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Buffie Trease

Professor Nathan Cole

English 2010-Sp17

30 April 2017

Open Letter

Activism Begins at Home

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never

was and never will be." --Thomas Jefferson

I read an op-ed in the NY Times recently, titled Why No One Cares That the President

is Lying. This was of particular interest to me, because I care a great deal that the President is

lying. I care that he is lying about incredibly important things, like widespread election fraud. I

care that he is lying about unbelievably petty things, like the size of his inauguration crowd. I

dont think its unreasonable to expect a higher caliber of behavior from the United States

President. But in a new era of alternative facts, what is the most effective way of holding our

Representatives accountable?

We start by embracing the fact that he is not our only Representative. We leverage our

influence in the places where it has the most impact. Which means we start locally. Thats not to

say that what is happening on the national level isnt important, it is. But we should be just as

informed, and at least as active in local matters as we are on national issues.

For instance, most of us have heard about the recent confirmation of Betsy DeVos as the

National Education Secretary. The confirmation was big news, and marked the first time in the

history of our country, that the Vice President had to break a tie for a cabinet nominee. Thats

something that is certainly worth our attention. Just not all of our attention. For instance, what
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you may not have heard about, is that on the same day as the DeVos confirmation, a measure

allowing comprehensive sex-education to be taught here in our Utah schools was voted down.

You may see that as a good thing or a bad thing, but that isnt really the point of this post. The

point is, that while we are hyper focused on national issues, we cant allow ourselves to lose

sight of the things that affect us close to home. Because that is where we are able to exert the

greatest amount of influence.

A recent example is the town hall meeting held this past week by Representative Jason

Chaffetz. During this town hall, local residents loudly voiced their questions and concerns on

numerous issues, from public lands, native sovereignty, illegal immigration, and some legal and

ethical concerns surrounding the current executive branch, just to name a few. Now, this town

hall may not have immediate legislative repercussions, but it certainly brought it to Mr. Chaffetz

attention, and other local and national Representatives attention, that these are issues that are

important to their constituents. It demonstrates, in stark relief, that we notice, we care, and we

are paying attention to the process of self-governing. This is the very basis of democracy, and if

we dont want to fail at it, participation is required. I opened this letter with a quote by Thomas

Jefferson, and Id like to close it with another: "Whenever the people are well-informed, they can

be trusted with their own government..." --Thomas Jefferson

So I challenge all of you, read the local paper, attend your town hall meetings, get

informed and get involved. The future of our country, literally, depends on it.