In these moments of national strain, we have a responsibility to defend the values that make this country worth fighting for — honesty, accountability, equality under the law, and a government that can be trusted to uphold them. Today, those values and the constitutional rights built upon them are being tested by a White House that routinely misleads the public, distorts facts, excuses abuses of power, and employs federal agencies in ways that violate both public trust and basic constitutional expectations.
President Trump’s public tantrums, endless false statements, efforts to manipulate information, and attempts to undermine institutions that restrain executive power have embarrassed the nation at home and abroad, all while using the office of the presidency for personal and political gain. This belief that he alone is right has inflicted damage that must be confronted through constitutional means.
Meanwhile, federal agencies have carried out actions condemned by legal scholars, human rights groups, and former government officials as unlawful and contrary to American ideals, with little to no transparency or accountability. Families have been separated, children detained, due-process rights ignored, and human dignity dismissed. These are not abstract policy disagreements; they are violations of standards we claim to uphold as a democratic republic. This must stop.
Outrage alone is not enough. Citizens who care about this country must convert that outrage into action — lawful, organized, strategic and persistent. We must raise our voices at every level of citizenry and government, demand integrity from all major parties, support leaders willing to expose misconduct, and hold those who violate the public trust accountable through elections, investigations, oversight, and protest.
This is no time for resignation. If we believe in the promise of and rights guaranteed in the Constitution, we must defend it using every right that sacred document blesses us with. Our future freedom depends on it.
Erin Ann McBride, Saratoga Springs
Donate to the newsroom now. The Salt Lake Tribune, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) public charity and contributions are tax deductible