There are some words that are descriptive of the core necessities for humans striving to co-exist. One such word is “accountability.”

The ICE agents terrorizing and deporting non-whites wear masks. Our government’s explanation is that this is intended to protect them and their families from reprisals. It also protects them from any accountability for unlawful action, since we don’t know who is doing the terrorizing.

If this was an adequate explanation, then why don’t our police wear masks?  They are probably even more vulnerable to reprisals, especially when prosecuting organized crime and drug cartels. 

Instead, they wear a name plate with a badge number. Most wear a camera to record their actions.  Why? Because we hold them accountable for the lawfulness of every interaction they conduct. We expect the highest standards from those we entrust with deadly force.

In Missouri they have a “Castle Doctrine” law, which allows someone on their property to use deadly force if they feel a threat of violence. Imagine you have a Mexican spouse and masked men show up at your door to kidnap your loved one. Would you be justified to shoot them?

The burden of accountability we place on our government is even higher than that of our law enforcers.  We entrust them to live up to our Constitution, and to implement laws and policies for our common good.  We expect complete transparency to what they are doing as well as complete explanations for their actions.  

In the entire time Donald Trump has been on our political scene, I cannot think of a single instance where he has accepted responsibility for anything bad. He claims credit for anything good and blames someone else for the bad. Virtually every Republican in office models this behavior. Do you really believe such perfection is possible from any human being? Or do we have a complete abdication of accountability?

Another word we are killing is “empathy.” The Trump Administration, with a complicit Congress, is systematically stripping funding from social safety net programs. The rallying cries are “America First” and “Get a job.”

Imagine going to African refugee camps and face-to-face telling people they aren’t going to get any more food from us because we have to put America first. The aid they used to receive came in boxes labelled “from the American people.”  

Imagine denying healthcare or food to children who have the misfortune of having deadbeat parents – or parents consumed with caring for sick family members – or parents working for substandard pay – or parents that can’t navigate a complicated online application system.  

If someone won’t or can’t compete in our capitalistic society, most likely due to a mental illness or substance abuse, should they just lay down and die? Or can you find some empathy in your Christian heart to share your bounty and help them?

Somehow, we have managed to replace the word “truth” with artful lying.  Here’s an example of how this administration and conservative media lie. I read a recent Heritage Foundation editorial about the decline of teens working and how they are missing out on the development of life skills that come with a job. This is true.

The writer then attributed the decline in working teens to the lack of teen jobs because our government is dictating higher minimum wages.  She ignores the fact that “Help Wanted” signs are now a permanent fixture in fast food restaurants and other service industry jobs. She ignores the fact those employers have been steadily raising wages on their own to try and fill those jobs.  She ignores the fact that many middle- and upper-class families don’t expect their teens to work.  

And, she ignores the fact that the number of teens as a percentage of our population is much lower than the good old Boomer days.  That’s not truthfulness.

Of course, the most spectacular and despicable example of artful lying is the election fraud hoax originated by Trump, conceived months before the election, prosecuted by lawyers who received the best educations possible to know better, and perpetuated by members of our government to this day.  

If there really was a hoax, why isn’t this Republican majority Congress standing on its collective head to get to the root of it?

“Accountability,” “empathy” and “truth” are not just unimportant words to be disregarded or casually dismissed. They describe standards of behavior any government needs to live up to if it is to truly serve the people and be trusted that it is doing so.

Conservatives have railed for decades that Democrats and “libtards” are destroying America.  The real corruption and destruction are happening right now before our very eyes. 

Millions continue to support a regime that is killing what they profess to love – and killing the words for which we stand.