Letter to Mike Pence from Hanover College alumni

[ehrnst]

Last edited Tue Apr 4, 2017, 07:42 AM - Edit history (1)

As proud fellow alumni of Hanover College, we would like to congratulate you on having been elected to one of the highest positions in our country. Our congratulations do not, however, arrive without genuine concerns. We write to you to ask how, as an obviously devout Christian, and after four years of the enlightening liberal arts education we all received at Hanover College, you can participate in the discrimination, racism, xenophobia, and antipathy toward the poor that we see in the actions of the Trump administration.

At Hanover College, we were introduced to the work of thoughtful intellectuals and compassionate theologians. We learned to appreciate the natural world and to respect scientific research. We were taught the vital necessity of the work of principled journalists and writers. Our worlds were expanded not only through exploring new ideas but by living and working with people from vastly different lands and cultures. Like you, many of us have used our Hanover College education to become not only successful but exemplary in our chosen fields: in science, business, education, social services, and the arts. We have explored the world, and we live and work both domestically and abroad. We use our positions to attempt to make this world better for those in the present and for future generations. These are lessons we learned at Hanover College and values that we continue to cherish and uphold. We are therefore dismayed and confused by your apparent support of this administration’s disrespect for so many of the beliefs we hold dear.

At the 2016 GOP Convention, you declared yourself “a Christian, a conservative, and a Republican, in that order.” We cannot help but wonder, where “American” is in this list? It seems a fair question, because you are now actively participating in efforts to dismantle health care and other social safety nets for all but the most affluent Americans. Such efforts are in keeping with your record as the governor of Indiana, when you enacted legislation that showed you favored money and corporate gain over the health and well-being of your constituents, especially those less fortunate than you. You ignored an HIV outbreak in Scott County long after it could have been controlled with a needle-exchange program. Your policies relentlessly attacked women’s reproductive rights to the point where women were punished for having miscarriages. Your administration ignored lead and arsenic contamination in the water of East Chicago, a community of predominately people of color and the poor. Furthermore, you signed legislation aimed directly at discriminating against Indiana’s LBGTQ citizens under the guise of religious freedom.

Those of us who consider ourselves people of faith cannot understand, much less support, oppressing any of God’s children in the name of Christianity. Discrimination and exclusion are not values espoused by Jesus Christ. More than anything else in the Gospels, Jesus teaches that our treatment of the hungry, the thirsty, the sick, and all the “least of these,” reflects how we would treat Jesus himself (Matthew 25:31- 46). Your recent visit to the desecrated Jewish Cemetery in St. Louis seems to indicate some commitment to safe-guarding minorities against violence and intimidation, but we implore you not to wait until after the fact to speak out forcefully against hate crimes. We also urge you to oppose those within your administration who have actively courted the support of white supremacists.

As the vice president of the United States, you align yourself with a president whose ongoing business arrangements, unrevealed tax returns, constant disingenuous comments, and dubious relationships with high-ranking Russian officials have put our nation at grave economic and military risk. You stand in solidarity with a president who is threatening the health of our citizens, who is alienating our former allies, and who has appointed cabinet members who are contemptuous of (and have strong financial conflicts of interest with) the very agencies they are charged with directing. You have stood in silent support of a president who issued a sweeping executive order designed to block entry into our country by legally documented and properly vetted practitioners of a specific religion, who appears bent on the destruction of many federal agencies that afford crucial protections to U.S. citizens and to the environment, and who threatens those beyond our borders by championing U.S. withdrawal from longstanding international treaties and organizations.

Finally, we are surprised that a public servant who has built his career by decrying the overreach of government, seems completely supportive of plans to unleash thousands of immigration officers as a federal police force, with the express aim of creating a climate of fear and confusion among law-abiding neighbors and friends. If your aim is to scare people into hiding from the police, well done, but please realize that these actions have done nothing to make us safer. Such measures have only succeeded in blocking regular law enforcement officers, who rely on the cooperation and participation of all citizens, from doing their jobs. How on earth is that a conservative aim of government? How is sowing fear and confusion among neighbors a Christian value? Scapegoating others for their differences does not bring glory to God, Mr. Vice President but it just might bring this nation to ruin.

We hope you remember the lessons learned at Hanover College, including the value of other religious and cultural traditions; the importance of scientific research; and the necessity of an unfettered press, free and open elections, and our nation’s public education system. We are proud that Hanover has shown true leadership as it continues to provide an excellent education while becoming ever more welcoming and inclusive, in accordance with its Christian foundation. We are saddened that so little of the rich undergraduate education that we received at Hanover College is evident in your political career to date, and we hope that you will find the needed courage and commitment to become a leader who governs from a position of informed and rational judgment and true Christian compassion.

Most Respectfully.

More than 400 alumni from Hanover College near Madison, Indiana — Vice President Mike Pence's alma mater — signed this letter to Indiana's former governor questioning his involvement in the "xenophobia" of President Donald Trump's administration

http://www.courier-journal.com/story/opinion/contributors/2017/03/28/hanover-college-alumni-write-vice-president-pence/99731688/

[lindysalsagal]

1. the value of other religious and cultural traditions; the importance of scientific research; and the

of an unfettered press, free and open elections, and our nation’s public education system."

Nice.

[Alice11111]

2. Let's hope it touches a semtimental spot.

[WePurrsevere]

3. I don't think he's deeply introspective enough...

To dig that deep but it would be nice if this brought about him changing to better reflect the Christian he claims to be.

[ehrnst]

7. He'll just smile that dead smile, and think,

"I'm here because God rewarded my strength and purity. Why would God have put me here if I wasn't who he wants to lead us into a new age of dominion. I will pray that you come to understand that."

[phylny]

13. Yeah, my Fox-watching father sums up:

"I like Mike Pence. He has such a kind face."

[Alice11111]

29. Through my glasses, I see milketoast, sycophant, racist,

Good liar, extreme RW, blissfully incompetent too stupid to believe in evolution, cold blooded about women's health and children, rigid, fake smiling, Hypocrite face.

I understand though, my mother probably sees him like your dad does.

[Dustlawyer]

16. Or he said, "Suckers!" "Those religious folks are so easy to dupe, just say "God"

and "Jesus" enough and your in!"

[ehrnst]

21. I think he's a "true believer" like Palin - they really think they are sent by God to rule. (nt)

[Alice11111]

27. Got that right

[oasis]

4. Pence is too busy fawning over his "president" to give a it another thought.

However, he's enough of a prick to say to himself, "Thanks for the votes that got me here, suckers".

[sharedvalues]

5. Wow. Sentiments like this will expose the GOP as frauds

Publicize this - this letter hits the GOP at its heart. The letter has the potential to take those 80% of brainwashed GOP voters still backing Trump, and open their eyes to the truth about GOP motivations.

[ehrnst]

8. It won't reach those who feel as though their tribe is finally in charge of the trough

and armory.

They think Pence is there because God ordained it.

[sharedvalues]

11. Christians pointing out GOP hypocrisy can work. See link

http://www.cracked.com/blog/what-helped-convince-me-to-stop-being-hardcore-republican/



A lot of people change quietly and play it like they were on the right side the whole time, whistling innocently. I did. I used to think poor people were poor because they were lazy. I used to think sexism and racism were over. I used to think Christianity was "under fire" in the U.S. I used to think corporations were so much more efficient than government and we needed those clever, no-nonsense businessmen in charge of our corrupt, bureaucratic government. Now I get yelled at for being a politically correct "SJW" who wants handouts for everybody.

[ehrnst]

23. I hope you're right. (nt)

[sharedvalues]

24. You can help! Tell them about your values

[ehrnst]

30. I have tried. My values are inclusive and empathy based. Theirs are purity and loyalty based.(nt)

[caroldansen]

6. That was beautiful and true.

[Norbert]

9. I've been asking this for years.

"At the 2016 GOP Convention, you declared yourself “a Christian, a conservative, and a Republican, in that order.” We cannot help but wonder, where “American” is in this list?"

[Bernardo de La Paz]

12. Yup, me too. Probably his most honest statement. . . . nt

[Fast Walker 52]

18. actually that may explain his affinity for Denald Trumpskovitch and the rest of the Russia gang

in the WhiteHouse

[LisaM]

26. That is EXACTLY the line that got to me!

I remember well how the GOP convention painted America as a terrible place, danger lurking everywhere, just one cesspool in the larger hellhole of the world. It was creepy and dystopian. Such a contrast to our convention, which was one of the most compelling ones I've ever seen.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

10. RW Authoritarians and followers use a lot of compartmentalized thinking.

A lot of Us vs Them.

A lot of binary thinking: something's all bad or all good.

A lot of rationalization: "we're evangelical christian but the pussy grabber is doing god's work".

A lot of confirmation seeking.

A lot of bubble living and denial.

Very little empathy for people not like them.

[ehrnst]

22. Not just the Right Wing anymore. (nt)

[lindysalsagal]

25. Like, rural, southern bigots who hate foreigner and big sity slickers

and yet voted for fRump and all of his foreign wives.

They don't seem to notice that the first lady can barely speak english.

[joshdawg]

14. Pence, if he read this letter at all,

threw it into the circular file, aka trash bin.
He doesn't care about anyone except drumpf............maybe not even himself except as a spokesperson for followers of his brand of "religion."

[Delphinus]

15. That's a great letter.

I hope it's read and shared widely.

[Achilleaze]

17. Thank you, Alums

[Fast Walker 52]

19. Hanover is a really good college, and great they did this

[Posting Anonymously]

20. Pence

is a classic, textbook example of a walking moral idiot and consequently letters of the sort just presently are a total waste of the writer's time simply because Pence cannot comprehend, let alone act upon, the ideas or sentiments presented. Pence is a classic and it is because of "people" like him and Drumph that societies everywhere have problems. You can't build a reasonable community if your raw material are literally MORAL IDIOTS. It's that simple.

[Permanut]

28. Bingo. n/t