Barbara Mezeske: Drawing the line

EDITOR'S NOTE: The views and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not of Ottawa News Network. This piece was written before Secretary Pete Hegseth and President Donald Trump addressed the assembled U.S. military leaders on Tuesday, Sept. 30, and before the pre-dawn raid on a Chicago apartment building early that same morning.

To “draw a line” is a metaphor for setting a boundary you will not cross. A friend asks you to do something you know you should not do — maybe toilet papering the yard of a teacher; maybe skipping work or school because you are “sick,” but really want to go to a movie instead. 

As we mature, we learn to stop ourselves when the risk or the thrill comes with real consequences. Maybe you’ll toilet paper the yard, but draw the line at vandalizing the guy’s car. Maybe you will call in sick for a day, but draw the line at doing it two days in a row. We draw lines to keep ourselves safe, to stay on the right side of the law, and — one hopes — because our moral development informs us that some actions are too much, too outrageous. We learn to draw lines.

The question I’m interested in is: How far can our current president and his administration go before the majority of the public draws a line and says, “Enough. This is too far. Stop now.”

Donald Trump violates the norms of American political behavior. He pushes the boundaries of his power, usurping roles normally reserved for Congress, the military, and the courts. He is petty, installing a picture of an auto-pen instead of Joe Biden in his new Presidential Walk of Fame at the White House. He has renamed the Gulf of Mexico and Denali. He keeps pushing against boundaries. When will he go too far?

Perhaps you feel he crossed a line when he pardoned over 1,500 people who had been convicted of crimes associated with the Jan. 6, 2020, riot at the U.S. Capitol. These people were not peaceful protestors. They wielded flagpoles and chemical sprays against the Capitol police. They smashed windows, vandalized offices and stole property. The federal judicial system dealt with them: some made plea deals, others convicted at trial. Trump gave most of these people a full pardon, wiping away their convictions and records.

That was just the beginning.

Then came the tariffs, not debated and legislated in Congress, but declared by Trump in response to what he calls an “economic emergency” resulting from trade deficits with other countries. The tariffs are wiping out American farmers, who can no longer sell to foreign countries. They are fueling inflation, and we feel it in our grocery bills. Is this a step too far for one man to impose on the nation?

In August, Ghislaine Maxwell, convicted of sex trafficking minors, was moved from a prison in Florida to a less-secure and more comfortable prison in Texas. Rumors swirled: would she, too, be pardoned in exchange for … what? Testimony that exonerates Trump’s long friendship with Jeffrey Epstein? Is the president’s involvement with a sex trafficker crossing a line?

In the third week of September, Trump and Robert Kennedy Jr. announced that Tylenol taken during pregnancy was linked to autism. Scientific studies disagree:  Tylenol is one of the only pain remedies that doctors recommend to pregnant women. But Trump urges women to “tough it out” during pregnancy. This warning does two things: It places the blame for autism on the mother, and it tells her that her own discomfort is something to endure, not to relieve.

Speaking of health, the new Health and Human Services secretary has fired experts who have worked for his department for years, and has halted research in a variety of fields, including pediatric brain cancer. He has installed vaccine skeptics in key positions, with the effect of fueling the anti-vaccine movement to include the basic immunizations given to children for decades: The immunizations that brought measles, mumps and chicken pox to a rarity in this country. Is interfering with long-established public health practices a step too far?

Or how about the actions of ICE, directed by Trump to round up 3,000 people per day? Are you OK with people being snatched off the street, or on the job, or even in court, and imprisoned without due process? Are you OK with the ICE forces being masked, heavily armed and not wearing identification? Is it acceptable to place people in prisons in countries like El Salvador and South Sudan — to make them inaccessible to their families or to legal help? Is it acceptable for a 79-year-old American to be assaulted in an ICE raid on his business?

Is this how our country should treat people — no matter their color, ethnicity, or citizenship status?

How about blowing boats out of the water in the southern Caribbean, claiming they are Venezuelan drug runners? Did the U.S. military stop these vessels? Verify their origin or intent? Or just sink them, making international investigation impossible? Has this county ever behaved like this before? Does it cross a line to use our military to kill without a declaration of war?

One more: The use of armed American troops on American soil in cities like Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Memphis and Portland. American troops, pledged to defend the Constitution and their country, are being used to suppress free speech and free assembly where citizens are resisting this administration. All this is done under the pretext of “ending crime,” but without solid evidence that crime is rampant or that militarization is the remedy.  

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We’ve heard the story of the frog who, immersed in cool water, fails to notice as the water slowly heats. Not perceiving the danger, he stays in the pot and is boiled to death. Biologists dispute this, saying that frogs are smart enough to jump out of the pot before it kills them.

How uncomfortable do you have to become before you say “stop!” Are Americans smart enough to jump out of the pot before it’s too late? Better yet, can we take that pot off the stovetop and restore all that has been broken?

Where do YOU draw your line?  

— Community Columnist Barbara Mezeske is a retired teacher and resident of Holland. She can be reached at bamezeske@gmail.com.