We got the good news this week that, despite the vulnerability of Maryland businesses, residents, and public institutions to attacks from the federal government, all three of our bond rating agencies awarded us triple A ratings for the third year in a row. Good governance, a relatively stable political environment, and strong economic growth were our response when analysts questioned our ability to withstand the federal assault.
But to be honest, we don’t know how we’ll emerge from this. Our work in local government today is very much like it was exactly five years ago, when we began our defense against a deadly virus.
But here are some things that we do know.
- Trump’s tariffs are a tax on consumers, and they will accelerate inflation. Our businesses and our residents will suffer.
- The greatest challenge for US businesses is our workforce shortage. We can only shift from imports to domestic products if we expand our workforce, especially in agriculture and manufacturing. This administration refuses to create the orderly immigration process needed to grow these sectors, but is gleefully deporting the workforce we have.
- Hate crimes will increase. The dehumanization of our neighbors based on their race, national origin, gender, and sexual orientation is a badge of honor in the MAGA movement. We can now add to that list the dehumanization of federal workers and people of differing political views.
- Federal investment in the social safety net will decline. Poverty will increase.
- Federal investment in clean air, clean water, and carbon reduction will decline. Pollution and climate change will accelerate.
- Cooperation with other nations will decline. War will be more likely.
- A blend of threats and incentives from the administration in Washington is encouraging both mainstream and social media companies to turn Americans against one another and against their local, state, and federal government institutions, including the judiciary. It’s working.
It’s almost as if we are a company that’s been acquired by a competitor, and they are dismantling us deliberately. They break us apart and then profit off the sale of our parts. That’s what random privatization of government functions does for the corporations that win the contracts.
Everywhere I go, people who follow the actual news ask me what they can do and what county government can do. They note that during COVID, at least we could slow the spread of the virus with social distancing, testing, and eventually vaccination. In this crisis, people feel powerless. But they’re not.
The good news is that so many people want to engage right now. They are flooding town halls when members of Congress are willing to host them, and the Congressional switchboards are still flooded with calls.
When people are under attack, they come together. They cooperate, and they resist. Here are some things happening in response to the seven items above, and things that you can do.
- Yes, businesses and consumers will be hurt by the tariffs, but they will act according to their economic interests and send a loud signal back to the administration that it made a huge mistake. The message will get to the President in the form of declining stock values and less consumer spending. His corporate donors will grumble. That’s a form of resistance.
- Prices only drop if supply rises, but that will only happen if US businesses start producing more, and that will only happen if there is a workforce available, and there is not. Without the increased supply, inflation won’t just be on imported products subject to tariffs, it will be on all products. Trump ran against inflation. Its return is a form of resistance.
- Anne Arundel County is a leader in combating hate crimes, and we will continue to show the way. I spoke Saturday at a day-long forum at Anne Arundel Community College hosted by our Office of Equity and Human Rights, Maryland Attorney General’s Office, and Maryland Commission on Civil Rights. In 2020, we added the words “For All” to our “The Best Place” signs at every county entrance after leading the state in reported hate bias incidents. You can join that work through this website, and attend these upcoming events.
- When government fails to protect its residents from poverty, hunger, and homelessness, neighbors step up to help one another. Start by reading the last edition of our county’s Poverty Amidst Plenty, and then join us this summer for the in-person presentations of the latest findings. To contribute to local nonprofits, go to Community Foundation of Anne Arundel County. If you want to grow a nonprofit to deliver services, go to our county Nonprofit Center.
- Anne Arundel County is a national leader in environmental protection, and we will continue to be. This site has links to organizations that need your help.
- Even when governments fail to communicate effectively with one another, the people across the globe can strengthen their ties and become the foundation for peace. This site has links to dozens of Maryland organizations that you can join.
- Support independent and nonprofit journalism. Locally we have the Baltimore Banner and Maryland Matters. Neither is beholden to anybody’s political agenda or profit motive.
We in county government have more opportunities in the works for you to defend what you value. Think Defend Anne Arundel. Defend our workers, defend our businesses, defend our rights, defend diversity, defend education, defend our environment, defend law enforcement, and defend immigrants.
When I was elected to this office in November of 2018, I convened transition committees of committed residents and experts to think creatively about how we should govern. It’s that kind of engagement that we need today. All of us are discovering that we need to act - to protect, to defend, and to resist - and that’s what our communities need from us.
We must chronicle the impacts of what is coming our way, protect what we value, and be heard. Future generations will ask what we did, individually and collectively.
Let me know if you think that county government should engage its residents in this collective work, what you’d like to defend, and how you think we should proceed. Email your ideas to DefendAnneArundel@aacounty.org.
Until next week…