Saving our nation: Communication is the hardest problem.
Since Christmas, I have been dealing with an amazing challenge: pancreatic cancer. It is teaching me some things, including the importance of finding agency in both my personal battle and the current national situation.
Why I’m speaking up: my background growing up in rural America and, later, as a researcher in yeast molecular biology and genomics, related to quiescence and the cell cycle, and my life-long commitment to helping every student who was passionate about STEMM have research experience and mentoring in emotional intelligence, resilience, imagination, and leadership, (how to build grit), allowed me to know and work with researchers and programs around the US and internationally. I have worked at NSF, NIH, and Sandia National Labs, and was president of a national organization for Hispanics and Native Americans, SACNAS, that welcomed everyone. I’m a musician, and I come from generations of Mexican men and women who were political and social activists and men and women in the US who contributed to establishing, protecting, and building this nation and our government — both Republicans and Democrats. I have been on food stamps and eaten at the White House.
I share my background because, as a wrecking ball threatens valuable government resources, national security, and the health and well-being of our nation, I may have a unique perspective on the threats to many different stakeholders in the US.
We know how the current chaotic situation ends. We have seen good companies in our towns and cities sold for parts when poor leadership allows them to be bought up by Equity firms. It devastated my town. I know that years of trashing and demonizing the government, education, academia, and (from my experience) Democrats have led parts of MAGA to want to burn it all down and maybe more. The lack of communication and the loss of ability to find common, higher goals has broken families and damaged us as a nation.
It is difficult to have most of our voices heard, even when we have relevant experience or genuinely innovative ideas. We haven’t solved that problem. I don’t think intentionally destroying so much of what has made the US exceptional is good business practice, that it serves us well, or that it solves more problems than it creates.
It reminds me more every day of the Cultural Revolution in China — where people with glasses were persecuted, educated people were sent to farms, and two generations were lost. It is cutting off our nose to spite our face.
“You’re not the boss of me” reminds us that we can choose how to respond and solve problems. Analogous to gaining agency over a cancer diagnosis, we can identify and assert our agency in addressing the crisis of leadership threatening our national security and some of the most valuable assets in our nation, including our people.
We need change, and to do this well, we need a broad alliance of experienced stakeholders, citizens, and leaders. Good business practices can lead to the bold, thoughtful changes needed for greater efficiency and transparency. Chaos is never a good start or finish.
I now see researchers scrambling, students losing funding, and sudden job loss — and it feels like just the beginning. DEI, which is about emotional intelligence, resilience, and leadership for everyone, has become a 4-letter word. It’s an incredibly wasteful way to make large-scale change. So much energy is lost as heat.
This is possibly the challenge of a lifetime for EVERY American. I personally worry about the research that is threatened, the lack of information to the public that leads to slower access to treatment and poorer outcomes, loss of data that threatens our personal and national security, our young people who have been through so much in their lifetimes, the future of our Constitutional democracy, and our standing in the world.
I’m not afraid of dying, but I am afraid for all of us — that if our voices aren’t heard now — across the board — and if we don’t take the risk, if we don’t intentionally work for family and community reconciliation across all the divides, we will lose what is precious to us all forever.
Please consider the impact to you and your family's health, safety, and security and speak up to demand a more measured and thoughtful approach to government reorganization and transparency.
