Letter: Raise Your Voice!

Photo by Maureen Madrid-Wilson

N3: On Monday, February 24, 2 staffers from U.S. Representative John Moolenaar came to the Newaygo Library to meet with local citizens.

To the Editor:
Picture, if you will, a gathering of people. As you are waiting to go in and be seated, you are thinking to yourself,  “I don’t think I have much in common with these people”.  This is a gathering for Representative John Moolinaar who represents the 2nd Congressional District in Michigan.

As I look around, I see mostly “mature” folks, but there are a few younger ones. I realize that most people are working at this time of day, so it is to be expected. The two sacrificial lambs, I mean staffers, sent in his place, welcome us in. We put our information on the sign in sheet ( the cynical part of me thinks “great, now they will have us on the hit list”).  A few pleasantries are exchanged… I don’t think anyone really knows what to expect. 

The staffers tell us we will go around the room and make our comments. Steve Hulst is the first one to get to dive in. He has a comment about immigration policies. He has paperwork and a very well thought out presentation that he asks the lambs to deliver to Representative Moolenaar.

I was next in line. I started out by saying I have emailed the Congressman several times and I get the basic form letter back; questioning whether he actually reads it himself or is it done by one of the lucky staffers? Do they respond or is it an AI response? I tell them I was going to mail an actual letter, and ask if they will hand deliver it. I ask if I can read the letter out loud. The letter is short, basically telling Representative Moolenaar he works for the people of Michigan and he swore an oath to defend the Constitution from enemies foreign and DOMESTIC and that he NEEDED TO DO HIS JOB. I was very surprised when the group actually applauded my letter. 

Then as we went one by one and everyone had their moment to state their opinion, feelings, comments and concerns a really COOL thing  happened…WE WERE ALL IN AGREEMENT!  Approximately 30 people from Fremont, White Cloud, Cedar Springs, Morley, Newaygo, Grant were ONE VOICE. We don’t like what is happening in DC and we want our “Civil Servant” to know it and take that knowledge back to DC.

So as divided as we are as a country, there is a glimmer of hope that we can come together- unfortunately, the common enemy seems to be our president and his unelected, non-citizen, chainsaw wielding, right hand man.
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Raise your voice! Speak out! Be involved! Our voices matter!

Maureen Madrid-Wilson
Newaygo