Letter from Ronald E. Bishop

Trust Problems Close to Home?

Our federal administration has made sweeping changes since Inauguration Day. A variety of lawful means were available for making these changes, including reviews of federal employees’ work records, congressional actions to limit funding and diplomatic overtures to renegotiate treaties. However, they did not bother with honest measures: In our names, Mr. Trump and his team broke promises of employment to our workers and breached contracts with partners (including farmers) locally and around the globe. They violated treaties with Ukraine (the Budapest Memorandum) and our neighboring nations (the USMCA). The weight of evidence is clear: This American government is faithless.

I expect that some folks are thinking, “We should never have offered employment to all those workers, signed those aid contracts and trade agreements, or made commitments to our allies in Europe.” I will not argue with you and, as a patriot, I fully support your right to hold and express those views.

At the same time, I must ask: Do you think it is okay for the people who represent us to break promises? To breach contracts? To violate trade agreements and treaties? If you do—and many have cheered on these actions—if you stand with treachery anywhere, how can your neighbors trust you here? It’s no longer an unthinkable question: Does a Trump banner displayed by a home, business or farm constitute fair warning that we should steer clear of the liars and cheats there?

I don’t want to believe that, but the decisions of some of us to stand by the faithless actions of our president in Washington, D.C. are forcing a reset of all our relationships at home. We have a trust problem and, as we know from experience, trust is a lot easier to break than to build. Can we ever regain what we have tossed away?

Ronald E. Bishop
Cooperstown