An open letter to our congressional leaders,
The United Methodist Social Creed calls for a day “when Justice and Mercy embrace.” Imagine, the law and Golden Rule in harmony. Justice and Mercy embracing to create fairness and equality, not retaliation and retribution. Could there be a better principle to guide your governing decisions? Think about that: immigration enforcement without paramilitary ICE imbedded in civil society leading to denigration of the humanity of immigrants and the arrest, and worse, killing of American citizens; no military action in Venezuela to claim their oil resources as “ours” while leaving their people repressed and poor; no late night racist political memes of our first black president and his wife as apes, and no more executive policies for self-aggrandizement and enrichment of those in power while ignoring basic needs like food and housing for others.
Justice and Mercy embracing lead to: policies that strengthen relationships with our military and trading allies; far tax policies, expanded voting rights, improved access to health care; also policies that protect the most vulnerable among us including the poor, the elderly, and minority groups as related to race, color, creed, sexual and gender identity. Justice and mercy embracing would promote critically needed balanced energy policies that protect our world from worsening climate change and its threat to all humanity.
Justice and Mercy in balance offer us, as a nation, the path forward our founders envisioned and we have historically strived to become. Justice and Mercy embracing is the antidote to authoritarian rule.
Please, as our congressional leaders, reclaim your position as a co-equal branch of government and reestablish the balance of Justice and Mercy Embracing we so desperately need. The power is in your hands. The choice is yours. We, the voters, are judging your decision.
Randy Nichols MD
Fort Scott, Kansas
