No Time For Silence

Opinion by Ben Everidge for Thomas

Photo Credit: Adobe Stock by Alienmonster Images

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When Government Turns Against Its Own …

“A government that forgets its citizens will soon be forgotten by them.”

Americans have always disagreed loudly, freely, and passionately.  But for most of our history, government was at least trying to serve the public good.  Today, more and more citizens feel that Washington isn’t just failing to protect them; it's actively harming them.  It is actively working against them.

This is not cynicism. It’s an observation.  And millions of Americans see it clearly.

How?

1.      The Federal Government Shutdown Hurt the Very People the Government Exists to Serve

When Congress failed to keep the government open, it didn’t hurt lobbyists, political influencers, or senior officials.  It hurt:

• Working parents

• Low-income families

• Federal employees living paycheck to paycheck

• Military families and contractors

• Seniors reliant on federally supported services

• Food, housing, and childcare programs that were paused or destabilized

This wasn’t a harmless procedural failure.  It was a government-manufactured economic shock.  Washington behaved as if the lives of ordinary people were collateral damage in a political hostage drama.

And the message it sent was unmistakable: If you’re not wealthy, powerful, or politically connected, your suffering is considered acceptable.

2.     Tax Reform That Rewards the Wealthy While Squeezing the Middle Class

Political rhetoric promised “tax relief” for average Americans.  The reality?

• Wealthy households received most of the benefit

• Corporate loopholes widened

• Working families’ tax obligations increased through capped deductions

• Deficits exploded, later used to justify cutting social programs

When tax policy becomes a tool for upward redistribution, the government is no longer neutral.  It has chosen a side.  And it’s not the side of the people doing the actual work.

3.     Dismantling the Affordable Care Act Will Make Healthcare Less Affordable

For years, the ACA helped millions:

• Lowering premiums

• Safeguarding pre-existing condition protections

• Expanding Medicaid

The push to dismantle or weaken the ACA means:

• Higher premiums

• Fewer protections

• Reduced access

• Rural hospitals at greater risk of closure

• Higher out-of-pocket costs

While politicians receive taxpayer-funded care for life, ordinary Americans are told to “shop around” in a broken market.  It is hard to avoid the conclusion that health policy is being crafted for donors, not patients.

4.     The Rule of Law Has Been Replaced with Rule-by-Favor

When presidents issue blanket pardons to convicted political allies and supporters, the signal is clear: Justice is optional for the powerful. 

Federal judges, juries, and prosecutors spend years building cases only to watch them overturned with a stroke of political patronage.  Nothing erodes democracy faster than unequal justice, and nothing erodes public confidence faster than knowing that loyalty, not law, determines outcomes.

5.     Tariffs That Inflate Prices and Punish Families

Tariffs were sold or politically justified as a tool to punish geopolitical rivals.  Instead, they have:

• Raised grocery and household costs

• Increased appliance, electronics, and car prices

• Forced small businesses to cut workers

• Fueled inflation

• Undermined our most trusted foreign allies and not our rivals

Tariffs are taxes.  They are taxes on consumers – American consumers.  The White House and Congress may justify them as strategic, but ordinary Americans pay the price at the checkout line.

6.     Hyper-Partisan Gerrymandering Is Replacing “One Person, One Vote” with “One Party, Permanent Power Illicitly”

Across the country, in both parties, politicians now choose their voters instead of voters choosing them.  The consequences:

• Less accountability

• Fewer competitive elections

• More extremism

• Candidates who ignore the center because they only need to win their party’s base

• Communities fractured by bizarre district lines

When districts are drawn for political survival rather than representation, democracy becomes performance, not practice.

7.      Weaponization of Agencies Against Critics and Opponents

The growing trend of using federal agencies such as the IRS, DOJ, DHS, and ICE as political instruments creates a climate of fear rather than fairness.  Even the appearance of abuse undermines democracy.

But the reality, in recent years, has been worse than appearances:

• Political interference in investigations

• Selective enforcement

• Targeted audits

• Use of immigration, justice, and intelligence agencies to intimidate critics

This is the kind of behavior Americans historically condemned in authoritarian regimes.  Now it’s happening here.  In America here.

8.     A Congress More Loyal to Party Than to Country

Members of Congress now represent:

• Big donors

• Party leadership

• Cable news audiences

… before representing actual constituents.

The consequences are everywhere:

• Failure to pass immigration reform (indiscriminate roundups are not the answer)

• Refusal to tackle the housing crisis (a 50-year mortgage is not the answer)

• Inability to address healthcare affordably (cutting ACA subsidies is not the answer)

• Unwillingness to confront climate resilience challenges (ignoring the issue, hoping it will go away, is not the answer)

• Endless brinksmanship over budgets (more spending is not the answer)

A legislature incapable of governing is, in practice, governing against the interests of the people who need it most.

The Consequences of a Government That Works Against Its Citizens 

If this trajectory continues, America faces four risks:

1.      Democratic Disillusionment

Voter turnout will crater, especially among younger generations who already question the system’s legitimacy.

2.     The Rise of Extremism and Anti-System Politics

People denied representation seek alternatives - sometimes dangerous ones.

3.     Economic Decline Driven by Instability

Shutdowns, tariffs, and policy whiplash erode small businesses, family finances, and global confidence.

4.     Institutional Collapse

When rules are bent, courts are manipulated, agencies are politicized, and norms are discarded, democracy becomes fragile, often suddenly. 

History teaches that erosion is invisible until it becomes irreversible.

The Thomas Take: It Doesn’t Have to Be This Way

The government can serve the public again, but only if Americans choose leaders who believe in governing, not in performative warfare.  That could mean more independents in Congress, more principled reformers in statehouses, and more civic participation at every level.

America is not yet broken beyond repair.  But the damage is accumulating.

But Washington is out of alignment with the people it claims to represent.  

To fix that, we need leaders and citizens willing to demand:

• Fairness

• Transparency

• Accountability

• Representation

• Responsibility

In other words: government of, by, and for the people – not against them.

Now is not the time for silence.