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WE HAVE A MORAL IMPERATIVE TO RECLAIM AMERICA FROM THE EXTREMISTS IN
POWER  
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. William Barber II and Tope Folarin
April 8, 2025
Newsweek
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_ We oppose the immoral budget priorities of this president and his
allies in Congress. It's time for a new season of moral action to mend
this country and reclaim the dignity of every person. _

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The United States is the wealthiest, most powerful country the world
has ever seen. And we’ve always had a moral tug-of-war between those
who want to hoard wealth and power and those who honor the dignity of
every person.

What’s happening now is that the wealthy and powerful are working to
divide the people—and keep the wealth and power for themselves.

President Donald Trump
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process of pulling back help and basic services for all Americans,
especially poor and low-income people, and engaging in ongoing war and
oppression. And they’re doing it all to consolidate wealth and power
for themselves and their friends.

We know this not because of what the president and his allies say, but
because of what they do. As faith leaders and scholars, we recently
released a report that lays bare the realities of the president and
Congress' actions [[link removed]],
especially with regard to the upcoming reconciliation process through
which Congress will decide budget priorities for the next 10 years.

We oppose the immoral budget priorities of this president and his
allies in Congress. We invite other faith leaders and all people to
study our report on the true state of our nation
[[link removed]], and to assemble on
the town square, at city hall, or on the state house lawn in
communities across this land. It’s time for a new season of moral
action to mend this country and reclaim the dignity of every person.

We found that members of Congress, with President Trump's
encouragement, have taken the first steps toward a budget that would
take Medicaid coverage away from as many as 36 million people and
force closures of rural medical facilities. Their plan would literally
take food from the mouths of children, cutting food stamps for as many
as 40 million people at a time of unprecedented food prices.

All told, their plan cuts $2 trillion in services for ordinary people.

Meanwhile, the president—with help from Elon Musk
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man—is firing thousands of government workers, often illegally. They
tell the workers to go find work in the private sector
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But at their own companies, Elon Musk and his fellow business titans
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interested
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jobs
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creating them. And private business will never replicate the good but
profitless work
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keeping our air and water clean
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providing free health care to veterans
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or finding cures for rare diseases
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The real tell is where they're putting the money from all those cuts.

The president's plan, as passed by his supporters in Congress, would
cut $4.5 trillion [[link removed]] in
taxes, mostly for the wealthy and corporations. For the bottom half of
families, savings from the president's tax cuts would amount to less
than $1 per day, while the richest 0.1 percent would enjoy windfalls
of $314,266 per year. And administration officials have sided with
corporations against workers by refusing to support raising the
minimum wage, which has been stuck at $7.25 since 2009.

Meanwhile, for a war-weary and dangerously divided nation, the
president and his allies in Congress want to invest at least $300
billion more in the war machine and indiscriminate mass deportations.
Continuing decades of war, the president has already bombed Somalia
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and has suggested the possibility of military takeovers in the Gaza
Strip, Greenland, and Panama.

And we are once again seeing the devastating and cruel effects of
family separation for immigrants. The Trump administration has
begun deporting parents
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the 4.4 million U.S. citizen children
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parent—even stripping legal status in order to justify the
deportation.

All of this serves to divide us—the wealthy against the poor,
immigrants against the U.S.-born, job-seeker against fellow
job-seeker, Black against brown against white, straight against gay,
cisgender against transgender. Nothing makes this clearer than the
administration's anti-DEI obsession, which denies that diversity is a
strength and a blessing.

Those divisions clear the way for them to take the spoils.

We say this not as Democrats
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scholars who know from our communities and our studies that our common
life depends on shared moral commitments.

We call on all people of conscience—faith leaders, religious, and
nonreligious folk alike—to join us in a season of nonviolent moral
dissent. With millions of Americans turning out for the recent "Hands
Off" rallies across the country
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it may already be beginning.

Our national hymn says, "America! America! God mend thine every flaw."
We began our own season of dissent by calling hundreds of faith
leaders to rally at the U.S. Capitol
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together in prayer and moral resistance and tell Congress to stop the
extremism, bullying, and corruption. We will gather there the first
Wednesday of every month.

We oppose the immoral budget priorities of this president and his
allies in Congress. We invite other faith leaders and all people to
study our report on the true state of our nation
[[link removed]], and to assemble on
the town square, at city hall, or on the state house lawn in
communities across this land. It's time for a new season of moral
action to mend this country and reclaim the dignity of every person.

_Bishop William J. Barber is the founder of Repairers of the Breach
and national co-chair of the Poor People's Campaign._

_Tope Folarin is the executive director of the Institute for Policy
Studies. Repairers and IPS, along with the Economic Policy Institute,
recently released the report, The High Moral Stakes of the Policy
Battles Raging in Washington
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* austerity budget
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* Poor People's Campaign
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* Institute for Policy Studies
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