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Official Statement from Mormon Women for Ethical Government on the Vote to Acquit the Former President
Today, 43 U.S. senators chose to acquit the former president from any responsibility for the assault on the U.S. Capitol and on members of Congress. This violence on January 6, 2021, marked the culmination of a months-long attack on our system of elections by former President Donald J. Trump. His behavior was highly undemocratic and unethical. Unfortunately, he was joined by others who, through falsehoods, also attacked the integrity of our elections. Today, many who voted to acquit the former president did so in order to acquit themselves. For many months and years they had aligned themselves with his anti-democratic behavior. In the end, they were no longer able to…
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Official Statement from Mormon Women for Ethical Government on Unity and the Second Impeachment of President Trump
Americans are not bound together by race, religion, culture, or even birthright citizenship. Instead, we are unified both under a representative government constrained by rule of law and around a dedication to the preservation of individual rights and freedoms. These principles find their fullest expression in communities of trust built by citizens who understand and observe the responsibilities that accompany those rights. Without this common cause and faith in one another, we descend into moral ambiguity, chaos, and uncertainty. We fear our neighbor and have no common bond. Maintaining the integrity of our unifying ideas should be the highest priority of any principled leader. Events in recent weeks demonstrate the…
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Message to MWEG Members on the December 14 Electoral College Vote
In this letter to our members, we sought to inform about the Electoral College and to express our concerns about the attacks on our democratic system that took place this election season. According to the processes outlined in the U.S. Constitution and by federal law, the Electoral College voted today, even as the president continued to attack the results of the election. It is undeniable that the actions of the president, his staff, and many members of Congress have constituted an unprecedented assault on the legitimacy of our elections. Despite the opposition, our democratic systems continue to prevail. The lower courts, Supreme Court, secretaries of state, Attorney General, and other…
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Call to Action: Request Members of Congress Publicly Acknowledge Biden as President-Elect and Accept the Results of the Election
Election Day 2020 is over. Investigations have found this to be the “most secure” election in American history. Joseph Biden is now the presumed president-elect, having won both the popular vote (by more than 7 million votes) and the electoral college (with 306 votes). However, the outgoing president refuses to concede. This action is unprecedented, particularly given the overwhelming nature of the defeat. In a speech from the White House on Wednesday, December 2, Trump yet again called the election “rigged” and argued that “the results of the individual swing states must be overturned and overturned immediately.” Yet Attorney General William Barr has stated that the Justice Department has uncovered…
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Call to Action: Speak Out Against Federal and Executive Overreach
Regularly and repeatedly, and especially in the last few weeks, President Trump has threatened or exercised executive overreach to the detriment of the American people’s national representation, Constitutional protections, and First Amendment freedoms. Conservative legislators, often critical of executive and federal overreach, have been largely silent. Yet as Tea Party conservative and Republican Senator Mike Lee has said, “Executive overreach — and abdication of Congress’s constitutional powers — is neither a Republican nor Democratic issue; neither a liberal nor a conservative one. It’s an American one.” We agree that overreach is an American issue, and we expect our members of Congress to understand this as well. To do: Contact your…
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Call to Action: Speak Up for Transparency in COVID-19 Data
The Trump administration has ordered hospitals to bypass the publicly funded Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), requiring that, effective immediately, all COVID-19 patient information be sent to a privately operated central database in Washington. Although advocates such as CDC Director Robert Redfield argue the new process will streamline data, this change does not conform to any standard patterns of data collection and puts this data in private hands. An unprecedented and poorly managed shift in critical data processing adds burdens to overstretched medical establishments, could compromise or lose essential data, and increases the level of chaos in our national response to a rising health crisis. To combat the…
