A few weeks ago, I wrote a poem called Silence Gives Consent (Qui tacet consentire videtur). It reminded me of an inner struggle that I still feel about using my ‘voice’ for good.
Those who know my history know well that, in years gone by, I was a prolific writer for the cause I fought so hard for. I penned an average of 2.5 articles per week for a continuous period of nearly five years.
I’m not sure that all that I ever wrote was totally ‘on message’ as they say. Nor can I say that I always met my own standards on charitable truth-telling. Heeding Voltaire’s aphorism, I never let ‘the best be the enemy of the good’. Of course, that can also be an excuse for not elevating one’s efforts and not seeking the best. Sometimes, in the heat of battle, it is tempting to fire quick potshots without pause for thought. Yeah, I did that once or twice, but it never felt right to me.
So why the inner struggle now? Like many, I have been watching the goings on in the US since President Trump took office and since his appointment of Elon Musk and the creation of the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE; an oxymoron if ever there was one. What I see taking place I find disturbing on several levels. Really disturbing.
Sphere of Influence, Sphere of Concern.
As deeply concerning as much of this is, there are gaps in my understanding of the US Political system, because some of it, at least, covers international relationships ‘well above my paygrade’ and because of the continually changing dynamics and social media frenzy that leave me wondering where the truth actually lies, I don’t feel I have anything worthwhile to say. There are plenty of ‘voices’ in that space already.
Sure, I have my opinions – we all do, and that can make for interesting conversations. We all have what is called ‘cognitive bias’ – our pre-existing preferences or worldview that leans us towards acceptance or rejection of something dependent upon whether or not it fits with those pre-conceptions. It’s always worth the struggle to go deeper, to seek the truth, but the pace of change and social media saturation are often overwhelming.
In all of that ‘noise’ which, for many I expect, has become so loud and so pervasive as to have been relegated to the background, there are ‘voices’ that are not being heard. There are real people in their tens of thousands, that are hurting deeply, that have had their lives turned upside down, that live in fear for their futures.
“What are you hearing in Australia?” “What is the world hearing – they need to know!” I’ve heard this repeatedly from friends in the US in recent days. They’re not talking about the big-ticket international maneuvers and posturing; we do get that in our media. No. They’re talking about the consequences of the mass sackings, the budget slashing, and program terminations on families and individuals across the US.
“On February 11, Trump signed an executive order putting billionaire Elon Musk in charge of “large-scale reductions in force,” and yesterday, Musk and his allies began purging the federal government of career employees, beginning with employees still in their probationary period, typically those with less than a year in the job. The Department of Veterans Affairs lost 1,000 people, the Consumer Protection Financial Bureau lost more than 100 people, the U.S. Department of Agriculture lost more than 2,400, the U.S. Forest Service lost more than 3,000, the Environmental Protection Agency lost 400, the Small Business Administration lost more than 100, and the Interior Department lost 2,300, including workers at national parks. The Department of Health and Human Services is expected to lose nearly all of its 5,200 workers in their probationary period, including 1,300 at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)—10% of its workforce—while the National Institutes of Health (NIH) lost 1,500. “I am heartbroken, more than anything, for the future of science in this country as we gut this institution that has for so long been intentionally shielded as much as possible from politics,” an NIH employee told Will Stone, Pien Huang, and Rob Stein of NPR.”
Wrote noted American Historian, Heather Cox Richardson in her Feb 15 Substack article.
There are additional “buyouts have been offered to two million government workers. Deferred resignations, sent by the Office of Personnel Management at the end of January, offer to pay employees their full salary and benefits through September, without the need to work during that time, in exchange for their resignation.” According to the Atlanta Black Star.
“Similarly, the shutdown of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is a blow to the agricultural sector: USAID buys about $2 billion in agricultural products from U.S. farmers every year. It has also supported funding for research at state universities like the University of Tennessee, the University of Missouri, and the University of Louisiana.” Added Richardson.
Never mind that “millions of people could die as a result of the “ruthless” U.S. decision to “recklessly” stop USAID funding, and hundreds of millions more will be condemned to “dehumanizing poverty.”” According to the Vatican Relief agency, Caritas.
You see, that’s where I find my voice. These numbers are people; people with families, people with mortgages or rent to pay; dumped, often by email, often late at night, and often immediately closed off from asking questions and finding answers. There are tens of thousands more people relying on USAID retroviral drugs, food aid, and shelter.
Conservative/right-wing governments will always want to see the public service reduce its costs. It’s their thing. There are legitimate ways to do that. This, however, is a form of unprecedented violence.
So, maybe mine is just a little voice. But it is a voice.
“You can write well. You should be telling people what is happening here.” Said my friend in a recent conversation. I’ll try.
Who first said: ‘You can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs’? It was a French Royalist François de Charette defending the death toll under his leadership in the countering of the French Revolution. The phrase at least holds the value of acknowledging the harm done; even if done so in such a callous manner.
There has been no such acknowledgment of harms done since January 20 by this administration; only a recent Oval Office assertion that Musk’s works are under a mandate from the American people. Said Richardson:
“On Friday the Republican-dominated House Budget Committee presented its budget proposal to the House. It calls for adding $4.5 trillion to the budget deficit in order to extend Trump’s 2017 tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations. It also calls for $1.5 trillion in spending cuts, including cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and supplemental nutrition programs.” Richardson once more.
It’s difficult not to be cynical when tax cuts for the wealthy are juxtaposed with severe cuts to Medicare and Medicaid. All the more cynical for Steve Bannon’s recent warning to Musk ‘that he needs to be “careful” about cutting Medicaid as a “lot of MAGA” uses the health care plan.’ In other words, be careful doing anything that alienates Trump’s supporter base. I guess the rest of the population is fair game.
It’s not difficult to see here, who exactly will bear the brunt of all of this: those in need, the infirmed, the aging, and the disabled.
For many reasons, I identify with people living with disability as ‘my tribe’. But, hell, aren’t all of those groups I identified in some way ‘our tribe’?
However, as those living with a disability and who have had an eye for history know well, they are the proverbial ‘canary in the coal mine’. When a society is in decline, when the prevailing political philosophy divides rather than unites, they suffer first and likely, most.
Section 504 of the US Rehabilitation Act 1973 protects people living with a disability from discrimination in access to federally funded programs. It has effect through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of supporting the educational needs of children in particular. The Biden administration included Gender Dysphoria within the definition of disability; a move that was contentious and which sparked some US states to form a court action against Section 504 from May 2024.
While this was before the current administration, it is clear that states have been emboldened by Trump’s Executive Order stating that there are only two genders. The action by the states (now 17) would, according to Forbes “for all intents and purposes, Section 504 would cease to exist and, with it, any requirement for states to meet the needs of students with special needs who currently benefit from 504 plans, or any such students in the future.” The baby flushed down with the bathwater.
This must be of serious concern to parents of children with a disability. In the current climate with proposed Medicare, Medicaid, and special disability focussed projects of the Federal Education Department also at risk, it’s a tougher time than usual for ‘my tribe’.
The ‘eugenic undertones’ are never far from the surface. If the fears of cuts to spending on programs that support people with disability (amongst others) were not enough, on February 12th Musk posted a meme with a comment on his own X platform account.
Yes, he did post that. It is so outrageous that, at first, I assumed it was ‘fake news’, but it isn’t. One leading comment said it all:
And then there are headlines like this: Trump State Department official has repeatedly called for mass sterilization of ‘low-IQ trash’.Sure, it’s just one bad egg, but a bad egg with a long history of such commentary and a person just appointed as “Acting Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, a senior role that represents American foreign policy to the world.” I wonder how Western Europe would view his Untermensch language?
Can you see why people living with disability in the US are worried? Some I know are shit-scared.
So, what can you and I do? I’m not a US citizen. I live half a world away.
Maybe it seems too remote, ‘not my concern’. But it is. Such attitudes are infectious. One only need look at the spread of eugenics at the dawn of the 20th century and the disastrous consequences to understand. In our modern world, bad ideas travel fast.
If we needed any reminder, the closing words of Martin Niemoller’s poem: First they came for the Jews still echo through history.
“Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me.”
So, say something!
Paul Russell: Musings 