Dear Congressman Blumenauer,

I am despondent by this week’s events. I chose “environment” from the topic choices above because I had to choose something, but from Trump’s Executive Order watering down Obamacare, to his call to revive DAPL and Keystone XL, to his ban on US money flowing to (really incredible) organizations promoting safe abortion and saving countless lives of oppressed women around the globe, to a wall that no one thinks is actually a good idea, to now this immigration ban—which is probably most disturbing to me—keeping out all Syrian refugees (perhaps the most vulnerable group on the planet right now), I just can’t believe it.

I didn’t think it would be this bad.

But it is.

And I’m equally shocked and even more disappointed in the people working with and around Trump, that they don’t have the moral compass to call him out (or quit) as he makes good on all of his campaign promises, that surely even they didn’t think he actually believed in.

So I’m asking you to fight. Fight like hell. Don’t worry about engagements or fundraisers back home. We’ve got your back in the next election cycle.  Be there for every vote. Spend every evening talking with your Republican colleagues about how to get our republic back. Find common ground. Compromise. We won’t hold it against you.

Because the way we are moving is toward mutually assured destruction, if not of our country than at least of our values, and thus the bigger part of my future.  After all, the catastrophic decisions being made about our world by a 70 year old will affect me for far longer than they ever will him.  I’m the one who will be living with them.

Thank you for what you do. Thank you for listening. We need you more now than ever before. You are our voice. Speak loudly and speak clearly.

Cheers,
Jason Kroening-Roche