Once again I begin with Gaza. Starvation among children has reached a point that the physical effects will be irreversible.

Even if they live their bodies and brains will be stunted. Dozens of them die every week for lack of food waiting across the border. The Israelis are not letting in the 500 trucks a day needed. When the United Nations was delivering food they had 400 distribution sites. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has four sites. It is funded with our tax money.

People are forced to walk for miles and wait in long lines. At least 859 people have been shot by soldiers at distribution sites since May.

We have financed a war on 2.1 million people. At least 62,000 people dead. We don’t know how many are under the rubble. Two million homeless. We continue to support genocide. We need to let the United Nations back in to feed people. They are ready to do it. They’re good at it. They were feeding 2,100,000 people without violence. The Israelis have controlled how much food entered Gaza for years. There is no extra.

When you see images of starving children and know they are going to be stunted how are we not doing something? We’re too busy with what is going on here.

President Donald Trump is attacking the foundations of a free democracy. He is jailing judges who disagree with him. He is putting soldiers on the streets in our cities. He is dehumanizing Trans people.

He has cut funding for education and food. He is trying to silence critics. He has cut public funds to NPR and PBS. The only publicly funded sources of news. They report what is actually going on without bias. He pressured CBS to fire Steven Colbert. He wants to change what museums say about history. Stop telling the truth about slavery. Being in a situation where someone could sell your child or you at any time is really, really bad for everyone including the person with that power.

The history we were taught that America is a shining city on a hill, a beacon of fairness and equality was never true. That history could not have produced the situation we are living in today. It’s only by being honest about slavery that we can move past it. Poverty wages are only another form of servitude. The Republicans have kept the federal minimum wage at $7.25 an hour since 2009.

Statistically Democratic states have higher wages, people are better educated and live longer, healthier lives. Because we invest in these things as a group. We also have independent commissions that set up voting districts so that people choose their representatives. That’s why we have Nick Langworthy representing us in Congress. If New York changes from an independent commission to a partisan map we could find ourselves represented by a Democrat.

We are the wealthiest country the world has ever known but we are losing that edge. We are losing the liberal consensus. Since the end of the second World War there has been a liberal consensus, a general agreement that the government should work for everyone and anyone who believed in the ideals of the constitution (equality and justice for all) was an American no matter where they came from or how long they were here.

This started to change under Ronald Reagan. He brought in the idea that the social safety net was too big. He talked about the welfare queen, a black woman getting rich off the system. He lowered taxes for the wealthiest people by cutting income taxes and raised them on the poorest people through sales taxes. He got rid of most grants for education and started the student loan scam where people are starting their lives thousands of dollars in debt.

All this money heading out of the bottom has crippled the economy. If people are not making a living wage they don’t have purchasing power. They can’t buy what’s in the stores.

We are in the same situation we were in 1929. We have high tariffs that are a tax on the lowest earners because they must continue to buy food and other necessities. Wages have not gone up at the same rate as prices. Rents have gone up and housing costs have gone through the roof. This administration’s goal is to have a nation of renters.

We have to do what people did in 1932. The New Deal tried all kinds of ways to put money in the hands of people at the bottom, and it worked. By 1939, the economy had improved and unemployment was down to 14%.

We need to stand up for freedom before we lose it. Go to www.mobilize.us to find an event near you. A lot of groups are planning something for Labor Day. We have the power to turn things around, to actually make ourselves a land with equality and justice for all.

Marie Tomlinson is a Fredonia resident. Send comments to editorial@observertoday.com