We were curious why people we knew had become active in the challenging electoral politics of 2024, 237 years after these words were first penned:
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
So we asked why?
And Deb Halsted answered (answer condensed for brevity and clarity):
I grew up listening to passionately expressed differences of opinion in my family, which taught me to think critically. Then, when I experienced racism, which is a profound disrespect for others, I committed to support human rights and dignity. Later, at the lowest point in my life, a stranger who I have never forgotten, Vesta, came not to judge me, but to help me to another way of living. I am here today because of Vesta’s empathy for me. The utter lack of empathy in the increasing volume of vicious attacks on others by a former president of my country has brought me full circle. I cannot, I will not, remain complacent and complicit.
