COLUMN: A declaration of conscience
When in the course of human events, it becomes expedient for one people to express their dissatisfaction and grievances toward their government; it becomes incumbent upon them to present clearly and without faltering the causes which impel them to take such actions.
Indeed, this necessity and this obligation comes from our innate and natural rights to express clearly and without fear the reasons and the causes that would incur upon us the burden of such a weighty declaration. When considering the events of the past two and a half years, our responsibility before this people and before the rest of the world becomes even more important and relevant. Under such circumstances, dissent, not conformity, becomes our leitmotif and our motivation for action. The history of the present president of the United States (George II) is a history of repeated lies and half-truths, which has precipitated the decline of the image of this great country among our own citizens and in the world.
He has incurred the greatest budget deficit in the history of this country, by pursuing wars of choice on taxes and Iraq.
He has increased the number of people who now live under the poverty line by implementing economic policies that only help the wealthy 2 percent.
He has caused the permanent loss of U.S. jobs by rewarding corporations that move abroad with tax cuts and incentives.
He has led this country into an unprovoked war that has cost its citizens hundreds of lives and billions of dollars, while at home the most basic social services such as health care, education, and Medicare go unfunded and our homeland remains unprotected.
He has wasted the good will of all the nations of the world, while pursuing phantoms of the past, fighting the weak and alienating our long-time allies.
He has directed the establishment of military tribunals that adjudicate over large bodies of racially profiled individuals.
He has trampled over decade-long international accords, while eroding civil liberties here at home.
He has imposed secret searches without judicial consent or warrant and has allowed the torture of prisoners overseas.
To quench his thirst for oil, he has denied future generations from enjoying untouched red rock wilderness by selling 145 oil and gas leases in BLM Wilderness Inventory Areas and Citizen’s Proposed Wilderness in Utah and Colorado.
He has destroyed the pristine quality of Dinosaur National Monument by leasing the land parcels surrounding its entrance and western border to oil and gas development that will irreparably damage the land.
He has cut federal funding for education exacerbating the problems with Pell grants, loans, and other monies for higher education.
He has implemented an unrealistic testing policy that forces disabled children, as well as students from poorer districts, to perform equally with more privileged children.
He has proposed initiatives that abandon public school’s needs by taking funding from them and offering a voucher program that will only benefit a few.
He has called upon the Congress to promptly pass, and to send to the states for ratification, an amendment to the United States Constitution defining marriage as a union of one man and one woman as husband and wife.
For supporting an amendment that for the first time in the Constitution would specifically deny rights and protections to a specific group of people (same-sex couples), while still allowing those same rights (civil marriage) for heterosexual couples.
For attempting to enshrine gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people’s second-class citizenship in the nation’s most revered document.
We, therefore, student leaders and activists of College Democrats, Amnesty International, Pride! Alliance, Socialist Student Union, Black Student Union, and Environmental Coalition of Students, appealing to the courage, integrity, conscience, and rectitude of our peers, faculty, administration, and community members, and trusting in the desires of all people to see this country restored to its eminent place as a pillar of civil liberties, democracy, tolerance, and honesty, express our condemnation and opposition to the aforementioned policies.
We do so by rejecting hatred and war, and by embracing peace and justice.
The Progressive Coalition is made up of six student organizations at Utah State University. Comments can be sent to Medlir Mema at medlirm@cc.usu.edu.