thy neighbor…” and “welcome the stranger…”. It seems clear that if we are to have a society that respects others, a society in which differences can be discussed and respected, it is incumbent on each of us to create that society as we can not look to the White House to do so.
James Siegman says
The theme that has run through my head these last couple of weeks has been that “No one is coming to rescue us.” If we are to have that society in which differences are discussed and respected…we must take that beyond the pages(or electrons) of this population and get out and talk with people and generate energy and enthusiasm for a new way. We need to feel like that “monolith” in DC is NOT insurmountable and that if we band together we can slow it long enough to get new people in office…meanwhile, we can create a situation, (I hope) that moderate Republicans in Congress might find adequate intestinal fortitude to stand up and push back against this chaotic Project 25 agenda. We are far better able to do that if we stand together and encourage EVERYONE to work under the concept that we are in this together.
Carol Voyles says
I, too, appreciate this letter. Thank you, and I’ve been (ever-so-slightly) encouraged by hearing the words “truth” and “accountability” spoken recently.
Mary Hunt-Miller says
Thank you for your thoughtful letter, James. I totally agree with your ideas. I would like to add that one way of dealing with the harsh political environment that we are now living in is to volunteer for a good cause. We have so many opportunities on the shore: Talbot Mentors, CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates), the Chesapeake Multi Cultural Center, Bay Hundred Volunteers (who build ramps and repair homes for people in need), Talbot Interfaith Shelter and so many more! For me, this is the best way to show care for others while taking care of one’s own anxiety about the current state of affairs in America. And, you will most likely be working alongside some on the other side of the political divide thus creating a more civil society by getting to know and work with each other.
James Siegman says
Those are fantastic endeavors in which we can share compassion without getting bogged down by politics. And this is MORE than helpful in presenting a form of resistance against this “harsh political environment” that you described.
EVERY way that we can resist….regardless of how small or quiet…is meaningful and NECESSARY.
Deirdre LaMotte says
I know in our community there are people of all backgrounds helping those in need: the homeless,
special needs individuals, the hungry, shut ins, as there have always been. Nobody needs to pass
a loyalty test for services or show voter registration to receive help. Ever.
Please do remember, when you say “bogged down by politics” that “politics” is the air we breath,
the water we drink, the medical services we need, the food we eat and the government services
one relies on as a citizen.
James O. Siegman says
I am aware of those working in our community….the first responders, the people who keep the water and power on. The people who attend to the needs of the less fortunate…and I am incredibly grateful and happy for the hard work they do…that they do so without “getting bogged down” in politics. These are the better angels of our community and our world.
My reference to getting bogged down in politics was intended to reference the way we interact….online and sometimes in person…with dismissiveness or outright, overt hostility. These occur in the form of “microaggressions” at times….subtle, but powerful contempt. We have been encouraged in this, rather surreptitiously, (at times intentionally in my view, and at other times unintentionally) by our politicians and media. I am calling for EVERYONE to do their level best to resist those urges. And, this is sort of the mantra that helps us resist those urges….to remember that whatever occurs in Washington, WE….the everyday citizens, who just trying to live our lives in safety, and feeling that we are able to engineer our own personal successes…will ALL feel the pain of bad decisions and hopefully celebrate the successful ones made by our government. We must keep close to our breast the idea that OUR government is SUPPOSED TO operate at the consent of the governed and if we are divided such as we are, unscrupulous people who control the levers of power, may take liberties with our rights and our fortunes. So….our unity is critical to speaking truth to power.
Mickey Terrone says
Well stated, Messrs Siegman and Keppen. I will add that it is also our reesponsibility as freedom-loving, liberal American Christians, is to remind our deluded fellow citizens how their votes for Trump are necessarily limiting their own freedom, squashing the liberties of millions of minorities and poorer Americans and blurring, if not erasing the truth from our national political discourse.
Every chance we get we need to explain to them how they have damaged American society, American values and our true American heritage.
James Siegman says
That is a hard row to hoe. It will require tremendous discipline to do so in ways that those people will be willing to hear as constructive rather than pejorative. But that is exactly the task before us. Failure is not an option.
Roseann Newell says
Thank you James for your compassionate reply. I don’t believe that the people of Talbot agree with you. I do!!! It is good to know that I am not alone.
James Siegman says
Roseann, I sure hope that there are SOME. Don’t get me wrong. I get angry and frustrated and discouraged, sometimes far less eloquently (or non foul mouthed, after all I am retired military) as here. But, already on just this little publication, there were nine POSITIVE responses! If each of those 9 are persuaded or inspired to tell two friends…who tell two friends (like the old shampoo commercial in the 70’s), we will soon have a movement…a groundswell. We ARE a GREAT community. There are phenomenal people of every stripe here…Republicans and Democrats, Christians and agnostics and people of other faiths etc, etc. If we harness our sense of community….we can make a joyful noise!
Sally Woodall says
Thank you, James Siegman, for the thinking time you expended to compose this timely letter. It helped me slough off some of whatever that weight is that’s been sitting on my shoulders of late. Could you do, say, one a week?
James O. Siegman says
I am going to try to get more of these in. Not sure I can commit to weekly but I am happy that the words and sentiments expressed brought you at least a momentary respite from the awfulness. Meanwhile, try to “practice peace”, engage people with “nonjudgmental curiosity” in order to maintain civility.