I have sat in rooms heavy with the haze of indifference–spaces where dissent is unwelcome and truth is inconvenient. To witness the unraveling of a republic and be met with little more than patronizing dismissal is a profoundly disorienting experience. Any merit of warnings and pleas for compassion are reduced to those of emotional outbursts, and deeply considered critiques are written off as juvenile defiance. But I ask: when in history were the well-informed ever tranquil in the face of injustice?

This is not an indulgence in cynicism. It is a measured articulation of grievances toward a movement that claims to champion liberty while methodically undermining the very foundations of a pluralistic democracy. Though often described under the banner of “America First,” the MAGA movements underlying ethos, rooted in authoritarian instinct and cultural exclusion, bears little resemblance to the principles enshrined in the nation’s founding ideals.

The language of freedom is frequently invoked, yet its application is strikingly selective. Liberty, in its truest sense, demands expansiveness of thought, identity, and opportunity. And yet, what is offered instead is a narrowed conception of personal autonomy, one that seeks to impose rigid cultural norms onto bodies, classrooms, and public spaces.

Legislation curtailing reproductive rights, restricting educational content, and policing gender expression are not the hallmarks of liberty, but instruments of control. Consider the efforts to criminalize abortion beyond the point of viability or to silence educators who seek to discuss systemic racism, gender diversity, or historical injustices. These policies are not about protecting freedom; they are about enforcing conformity under the guise of moral stewardship. Did we not learn this lesson already when we attempted to force assimilation on the indigenous?

In a secular republic founded on freedom of conscience, religious doctrine should serve as a private compass, not a legislative cudgel. And yet, biblical scripture is often deployed not to uplift the marginalized, but to justify their exclusion. Verses that call for radical love, such as Mark 12:31, John 13:34, 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7, and Micah 6:8 are conspicuously absent from public discourse when the subject is immigration, LGBTQ+ rights, or poverty.

This selective theology reflects not spiritual devotion, but moral convenience. It reduces sacred texts to political tools, ignoring the essence of the faith they purport to defend. It subtracts the work of concrete faith, and attempts to reassure the lost their path of good intentions is sufficient. Were Mary and Joseph to flee persecution in the modern world, would they be met with compassion, or with detention at the border?

Those who once proclaimed themselves defenders of law and order now excuse, and in many cases celebrate, lawlessness when committed by those who share their ideology. Trump, the leader of this movement, has been impeached twice, found civilly liable for sexual abuse (In May 2023, a civil jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming E. Jean Carroll in a 1996 incident, awarding her $5 million) and faces numerous felony indictments. He is currently the subject of 91 felony charges across multiple jurisdictions, including Georgia, Washington, D.C., New York, and Florida. His public admiration for autocrats, his attempts to subvert democratic institutions, his disdain for truths he finds inconvenient, and his complicity in fomenting insurrection on January 6th are well documented.

Yet many continue to elevate him as a paragon of strength. This is not reverence for justice but rather the normalization of impunity. Law and order, it seems, applies only when it is politically expedient.

Efforts to erase, sanitize, or distort the more painful chapters of American history are not exercises in patriotism, they are acts of intellectual repression like the burning of the library of Alexandria. Books that challenge dominant narratives are banned. Teachers who speak honestly about slavery, Indigenous genocide, or civil rights are vilified. But history, if it is to serve the present, must be told in full. To whitewash it is to relinquish the possibility of progress.

Such revisionism is not driven by national pride, but by a fear that a more informed populace may demand a more just distribution of power.

Few issues illustrate these contradictions more starkly than immigration. Under recent policies, we witnessed a deep erosion of moral responsibility: asylum seekers, including children, are detained in deplorable conditions; families are forcibly separated; and life-threatening circumstances are dismissed with bureaucratic coldness and a lack of due process. This is not the America I pledged allegiance to as that one promised “liberty and justice for all”.

The “Remain in Mexico” policy forced vulnerable individuals and families into precarious and often violent and dangerous border zones in Mexico, where cases of kidnapping, assault, and even death were recorded. The elimination of the Diversity Visa Lottery and the narrowing of family reunification laws undermined America’s identity as a haven for the oppressed. Meanwhile, a physical wall (expensive and largely symbolic) was treated as a solution to a humanitarian crisis rooted in global instability and domestic dysfunction.

One of the most enduring rhetorical strategies in this movement is the invocation of fiscal discipline; concerns about “waste, fraud, and abuse” Yet this concern vanishes when discussing subsidies for corporations or tax breaks for billionaires. It only resurfaces when the subject is public healthcare, food assistance, or refugee services.

This is not stewardship. It is cruelty, cloaked in economic language. If one finds it acceptable that an undocumented child be denied medical care, yet finds no outrage in massive tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy, then the issue is not money, it’s moral indifference.

What we are witnessing is not the strengthening of democracy, but its slow decay. Power is increasingly concentrated in the hands of the few: those who manipulate disinformation, exploit economic despair, and peddle fear in exchange for loyalty. Civic discourse has been replaced with culture warfare. Institutions built to protect the public are restructured to serve elite interests.

This is not a government of the people. It is a government increasingly shaped by the whims of oligarchs, demagogues, and opportunists. No longer do its actions seek for the betterment of all members of society, but rather a select few.

To remain silent in the face of such erosion is to be complicit, and complacency in the face of evil is the world’s greatest evil. These times do not call for moderation; they call for moral clarity. Real patriotism is not blind allegiance. It is the courage to confront the injustices carried out in the name of nationalism. Genuine faith does not turn a blind eye to suffering, but confronts the systems that create the need for charity. And real democracy does not survive on slogans, but on truth, accountability, and love for the common good.

I will not calm down or temper my indignation because authentic love demands justice. Because true civic responsibility demands resistance to tyranny. And because the health of a republic cannot endure the union of authoritarianism and apathy. Therefore, I call upon all who claim to uphold peace and compassion toward their fellow human beings to actively oppose all forces that perpetuate complacency and unmerited pride in the face of tyranny and moral bankruptcy.

Mac Dawson is a Jamestown resident.