Shutdown: Where do you stand, Mr. Walden?

Dear Congressman Walden:

Shutting down part of the federal government because of a wall that the majority of Americans don’t support is childish and dangerous. Doing so before Congress has passed comprehensive immigration reform is immoral.

Your silence is deafening. Please openly oppose the president on this issue. Please work with your House colleagues to pass a continuing resolution untied to border wall funding—and to overcome a presidential veto if one is issued.

You are human, and thus not exempt from temptation. But you are informed. You likely recognize how unfit and damaging this presidency is. You somehow found a way to rationalize that the benefits of a deeply flawed presidency outweigh the risks, from a conservative perspective. But that rationalization, I hope, is becoming increasingly difficult to live with.

You face a trying decision: Stay the convenient partisan path, or transcend politics to do the right thing for your country and your constituents.

What you decide will be the true measure of your mettle, and will determine your legacy. General James Mattis resigned on principle. I am not advocating that you resign. But I am asking that you too stand on principle, to defend the American People (and basic human decency) from abuse of presidential power.

Sincerely,

— Antonio Baptista

Note: Text of e-mail to Mr. Walden on Dec 22, 2018; also published as a Letter to the Editor in the Hood River News, under the editor-assigned heading “Stand on Principle.”