I would hope that we all care about systemic inclusion, equity and justice for everyone. Human diversity should be welcomed, not feared. Don't we all want timely health care, a solid education, and freedom from poverty, oppression and displacement? These, then, are human rights. Likewise, the environment and Earth's flora and fauna should be valued—if not for their intrinsic worth, then at least for the fact that they keep us alive.
I oppose authoritarianism, imperialism, racism, classism, patriarchy, tech oligarchy, anti-intellectualism, sectarianism, religious hypocrites, misogyny, and bigotry in its many forms. Around here, christofascists, sycophant billionaires, and grifter politicians are key problems, not immigrants. (And evangelical Christian nationalists: Mark 8:36 applies to you too.)
Clear-minded observers across the political spectrum can see that Machiavellianism now fully pervades the White House. For a deeper dive, I suggest Hannah Arendt's (1971) Lying in Politics or John Plotz's more recent commentaries. Harry Frankfurt's (1986) essay On Bullshit rounds out the topic. Rule by extortion, threat, and gaslighting—reinforced by executive decree and a vast "firehose of falsehoods" social media campaign—is a pathetic way to govern. And it erodes democracy.
Lately, American diplomacy has abandoned any claim to moral authority, opting instead for the ruthlessly transactional and openly predatory. There are many thoughtful essays on what this means for the global order. But nearer to home, I fully understand why Greenland, Canada and Latin America are outraged with the U.S. administration's illegal expansionism (its so-called Donroe Doctrine) through the means of broken contracts, economic extortion, and threats of forced annexation. Prime Minister Mark Carney's words resonate: “You cannot live within the lie of mutual benefit through integration, when integration becomes the source of your subordination” (CBC 2026).
The Constitution “assigns Congress the power to take the United States to war rather than leaving such momentous decisions to the whims of one person." The reigns on both defense and imperialist aggression are in the hands of the people. Please vote.
Israel’s war in Gaza became disproportionate soon after the October 7 attrocities committed by Hamas in Israel. Recent credible estimates of the death toll in Gaza range from 73,000-100,000 civilians, most of them women and children. In September 2025, the UN’s Human Rights Office asserted that Israel's actions amounted to genocide: “It is clear that there is an intent to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza through acts that meet the criteria set forth in the 1948 Genocide Convention” (OHCHR 2025). The international community and regional powers must cooperate to de-escalate, ease humanitarian crises, and begin negotiations that lead to a just and lasting peace.
Ukraine is a sovereign nation and I commend the bravery of its people. Russia's expansionist actions are illegal and profoundly immoral. Between 2023 and 2024, The International Criminal Court issued a series of arrest warrants for war crimes committed by Russia’s president and other top officials against Ukraine (BBC 2023). More recently, the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC 2026) found that Russia was responsible for crimes against humanity, including intentional attacks on civilians and the kidnapping and deportation of Ukrainian children. Democracies globally should re-double their efforts to assist Ukraine and sanction and deter the aggressions of Russia and its enablers.
Human-induced climate change is an ongoing global disaster. It began in the 1830s at the start of the Industrial Revolution, and the link between the burning of fossil fuels and global warming was already accurately predicted in the seminal Charney Report in 1979. In the late 1980s the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) began providing leadership on climate change by coordinating the efforts of thousands of scientists and experts. Fast forward to the recent U.S. withdrawals from the Paris Climate Agreement and the UNFCCC and IPCC: these moves are unconscionable in their denial of scientific fact—effectively a crime against life on Earth. I call on the U.S. to re-commit to its international obligations, and to all countries (particularly the U.S. and China, the two biggest polluters) to immediately and sharply cut carbon emissions, and to mitigate those climate change impacts occurring in vulnerable places.
Likewise, oil and gas corporations must be held to account. According to the Corporate Governance Institute, 20 companies have contributed to 35% of all energy-related carbon dioxide and methane worldwide since 1965. “For decades these companies possessed detailed and accurate knowledge about the dangers their products pose to the global climate and understood that climate action would threaten their business models. Yet they planned, funded, and continue to engage in a campaign to profit from the planet’s destruction by deceiving the public and blocking climate action” (Union of Concerned Scientists 2025).
Biodiversity, and the natural land- and waterscapes that support them, is essential to sustained life on earth. In fact, all scales of beneficial conservation and action can play a role, from the UN's Global Biodiversity Framework (CBD 2022) to the small ecosystems and places around us. The White House's gutting of the ESA (Endangered Species Act) is just the latest in a string of greedy, short-sighted attacks on America's native species and remnant natural landscapes.
I support the principles stated in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP 2007) regarding self-determination, land, culture, and informed consent. Healing, justice and reconciliation may involve truth-finding, colonizer apology, sovereign nationhood, compensation, substantive equality, and other manners of redress.
Accessible, affordable and effective schooling should be open to all who seek it, at all levels. (Educated people don't tend to vote for authoritarian hucksters.) Teachers and faculty should be respected and academic freedoms affirmed.
The arts matter. They should be embraced because they reveal, celebrate, heal, probe, critique, connect and challenge in ways that few other means of expression can. They are, in good part, what make us free and human.
I trust the scientific method as a rigorous-yet-fallible process because, done right, it is transparent, self-corrective and reliant on broad consensus. Most importantly, it is critical; it questions itself. So far, it's the best approach we have to understanding the world and grappling with big problems. The far-right's anti-science campaign weaponizes irrationality and fear, causing widespread harm and a collective powerlessness to plan and adapt.
Most urgently, I condemn extremist ideologies that undermine hard-won democratic institutions. A pluralistic society; the rule of law; the separation of church and state; broad commitment to human rights; judicial independence and impartiality; free, fair and accessible elections; a well-informed electorate; a free and open press; respectful public debate; broad and empathetic civic engagement; universal healthcare (or affordable healthcare for all - take your pick); living/just wage policies tied to locale conditions; family-friendly programs (e.g. child and elder care support, paid parental leave); evidence-based environmental stewardship; great public transit; the wide sharing of history's cautionary stories; a true civil society where all people are valued—these work together to frustrate authoritarianism and to foster societal wellbeing and democracy.
— Ken Tamminga, summer 2026
“We, who have been given much, whose voices can be heard, have a great duty and responsibility to make our voices heard with absolute integrity for those who are powerless.”