Dear Mr. President

Prologue:

For the first time since I began writing a blog several years ago, I’ve included a prologue. I hadn’t considered it necessary until a video version of this writing titled, “Dear Mr. President” was posted on social media.

While I knew that my open letter to President Biden had the potential to be viewed as controversial (let’s be honest — many of my videos have the potential to do that), I wasn’t prepared for the onslaught of viewers who saw my video as an attack on him.

Let me start by making one thing clear: I stand 100% behind every word I said.

Every word.

What surprised me is how many commenters assumed that I didn’t support our President.

After reading hundreds of accusations proclaiming I was “expecting too much” from President Biden, I knew that follow up conversations were necessary for people to understand patriarchal indoctrination and why our societal, religious or cultural influences compel us to protect it.

A quick explanation of what patriarchy is: a societal, governmental, religious or familial system in which the father or eldest or chosen male is head of the structure and women are relegated to subservient or lesser roles. Patriarchal indoctrination simply means those who have been influenced by or subjected to patriarchy identify so closely with it, they fail to recognize when they are compelled to protect rather than challenge or dismantle it.

It’s easy to see elements of patriarchal ideologies — the ones that say women are unqualified to be leaders in church or government. These are dangerous, harmful and limit a woman’s basic human rights.

To fully dive into its perils requires much more room than this prologue, so I’ll leave that teaching for another day and get right to the correlation between patriarchal indoctrination and those who attacked me for challenging President Biden in my video.

The most dangerous thing about this situation is the indoctrinated believing that holding their leader accountable is a betrayal.

It isn’t — a system that does not allow discourse and transparency is not a healthy structure. It demands blind allegiance and forced obedience - and that is fascist and dictatorial in nature.

Time and again, people attempted to deflect responsibility from Biden and lay it at the feet of others:

“It’s Manchin’s Fault.”
“It’s Sinema’s fault.”
“It’s the Republicans’ fault.”
“It’s Trump’s fault.”
And so on.

This only further perpetuates the system of victim/victor,
all for the benefit of leaders who remain unaccountable within that construct, yet reap its vast rewards.

This is the basic tenet of American democracy— a patriarchal system that we have willingly supported since the founding fathers wrote the documents that laid the groundwork for a nation independent of monarchical British rule.

This two-party system has been broken for a very long time. It ebbs and flows as one party gains power and the other regroups and prepares for things to turn back in their favor.

We should be terrified that at this point in history, Democrats seem to be willing to continue to play this game — keeping the same rules in place, even if it means the emergence of a fascist, totalitarian society.

Then what happens? The leaders, including Biden will walk away unharmed — they have reaped millions. They’ll bide their time and wait for the pendulum to swing back their way.

I’ll admit this is a vast oversimplification of American politics, but we must stop pretending that our political leadership is working for the good of the whole.

It is simply not true.

We — the American people — are seen as fools who must be convinced that this system is in our best interests, when those who reap the biggest rewards are the politicians, billionaires and lobbyists. After all, who among us has the same power as those who keep people like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos from paying their fair share of taxes?

And those same lobbyists and operatives are deep in the pockets of every politician in Washington D.C., including President Biden’s.

For God’s sake Americans, wake up.
There is more Biden can do.
He should be calling this what it is.

Friends, Christian extremism is at the heart of all of this.
They are hijacking our freedoms and contorting the constitution to fit their religious views.

Biden should be calling Christian leaders nationwide to band together and work against those who would turn us into a one-religion, one-party, totalitarian nation.

Sadly, your indoctrination into America's patriarchal political system compels you to take on the role of victim while Biden plays politics as usual.

Those of us who have deconstructed from patriarchal indoctrination understand that two things can be true.

I can be supportive of our president (I would vote for him again if it meant it would protect us from fascism)

AND

I can hold him accountable to keep his campaign promises.

Now more than ever we should be expecting a new type of leadership rather than the old patterns that contributed to our nation’s current crisis.

I’m not going to stand by and watch our house burn.

I’m calling out Christian extremists because our political leaders will not.

And what of you who attack me for demanding that Biden lead us through the biggest threat facing American democracy since the Civil War?

You should be ashamed of yourself for setting the bar so low for our President.

And now, the blog titled, “Dear Mr. President.”

Dear Mr. President:

I have no expectations that you will actually read, let alone respond, to this letter.

In all honesty, I write it for another audience — my grandchildren.

You see Mr. President, one day they will read this letter and know that I wrote to the highest governmental office in our nation to share my concerns about our country and the threat to our freedoms.

Mr. President, you took office during a highly tumultuous time. We were in the midst of a global pandemic, and you were tasked with the monumental burden of leading us through it. I applaud your efforts and the work you have done to put us on a sustainable road to recovery.

But as serious as the pandemic is, Mr. President, there is even a greater threat looming - and that is the fate of our democracy. With all due respect to your role as Commander in Chief, if we do not hasten our actions and work as if our very existence depends on it, your legacy will not be of the one who led us through a global health crisis but the one who was on guard when American democracy died.

Allow me, Mr. President, to pause here and say that I eagerly and willingly voted for you. It was more than a vote for you – it was a vote against fascism. I trusted that you would act with the necessary sense of urgency to protect everyone, especially historically marginalized communities, from those who clearly want to turn these United States into a one-religion, one-party, totalitarian society.

Mr. President, take a look around. Look at the laws that are being passed that restrict voting, strip away women’s rights, and do horrific harm to the LGBTQIA+ community. These laws will also suppress our history which should be taught in schools, and ensure systemic racism will live on in perpetuity.

After the January 6th attack on our United States Capitol, there was radical talk of ways to protect our nation so that fascists would not prevail. I use the word “radical” in a favorable light, meaning that we seem to understand that the cracks and flaws in our system had been exposed and found to be insufficient to protect the “American Experiment.” Radical ideas were bantered about as political experts offered their views on ways to mitigate this grievous threat. Some of these radical ideas included protection of voting rights, expansion of the Supreme Court, elimination of the filibuster, conviction of those who participated in the January 6th attack, and prevention of politicians who participated in that attack from seeking office.

Yes Mr. President, radical ideas indeed are called for. When those who would see our nation destroyed have shown how far they are willing to go to annihilate American democracy, radical ideas are needed to ensure they will not succeed.

During your campaign, you seemed to understand this. When you appeared on ‘The Daily Show’ with Trevor Noah, you discussed the need for police reform, and you shared your concern about the false narrative of election fraud. Speaking about former President Donald Trump, you stated, “The thing we’re doing is calling out every lie he in fact is saying,” as well as, “We’re calling out and making a case that this guy is not a good guy.”

Do you remember that interview, Mr. President? Do you remember sharing your concern that Donald Trump was not a good guy? With the passage of time, your statements proved to not only be correct, they were premonitive.

Mr. President, you have been championed as the one person who could unite the divide along party lines to get things done. But we have watched in horror as no significant changes have come from the legislative and executive branches that would protect us from extremist religious factions. Meanwhile, state legislatures are chipping away at our rights that spiral us back into a time when only the white, Christian male was ensured a safe and civil existence.

Radical ideas, Mr. President. They are what we need and we must act with a greater sense of urgency than those who would bring fascism to America. Your low approval ratings are reflective of a nation that voted for you, yet you do not appear to be listening to — a nation that is slowly being stripped of its rights to live and exist freely.

Mr. President, I began this letter by saying that I have no expectations that you will respond to or even read it.

But, if by some chance you do, please know that it is with the utmost respect for the office you hold that I say this:

Please, act now. Act is if our lives depend on it. Because they do. For a time such as this, you were called to the highest office of our country. You willingly stepped into this role. You promised you would “call out the lies,” and you promised voting rights for all. You promised police reform, and you promised that you would find a way to get the job done.

With all due respect, Sir, get the job done now, before it is too late.

Your legacy depends on it.

My grandchildren depend on it.

Our nation’s grandchildren depend on it.

Radical? No.

Doing what must be done to protect freedom and equality is not radical.

It is sacred.

Sincerely yours,
Reverend Karla