February 2025 - By Helen Price Johnson In January 2022 I was honored to be sworn in as the Washington State Director for the United States Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development team (USDA-RD). Like all other federal employees, I took an oath of office. I swore “to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic” and that I take this oath ”...without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion” and that we vow to “...well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office.” The reason for this is to make clear that public servants serve the public. My last day with the Biden-Harris Administration was the day Donald Trump and JD Vance were sworn into office. And yet their actions have shown a total contempt for their oath, and their responsibility to serve the public and the country, rather than their own personal gain.
During my time with USDA-RD we celebrated hundreds of local awards providing millions of dollars which targeted lowering utility costs for small businesses, replacing leaky roofs for low-income senior citizens, providing vital community infrastructure facilities, and expanding internet access to remote communities and tribal nations.
Stepping away from that role, it’s been painful to see the Trump regime’s horrendous treatment of federal employees, who have been demonized and demoralized, while the rural communities we supported have lost access to the resources they deserve. The speed and breadth of this attack on our public servants, our constitution, our freedoms, and our country, has now brought us to an economic and constitutional crisis.
Trump’s regime has taken a wrecking ball to the federal government, with the richest man in the world buying his way into the oval office to lead this damage for the low price of $270 million. They are illegally firing federal employees with no cause, and no regard for the services they provide. They have removed checks and balances in our system, opening the door for corruption, instilling fear and frustration across the country.
This regime is also illegally, and painfully withholding payments and stiffing small business owners, farmers, municipalities and nonprofits, who await reimbursement for grants and loans they were awarded through government contracts. These private citizens held up their side of the agreements, and the US Government under Donald Trump has refused to pay them the money owed. The Trump/Musk carpet-baggers are getting their contracts paid, while many vital community construction projects have been stopped, small businesses are laying off workers, and there is uncertainty and concern all across America.
Not only is it devastating for these people and their families, it will hit all of us as the local economics of these combined actions spread. The self-inflicted Republican Recession is soon to follow. Rural areas, and vulnerable populations are especially hard hit. Our state’s unemployment is rising, and local communities will soon feel the impacts. Bigotry, corruption, and domestic terrorism is happening now.
The role of citizen has never been more important, and our actions to resist the authoritarian efforts are necessary:
- Many on our island are gathering, communicating and strategizing for the challenge we face.
- Getting and staying connected, caring for each other, and protecting targeted people;
- Don’t give into the fear, authoritarianism relies on compliance and inaction, so we must not accept this, but instead stay focused on your core values and align your efforts there.
I am blessed to have had the opportunity to swear an oath of office both as a local elected official, and then as a federal employee. This promise was to the public, the country, not to one man, but to the Constitution to defend our inalienable rights secured there. That commitment continues to direct my efforts today. Now is the time for us to rise and defend our beloved democratic republic. Our forefathers and mothers fought to secure this country for us, and now is the time for us to do so for the generations to come.
Helen Price Johnson
