A More Perfect Union

Christopher A. Etienne’s public service ethos is inspired and instructed by his parents and community in New Orleans. His upbringing, formal education, and professional experiences provided him with a worldview that ordinary people can do extraordinary things when they’re given an equal and equitable opportunity. Previously, he served as a Legislative Aide to U.S. Representative Cedric L. Richmond and U.S. Senator Mary L. Landrieu, both of Louisiana, and U.S. Representative Jahana Hayes of Connecticut. He earned his master's degree in political science from Howard University in Washington, D.C. and earned his bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB), two prestigious historically Black universities (HBCUs). For his leadership in public service, he was named a Fellow at the Institute of Politics at Loyola University New Orleans (IOP) and named to the New Orleans Regional Leadership Institute (NORLI).

Christopher A. Etienne

If the rules of the jungle are survival of the fittest, then the rules of humanity are the preservation of the weak. For true power is made perfect in weakness. I suffer no illusion about most members of the Republican Party. Their policies are brutal. Their language is ruthless. Their current apathy approaches do not meet the needs of a 21st century economy. There is more focus on a budget deficit than an empathy deficit. But I am keenly aware of the trauma, oppression, poverty, and fiscal affairs of Louisiana residents and others nationwide. I understand that with an estimated state population of 4.5 million, the majority of our residents are one miss paycheck away from being below the poverty line, if they’re not so already, and cannot afford to have elected officials who are a nickel above bus fare, create legislation that takes necessities from the commonwealth to give luxuries to the wealthy. U.S. President John F. Kennedy argued, “For our privileges can be no greater than our obligations. The protection of our rights can endure no longer than the performance of our responsibilities.” Shun not the struggle.

In the language of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln’s speech at New York’s Cooper Union in 1860, arguing about the immoral and reckless behavior of the Southern states, “But you will break up the Union rather than submit to a denial of your Constitutional rights. Your purpose, then, plainly stated, is that you will destroy the Government, unless you be allowed to construe and enforce the Constitution as you please, on all points in dispute between you and us. You will rule or ruin in all events.” How true that is. Shun not the struggle.

The 118th Congress convened on January 3, 2023, and will conclude on January 3, 2025. According to congressional records in January 2024, the 118th Congress is on track to being one of the least productive sessions in our lifetime, with only 34 bills passed since January of last year, the lowest number of bills passed in the first year of a congressional session since the Great Depression. However, during U.S. President Joe Biden’s first term, the 117th Congress passed 362 bills. Shun not the struggle.

Now, I understand most of the cynics, critics, and capitulators will argue that they have, will, and are working on passing meaningful policies at all levels of government for the people. However, it is important to be consistent, not breaking stride, and not breaking character. It is also important to exercise courage and creative integrity. The importance of inclusive politics cannot be overstated. The need for empathic policies, such as paid family and medical leave, affordable child care, enhanced Child Tax Credit (CTC) and Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), and protecting and strengthening Social Security and Medicare, to name a few, will empower working families nationwide. Despite parents’ shifting responsibilities, we remain one of the only advanced and developed countries in the world with no form of federal paid leave. U.S. Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi argued, you must be able to “breathe the air at the highest altitudes.” As a result, it’s not about an individual’s aptitude, but their attitude, that will determine their altitude. Shun not the struggle.

To be clear. Our elected officials and others of this kind need to know that “the love of God and the love of man is one love. The two loves are interlaced, intertwined, and interwoven so delicately that when you hurt man you hurt God. When you make it hard for man to live, you make it hard for God to live,” said the late Dr. Benjamin Elijah Mays. For that reason, “I declare it does appear to me as though some nations think God is asleep… I ask every man who has a heart, and is blessed with the privilege of believing – is not God a God of justice to all his creatures,” said David Walker, American abolitionist and writer, in 1829. As a result, I believe Thomas Jefferson put it best when he argued about God and Justice, “so I say, because God sit’s high, but looks low and Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep forever.” How true that is. Shun not the struggle.

The point is we need to move forward, not move backward. To highlight U.S. President John F. Kennedy's remarks at the Air Terminal in Fresno, California, in 1962 to present times, "The great strength of this country is unlimited if this country makes up its mind that as a country it's going to move forward. Not the President, not the Senators, not the Congressman, not the governors, not the commissioner, not the mayor, but [337 million in 2024] Americans can advance this country into a bright future." Therefore, it is the respect for the dignity of all people, including the most vulnerable among us, the mentality that all people are endowed by our Creator with certain rights that cannot be denied, that will define us in the historical pages of history. Shun not the struggle.