This commentary is by Alex MacLean, a resident of Peacham. Her firm, Leonine Public Affairs, has worked with Planned Parenthood of Northern New England and GunSense Vermont.
I am a woman and I am devastated.
I am a mother and I am heartbroken.
I am an American and I am enraged.
I am devastated, heartbroken and enraged by what is happening in this country. As Warriors coach Steve Kerr said after Uvalde’s Robb Elementary School shooting, “We are being held hostage by 50 senators.”
He is right. And the minority rule we are living under goes beyond the Senate and extends to the Supreme Court, where six conservative justices are disregarding the will of the majority in favor of a dangerous right-wing agenda.
Two in three Americans support common-sense gun safety reforms. Almost every American voter (84%) supports universal background checks for gun purchases to keep guns out of dangerous hands. Yet, gun safety laws are not being enacted but rolled back. And the killing ramps up.
This week it was 19 children and two teachers who died in terror-filled moments in their own school. Ten days ago, it was 13 primarily Black grocery shoppers shot down by a man on a racist rampage in a supermarket.
How many more children need to be shot, how many more grocery shoppers, movie-goers, worshipers, concert attendees need to die for 50 senators and six Supreme Court justices to stand up to the gun lobby and do the right thing?
The vast majority of Americans (80%) also support abortion. Yet, for the first time in its history, the U.S. Supreme Court is on the verge of eliminating an existing constitutional right. Overturning Roe v. Wade will result in individual state governments determining abortion rights, effectively banning abortion access in whole swaths of the United States. Across this country, women will be denied power over their own bodies, their own reproductive choices and their ability to determine their own life’s course.
And 66% of Americans think this country should be doing more to develop sources of clean energy. Yet, legislation designed to meaningfully combat climate change was blocked by 50 Republican senators and Democrat Joe Manchin, who personally profits from his family’s stake in coal production.
Enough is enough. Our children are being shot and killed in their schools. American women are about to have their freedoms taken away. And the world is on fire.
American democracy is founded on faith in “the will of the people.” The will of the people is clear. We want common-sense gun reforms, we want freedom to determine our own life’s course, we want an economy based on green jobs, not on climate-destroying fossil fuels.
We should all be enraged. And we need to channel that anger into action. Now. Our children, American women and our democracy cannot afford numbness and complacency. We can only afford action.
We must demand that American democracy be restored so that this country is ruled as the authors of the Declaration of Independence intended, with “the consent of the governed” rather than by a reactionary and dangerous minority.
Express your anger directly at these senators rather than just into the echo chambers of social media. Give. Volunteer. Get involved. Vote.
Give to the Brady Center’s United Against Gun Violence, to help advocate for common-sense gun reforms nationally that will save lives.
Volunteer for Gun Sense Vermont to make progress here in Vermont, where we are not immune from gun violence and can do more.
Get involved in the Reproductive Liberty Amendment campaign to help pass the ballot measure this November that will amend Vermont’s Constitution to forever protect abortion in our state.
And this November, vote only for politicians who will ensure action on gun safety reform, reproductive freedom and climate action.
We can’t afford to be held hostage for one moment longer.
