By William FoegeWilliam, Roper, David Satcher, Jeffrey Koplan, Richard Besser, Tom Frieden, Anne Schuchat, Rochelle P. Walensky and Mandy K. Cohen – in the NYT Opinion Section
The authors previously led in the C.D.C., as directors or acting directors under Republican and Democratic administrations.
We have each had the honor and privilege of serving as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, either in a permanent or an acting capacity, dating back to 1977. Collectively, we spent more than 100 years working at the C.D.C., the world’s pre-eminent public health agency. We served under multiple Republican and Democratic administrations — every president from Jimmy Carter to Donald Trump — alongside thousands of dedicated staff members who shared our commitment to saving lives and improving health.
What the health and human services secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has done to the C.D.C. and to our nation’s public health system over the past several months — culminating in his decision to fire Dr. Susan Monarez as C.D.C. director days ago — is unlike anything we had ever seen at the agency and unlike anything our country had ever experienced.
Mr. Kennedy has fired thousands of federal health workers and severely weakened programs designed to protect Americans from cancer, heart attacks, strokes, lead poisoning, injury, violence and more. Amid the largest measles outbreak in the United States in a generation, he’s focused on unproven treatments while downplaying vaccines. He canceled investments in promising medical research that will leave us ill prepared for future health emergencies. He replaced experts on federal health advisory committees with unqualified individuals who share his dangerous and unscientific views. He announced the end of U.S. support for global vaccination programs that protect millions of children and keep Americans safe, citing flawed research and making inaccurate statements. And he championed federal legislation that will cause millions of people with health insurance through Medicaid to lose their coverage. Firing Dr. Monarez — which led to the resignations of top C.D.C. officials — adds considerable fuel to this raging fire.
We are worried about the wide-ranging impact that all these decisions will have on America’s health security. Residents of rural communities and people with disabilities will have even more limited access to health care. Families with low incomes who rely most heavily on community health clinics and support from state and local health departments will have fewer resources available to them. Children risk losing access to lifesaving vaccines because of the cost.
This is unacceptable, and it should alarm every American, regardless of political leanings.
The C.D.C. is an agency under Health and Human Services. During our C.D.C. tenures, we did not always agree with our leaders, but they never gave us reason to doubt that they would rely on data-driven insights for our protection or that they would support public health workers. We need only look to Operation Warp Speed during the first Trump administration — which produced highly effective and safe vaccines that saved millions of lives during the Covid-19 pandemic — as a shining example of what Health and Human Services can accomplish when health and science are at the forefront of its mission.
Sign up for the Opinion Today newsletter Get expert analysis of the news and a guide to the big ideas shaping the world every weekday morning. Get it sent to your inbox. The current department leadership, however, operates under a very different set of rules. When Mr. Kennedy administered the oath of office to Dr. Monarez on July 31, he called her “a public health expert with unimpeachable scientific credentials.” But when she refused weeks later to rubber-stamp his dangerous and unfounded vaccine recommendations or heed his demand to fire senior C.D.C. staff members, he decided she was expendable.
These are not typical requests from a health secretary to a C.D.C. director. Not even close. None of us would have agreed to the secretary’s demands, and we applaud Dr. Monarez for standing up for the agency and the health of our communities.
When the C.D.C. was created in 1946, the average life expectancy in the United States was around 66 years. Today it is more than 78 years. While medical advances have helped, it is public health that has played the biggest role in improving both the length and the quality of life in our nation. The C.D.C. has led efforts to eradicate smallpox, increase access to lifesaving vaccinations and significantly reduce smoking rates. The agency is also on the front lines in communities across the country, delivering crucial but often less visible wins — such as containing an outbreak of H.I.V. cases in Scott County, Ind., and protecting residents in East Palestine, Ohio, from toxic chemical exposure.
The C.D.C. is not perfect. What institution is? But over its history, regardless of which party has controlled the White House or Congress, the agency has not wavered from its mission. To those on the C.D.C. staff who continue to perform their jobs heroically in the face of the excruciating circumstances, we offer our sincere thanks and appreciation. Their ongoing dedication is a model for all of us. But it’s clear that the agency is hurting badly. The loss of Dr. Monarez and other top leaders will make it far more difficult for the C.D.C. to do what it has done for about 80 years: work around the clock to protect Americans from threats to their lives and health.
We have a message for the rest of the nation as well. This is a time to rally to protect the health of every American. Congress must exercise its oversight authority over Health and Human Services. State and local governments must fill funding gaps where they can. Philanthropy and the private sector must step up their community investments. Medical groups must continue to stand up for science and truth. Physicians must continue to support their patients with sound guidance and empathy.
And each of us must do what public health does best: look out for one another.
The men and women who have joined the C.D.C. across generations have done so not for prestige or power but because they believe deeply in the call to service. They deserve a health and human services secretary who stands up for health, supports science and has their back. So, too, does our country.
Posted inAdvocacy, Government, Health, History|Comments Off on We Ran the C.D.C.: Kennedy Is Endangering Every American’s Health
By The Seattle Times editorial board If there was ever a wake-up call for local government, this is it.
In a disturbing report released Tuesday, the King County Auditor determined that grant funding from the county’s Department of Community and Human Services ballooned from $22 million in 2019-2020 to more than $1.5 billion in 2023-2024.
Along with that massive growth, the auditor discovered improper payments, including potential fraud, across multiple contracts.
It was a devastating portrait of an administration in free fall, all against the backdrop of the election of a new King County executive this fall.
Change can’t come fast enough.
First, let’s compare the $1.5 billion in social service spending examined by the auditor with a recently enacted 0.1% sales tax increase. The Metropolitan King County Council passed the new regressive tax last month because budget shortfalls had put sheriff deputies and prosecutors at risk.
This is the way of local governments around here: Basic functions go hungry while the funding of community groups continues at such a reckless pace no one can properly keep track of the dollars.
Among the report’s findings: Auditors determined DCHS made improper payments with little oversight. DCHS conducted fiscal site visits to only 2% of grantees in 2022 and 1% in 2023. The department’s own standards called for meeting 33% of grant recipients to ensure they complied with county rules.
“According to interviews with management-level staff, DCHS culture may signal that relationships (with grantees) are more important than accountability,” wrote auditors. “The DCHS staff we interviewed rarely expressed concern about fraud risk.”
One organization spent at least $439,000 on subcontractors despite its budget allocating subcontractor payments of only $63,000. Another organization submitted an expense report that likely includes $10,000 in duplicate expenses due to four $2,500 checks being recorded twice.
And it goes on.
What was the reaction from council members during the briefing?
Unbelievably, several expressed concern — for those taking the public’s money.
Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda chided auditors presenting their report for using the term “high risk” to describe organizations with little experience and limited capability to properly manage government grants.
“The title of ‘high risk’ is not necessarily appropriate,” she said, preferring instead the terms “initial investments” or “seed capacity.”
Councilmember Sarah Perry wondered how the county could help organizations “we have in some way harmed … so they are not penalized by our lack of attention.”
Say what? Who is protecting taxpayer interests here?
Governing is hard work. Administering public funds is hard work. Nonetheless, if it wasn’t for the fact that the King County Executive’s Office is running on fumes in the dying days of former Executive Dow Constantine’s fourth — fourth! — term of office, someone should lose their job or have the decency to resign.
As it is, Constantine decamped for Sound Transit earlier this year and it’s time to focus on the future.
Both candidates now running for executive heard the auditor’s report.
Councilmember Girmay Zahilay asked how fast DCHS could implement the auditor’s recommendations. He offered no reaction when told key changes may not be made until 2027. That is simply an embrace of the status quo.
Taking a different tack was Councilmember Claudia Balducci, his opponent in November. “We’re talking today about basic financial management. And when we don’t provide basic financial management internally and with our community partners, money is wasted. And that is just unacceptable,” she said.
Noting the rather subdued response by her council colleagues during the auditor’s briefing, Balducci added:
“One of the things I love most about this government is we’re a very low drama government here. I’ve been listening to this whole conversation — the questions, the answers, the community — it’s all been very professional.
“But make no mistake, this is a damning audit. And we need to take it that way, and we need to make sure that we are on top of doing something about it, understanding the full extent of challenges and fixing them.”
Balducci earned The Times editorial board’s endorsement for a reason.
King County voters, choose wisely.
The Seattle Times editorial board: members are editorial page editor Kate Riley, Frank A. Blethen, Melissa Davis, Josh Farley, Alex Fryer, Claudia Rowe, Carlton Winfrey and William K. Blethen (emeritus).
Posted inFinance, Government, Housing|Comments Off on ‘Damning audit’ begs the question: Who is protecting taxpayer interests in King County?
Dr. Laura Jacob, superintendent of the California Area School District in Coal Center, Pennsylvania, has 30 3D printers in her office.
While she does enjoy 3D printing as a hobby, these printers represent a mission much greater than Jacob alone; They are used to print violins for low-income students.
For schools, violins can cost $500 to $2,000 each, often representing hundreds of dollars in rental fees per family each school year. For the students attending schools in Jacob’s district, that’s just not a cost their families can afford.
“Over 70% of our students are low-income. So that means 100% of our kids receive a free breakfast and free lunch every single day,” Jacob told CBS News.
A student playing a 3D printed violin. Photo courtesy of California Area School District
Regardless, she was determined to keep arts education alive for the students she serves. After seeing a video of the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra playing 3D-printed instruments, a passion took hold.
“I started tinkering. I found some models online. I’m not a computer scientist or an engineer by any means, but after a variety of failures, I found one that actually printed and it sounded good. It’s a great start for kids,” Jacob told CBS News.
Each violin costs just $50 to make, and they are now offered free to any student who wants one, thanks to grant funding.
Plus, they’re perfect for beginners.
“How it sounds, how it responds, is a bit different,” music teacher and band director Noah Kilgus told Kidsburgh.
The 3D violin club is open to students in third through 12th grade. Photo courtesy of California Area School Distrct
Although they don’t sound exactly like a traditional wooden string instrument, they are just as loud, much more durable, and easy to tune. (continued on page 2 or here)
Posted inAdvocacy, Education, Music|Comments Off on This superintendent 3D prints violins in her office so every student can play in the orchestra. They cost just $50 each
For once, Florida’s Everglades delivered something other than corruption, mosquitoes, and humidity that feels like punishment. The notorious immigration detention facility known as “Alligator Alcatraz” — Trump’s swamp-side monument to cruelty — is finally collapsing. Within days, it will be empty.
This isn’t rumor; it’s on paper. Florida Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie confessed in an email to a South Florida rabbi asking about chaplain duties: “We are probably going to be down to 0 individuals within a few days.”
THE JUDGE’S HAMMER
Months of lawsuits from environmental groups, resistance from the Miccosukee Tribe, and grim reports from detainees cracked the façade. Then U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams swung the hammer: stop funneling migrants into the camp and shut it down within sixty days. Buses have been spotted sneaking out under the cover of rain.
The swamp is spitting their cruelty back at them.
A MONUMENT TO NOTHING
Alligator Alcatraz was a 5,000-bed monstrosity dumped on an abandoned airstrip in the middle of one of the planet’s most fragile ecosystems. No environmental review. No public hearing. Just $245 million in contracts rammed through, fences driven into wetlands, and people warehoused in a place where gators roam and mosquitoes pierce denim.
It was never about safety. It was always about the show.
And who was in the front row of that swamp circus? Donald Trump, grinning like Barnum in a bad tie; Kristi Noem, newly minted DHS secretary, serving cannibal horror stories to cable news; and Stephen Miller, the architect of cruelty himself, silently blessing the spectacle like a man admiring his favorite blueprint finally brought to life.
Trump called it “maybe as good as the real Alcatraz.” Noem bragged about the “air-conditioning” while floating tales of detainees eating themselves. And Miller? He didn’t need to speak. His entire philosophy was written in barbed wire and bug bites: make it scarier, harsher, more humiliating.
BETTY’S FOOT IN THE MUCK
Here’s the part the state would rather you forget: without Betty Osceola, none of this ends. She’ll be the first to say it wasn’t just her — it was the lawyers, the volunteers, the tribe, the people logging bus plates in the rain. But she planted her foot in the muck and said no. And from that moment, the swamp started pulling at the foundations.
She knew, better than anyone, that the Everglades remembers. Water remembers. Land remembers. You don’t throw razor wire into sacred wetlands without the swamp eventually choking you back.
LIGHTS OUT
“This facility never should have been built,” said Eve Samples of Friends of the Everglades. “When the last detainee leaves, the state should turn off the lights and shut the door behind them.”
Turn off the lights? Hell, toss the keys in the water and let the gators work out the lease.
DeSantis and Trump’s DHS are appealing, because cruelty never concedes quietly. But the truth is simple: people fought back, and the swamp won.
MEMORY MATTERS
In Miami, a bronze hand at the Holocaust Memorial claws skyward, bodies clinging to it, demanding we never forget where dehumanization leads. In Ochopee, another hand just got forced — this one the state of Florida’s, caught in the jaws of its own cruelty.
For now, the Everglades can breathe again. The detainees are gone. The fences will rust. The gators reclaim their swamp.
And Alligator Alcatraz will be remembered exactly as it deserves: a shameful, mosquito-bitten experiment in psychological terrorism that sank under its own weight.
The swamp spit out their cruelty, but Trump, Miller, and Noem aren’t finished.
I joined the USAF in 1964 and retired from the military 28 years later.
I’ve always considered my country to be a cut above and was proud to serve. This pride in my country is now gone. I no longer even root for my country’s athletes in the Olympics or other international tournaments.
The reason is simple enough. I’m ashamed of a country whose citizens elected Donald Trump.
The man is, and is proud to be, a draft dodger, a liar, a bully, a racist and a despot. The man’s two primary pleasures are money and humiliating people, not necessarily in that order. He has no respect for the rule of law, science or fairness, and as a result, individuals who are convinced that recovering from what he is doing and has done to the country will not be difficult are kidding themselves.
How anybody who believes in democracy and decency feels any respect for the current administration is beyond me. I would never volunteer to serve and protect the country in its current form.
Frank T. Globokar, Cottonwood Heights
Posted inEssays|Comments Off on Letter: I’m a veteran. I would never volunteer to serve and protect America as it is now.
The image of National Guard troops, some of them from as far away as Louisiana and Mississippi, in Washington, D.C., spreading mulch around the cherry trees at the Tidal Basin and picking up trash, illustrates that President Donald J. Trump’s insistence that he needed troops to crack down on violent crime in the nation’s capital was always a cover for an authoritarian takeover.
As Kate Riga and Emine Yücel noted in Talking Points Memo today, earlier this spring Trump and congressional Republicans did all they could to weaken Washington, D.C. In March, Congress passed a resolution to fund the government temporarily while also freezing all federal spending. That included the District of Columbia, whose budget has to be approved by Congress although the monies involved come from local taxes, not federal funds.
Because those budget monies are local and not federal, according to Campbell Robertson of the New York Times, the Washington, D.C., budget is routinely exempted from federal spending freezes. But the House did not carve it out this time, leaving the city with a shortfall of $1.1 billion. The Senate unanimously approved a bill to fix the error, letting the city continue to operate under its current budget, but the House never took it up. Washington, D.C., mayor Muriel Bowser and local officials found a workaround to restore some funding but have had to freeze hiring and cut contracts, grants, and expenditures across the city’s agencies.
Cuts to city services have made it easier for Trump and his loyalists to insist the city is being poorly taken care of, although violent crime is dropping there, not rising, and the Department of Justice’s own numbers show it is at a 30-year low. Now, with troops stationed in the city, Trump and his MAGA loyalists are demonstrating that they control the federal capital.
Today, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced that the administration will also take over Union Station in Washington, D.C., from which Amtrak and the city’s commuter rail lines run, saying such a takeover was part of Trump’s “beautification” program.
Amtrak took control of the station in July 2024, and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law of the Biden era provided $22 billion to Amtrak to modernize trains and stations. The administration cut a $120 million federal grant to Amtrak in April. Taking control of Union Station will put the administration in charge of key transportation lines into and out of the city. It also will create a federal presence in an area where veterans have been protesting.
The freezing of D.C.’s budget is a different process from the dramatic cuts the Trump administration has made across the federal government, although the effects of the two are similar. As Tara Copp of the Washington Post noted today, custodial work like that being done by the National Guard troops normally would have been performed by National Park Service employees. But that service was already short staffed when the administration slashed through the federal workforce. The park service used to have 200 people assigned to the thousands of acres of gardens and trees in the capital. Now it has 20.
A park service official told Copp: “It’s everybody—the masons, the maintenance workers, the groundskeepers, the plumbers. Every shop is short.”
The Trump administration inherited decades of Republican rhetoric insisting the federal government was bloated and inefficient. It set out immediately to gut the civil service through hiring freezes, reductions in force, and impoundment of funds.
In an interview with Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times on Thursday, August 21, Office of Personnel Management director Scott Kupor said that by the end of December 2025 there will be 300,000 fewer federal workers than there were in January. Sullivan notes that this is the largest single-year reduction in civilian federal employment since World War II.
But even before these cuts, the federal workforce had not kept pace with the growth of the nation. The workforce when Trump took office in 2025 was about 2.4 million people, roughly the same number of government workers the nation had in 1969. As Bill Chappell of NPR reported in March, in 1969 the U.S. population was about 202.5 million. Now it is about 341.1 million. (continued on Page 2 or here)
WHAT: ClickFix is a scam that tricks people into copying and pasting malicious commands into their computer. It usually starts with a fake website, pop-up, or email saying: “Fix this error,” “Verify you’re human,” or “Speed up your PC.” The site asks you to copy a command and paste it into Run (Win+R), PowerShell, or Terminal. Once you do this, the attacker takes control of your computer. For more information view the article here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/blog/2025/08/21/think-before-you-clickfix-analyzing-the-clickfix-social-engineering-technique/
IMPACT: Malware is installed on your computer. Hackers can steal your passwords, files, and financial information. They can spy on your activity or even lock your device for ransom.
What DO I DO? Never copy and paste commands from websites or pop-ups. Ignore “Fix It” messages that ask you to open Run, PowerShell, or Terminal. If you’re unsure, STOP and contact the Help Desk immediately. Report any suspicious emails to phishing@dwt.com REMEMBER: Legitimate companies will never ask you to copy commands to fix an issue.
Posted inUncategorized|Comments Off on ClickFix – a scam
On Labor Day, Monday, Sept 1, there will be two Seattle events to support “Workers Over Billionaires.” In solidarity with these larger rallies, Horizon House has agreed to meet residents of Skyline from 10am-11am on 8th and Madison for our third expression supporting democracy. Those inclined can leave for the larger gatherings from the Madison location. (Information about the larger events is below.)
Bring your old signs or print a short message on computer paper. Hopefully, we will have some cardboard backing for affixing the messages. Let Diana know if you need cardboard for your sign (dianacaplow@gmail.com).
A heads up….
There are a number of Seattle retirement facilities with members interested in giving an “Hour for Democracy” twice a month. Horizon House and Mirabella residents have agreed to do this and have invited us to join them. We would continue to meet on 8th and Madison with Horizon House residents while Mirabella residents will meet close to their facility. More information regarding this endeavor in a few days.
Posted inAdvocacy|Comments Off on “Workers Over Billionaires”
I do three things every morning: I start a pot of coffee, I feed the cat, and then I fire up my laptop. The first two are calming routines. The third is a moment of high anxiety, because I’m about to see the latest developments in The Crazy.
No, I haven’t developed a Trumpian habit of Random Capitalizations. “The Crazy” is my personal term for the escalating barrage of destructive actions and statements coming from the madman-in-chief and his minions. During Trump’s first term we got a couple of these each month. Now they come multiple times a week, sometimes several times in a single day.
At this point The Crazy is running at such a rapid pace that hugely important stories all too often get buried because some other terrible thing pops up and demands immediate attention. So I ended up writing about Trump’s attempt to fire Lisa Cook before I could manage to write about how his hatred for wind power has metastasized into an effort to shut down 10 percent of U.S. electricity production — even as electricity prices are soaring.
Before I get to Trump’s ill wind, let’s talk about the economics of renewable energy.
Whenever I write about energy, I get many comments from people insisting that renewables are too costly to compete with fossil fuels unless they receive huge subsidies, and anyway that they can’t meet a large fraction of our energy needs because of intermittency — the sun doesn’t always shine and the wind doesn’t always blow. Gosh, I never thought of that.
The most charitable interpretation of such comments is that the people making them formed their ideas about energy economics a long time ago, probably before 2010, and haven’t kept up with the extraordinary technological progress we’ve made in renewables since then. Between 2010 and 2023 the real cost of solar photovoltaic power fell 90 percent, while the cost of offshore wind fell 63 percent. Intermittency is still an issue, one that utilities to some extent deal with by using gas turbines to fill the gaps. But coal, much as some on the right love it, simply isn’t competitive anymore.
Since if I am not for myself, who will be for me, I might point out that I wrote about the coming solar revolution in 2011, in a column titled “Here comes the sun.”
And gas is becoming less important too, because there has also been huge progress in another energy technology — batteries:
Batteries, in turn, work synergistically with solar power, making it possible to generate power when the sun shines and use it after dark. Here, for example, is what happened last February in California:
In a way the most remarkable thing about the number of people insisting that large-scale reliance on renewables is impossible is that such reliance is already happening in many places around the world, including large parts of the United States. Britain gets 30 percent of its electricity from wind and another 5 percent from solar; Denmark gets 70 percent from renewables, mostly wind. Here in America, Iowa gets 65 percent of its electricity from renewables, mostly wind; California, whose economy is larger than that of most countries, gets 38 percent, mainly from solar.
The renewables revolution is, in short, well under way, and it’s one of the great technological success stories of modern times.
And the Trump administration is trying to kill it.
We knew, coming into the second Trump administration, that Republicans in general and Trump in particular like fossil fuels and dislike renewables. Some of this is about money: In the last election cycle the oil and gas industry gave 88 percent of its contributions to Republicans. And as I wrote last month, energy policy has been caught up in the culture wars. Solar and wind power have, in the MAGA mind, become identified with wokeness, while burning fossil fuels is considered masculine. Hence the hostility to green energy.
We also know that Trump has a special animus against wind power, dating back to Scotland’s refusal to cancel a wind project he thought ruined the view from his golf course.
While it was predictable, however, that Trump and his party would try to eliminate Biden-era subsidies for renewable energy, and even throw up obstacles to new green energy projects, even I didn’t think Trump would try to destroy already existing renewable generation capacity. Yet here we are:
If you think this is empty posturing, look at what just happened to Revolution Wind, a wind farm off the coast of Rhode Island. Revolution Wind is a largely completed project, already connected to the grid, which was scheduled to start delivering power next year. But the Trump administration has just ordered work on the project to stop.
Think about it. We’re talking about gratuitously trashing billions of dollars’ worth of investment. We’re also talking about significantly reducing the supply of electricity — not in the long run, but next year — at a moment when electricity prices are soaring thanks to the demand from data centers. And there’s every reason to believe that Revolution Wind is only the beginning of a real attempt to roll back wind and, possibly to a lesser extent, solar, even though both are now crucial parts of America’s energy system.
If this sounds crazy, that’s because it is. But so was the way Covid vaccines became a partisan issue, which didn’t prevent anti-vax sentiment from killing thousands in right-leaning counties.
Never underestimate the power of irrational prejudice.
Everything hurts, Our hearts shadowed and strange, Minds made muddied and mute. We carry tragedy, terrifying and true. And yet none of it is new; We knew it as home, As horror, As heritage. Even our children Cannot be children, Cannot be. Everything hurts. It’s a hard time to be alive, And even harder to stay that way. We’re burdened to live out these days, While at the same time, blessed to outlive them. This alarm is how we know We must be altered — That we must differ or die, That we must triumph or try. Thus while hate cannot be terminated, It can be transformed Into a love that lets us live. May we not just grieve, but give: May we not just ache, but act; May our signed right to bear arms Never blind our sight from shared harm; May we choose our children over chaos. May another innocent never be lost. Maybe everything hurts, Our hearts shadowed & strange. But only when everything hurts May everything change.
Posted inAdvocacy, Grief|Comments Off on Hymn for the Hurting
As right-wing Christian nationalists supported by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth are calling for an end to women’s right to vote, it seems crucial to remember the history of the drive for women’s suffrage in the United States of America. (from Heather Cox Richardson).
“On this day in 1920 the 19th Amendment was formally incorporated into the U.S. Constitution.
At first, it looked like the amendment was not going to make it. It needed the approval of one more state. And then, a 24-year-old legislator from Tennessee, Harry Burn, decided to vote for the amendment at the last minute because his mother wanted him to. And Tennessee became the 36th state to approve suffrage for women.
After more than 70 years of struggle by the suffrage movement, women finally had the right to vote.” (from Pearl McE.)
I live in Shenandoah County, Virginia. I’m a factory worker, a farmer, and a father of two girls, one still in diapers. I get up before the sun, and most days I don’t sit down until after it’s gone.
My partner Hannah and I raise our girls on a small farm in the Valley. She works full-time too—though nobody calls it that. She’s a caregiver, a homemaker, a livestock handler, and a mother. She doesn’t get a paycheck. She doesn’t get a break. She doesn’t get counted.
We’ve relied on a cistern for water for over three years. I’m trying to save up to dig a well before it runs dry. We heat with firewood I cut myself. We raise animals for milk, eggs, and meat, because the grocery bill outpaces my paycheck.
We’ve stayed unmarried—not because we don’t love each other, but because getting married would kick my partner and our daughters off the Medicaid that keeps them healthy.
My employer offers insurance, sure—but only if I pay nearly as much as our mortgage. I can’t, so we stay as we are: in love but locked out.
I’m not ashamed of our life. It’s honest work, and it’s full of love. However, I am ashamed that in a country as wealthy as ours, people like us are left out in the cold.
When the so-called “Big, Beautiful Bill” passed, it was marketed as a win for working Americans. From where I stand, it looks like the opposite: cuts to Medicaid, reduced support for struggling families, and a ballooning deficit that somehow still leaves us more exposed than before.
You can dress it up however you want, but if it leaves working families behind, it’s not serving the people.
This bill, like so many before it, rewards the already powerful while punishing the people who hold up the economy in invisible ways. It gives to those who lobby and takes from those who labor. It reinforces a message I’ve felt in my bones for years: You’re on your own.
I’m not writing this as a Democrat or a Republican. I’m writing this as a man watching families like mine wear themselves thin—working hard, doing the right things, and still falling behind.
This isn’t about Red or Blue. It’s about the fact that we’re being divided against each other while both sides forget that real Americans bleed the same when the cost of insulin triples or the cost of groceries goes up again.
You shouldn’t be able to carry a hundred dollars’ worth of groceries in two hands. But these days, you can—and that’s not just wrong, it’s dangerous.
I’m writing to ask one simple thing: Who is this country really for?
Because if it’s not for parents doing their best to raise good kids in a broken system; if it’s not for factory workers and farmers who show up every day, no matter how little is left in the tank; if it’s not for families trying to make a life from the land and a paycheck. . . then maybe the flag doesn’t wave for all of us after all.
I don’t want handouts; I want fairness. I don’t want politics; I want policy that works.
I don’t want a revolution of violence. I want a revolution of responsibility—one where we take care of each other, where people can raise a family without choosing between groceries and medicine, and where love doesn’t have to take a back seat to red tape.
So, if you’re in power, hear me: We are not okay. We are drowning quietly.
And if you’re not in power, but you’re reading this and nodding along, then know this: You’re not alone either.
We’re not enemies. We’re neighbors. We’re parents, workers, and caretakers. And it’s time we start acting like it.
Should you be interested, my new memoir, Coming Up Short, can be found wherever you buy books. You can also support local bookstores nationally by ordering the book at bookshop.org.
