Do Our Opinions Matter?

And What You Or I Can Do About Them

It was in July 2015, when Donald Trump called John McCain a “loser” because of the years he spent as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, that I first thought, “Well, that’s it” — he can’t possibly be a candidate for president, let alone win the election.

So here we are in July 2025…

I’ve long since lost count of the times I’ve had disapproving to enraged thoughts about Trump — the person, the policies, the language, the cynicism, the narcissism — and concluded, “That just cannot be…he’s gone too far.” Not yet.

The scale of what Trump has wrought and is determined to do, and the amount of power he has amassed, will doubtless rank as one of the most significant periods in American history — although what will come after it ends (and it will end) is hard to imagine in any meaningful way.

My generation — essentially those by age considered old — grew up believing that people can make a profound difference. We took seriously President John F. Kennedy’s call to “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”The Peace Corps was an early symbolic model of 1960s government service.

In the same era, the civil rights movement, protesting the war, enhancing the role and influence of minorities (starting with the majority that were women), and the environment were shaping the national identity. Somehow, challenges and dangers, as great as they were, seemed surmountable.

It was probably with 9/11 and the methods and terminology of the “war on terror,” an awe-inspiring notion when considered literally (especially after communism could no longer suffice as a dominant threat), that our perception of who we considered enemies began to change.

Even as recently as the Obama presidency, I felt that our blend of social and civic responsibility still made it possible for civilization to measure progress. Health care and technology, in particular, were raising living standards in much of the world. Armed conflict and repression, although incessant, were more localized than global.

But for the past decade, the rhetoric, the imagery, and the reality of what has been happening — especially to values that could be considered honorable — has produced an overwhelming sense that the grievances and bigotry epitomized by Trump and his MAGA policies are prevailing.

This screed is not going to make anyone feel better, because the positive things that have motivated progress in the past, even attempts at eloquence and commitment, no longer seem to be working.

The tendency to blame our situation on high-living elites (even by the elites themselves) entangling the masses with regulations meant to encourage equity — or the attitude symbolized by Hillary Clinton’s devastating description of Trump’s supporters as “deplorables” — has sharpened edges to an excruciating degree.

That’s my opinion.

But my opinion doesn’t seem to matter because it and other comparable opinions have been expressed, defended, justified, and may even be irrefutable, yet we know where as a country we are now.

This may be the most disheartening fact, the assumption that we don’t matter. Donald Trump and the power he has assembled has rolled Congress, the Supreme Court, the universities, the media, the Democrats. (Kamala Harris for president. What were we/they thinking?)

The tens of millions of Americans who need Medicaid and SNAP saw on this July 4 a White House celebration of victory over what I prefer to think more than half of the country wants these United States to be.

What, then, can we do to make our opinions count?

Unless you are willing to risk life and limb in the personal or economic sense with some drastic measure, the option is to participate: voting above all, supporting causes, volunteering with time and money if you have them to spare. Join marches and protests, or if you are someone who writes, then write.

Wallowing in the news — making MSNBC the soundtrack of your day, for instance — or avoiding news, saying, “I need a break,” is a useless tactic when it means inaction. History shows that the public’s will, when fully engaged, can have influence, usually for the better.

As is so often said, the rhetorical aspirations in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were right even if those goals remain unfulfilled after 250 years, and now seem especially endangered.

What social and political ills there undoubtably are in the United States, the instinct to manage them through democracy, activism, and common sense should remain powerful , even when the trends are moving in the wrong direction.

That is a macro-opinion.

Looking back over many years about what I admire, I keep returning to the principles of Getting Things Done, people and institutions who with ingenuity, energy, and persistence impact their corner of the world to make it better than it was.

My friend Phyllis Segal, whose late husband, Eli, was the founder in the Clinton administration of AmeriCorps, the national service program, is joining a determined effort — joining among many others, the corps’ 1.3 million alumni — to stop the Trump administration from demolishing it.

And on another level, the Eli J. & Phyllis N. Segal Citizen Leadership Program at Brandeis University, founded in 2007 from funding raised the old-fashioned way (without megamillionaire donors), has produced so far 175 Segal fellows, students, and graduates committed to a life of leadership in citizen service.

There are thousands of these initiatives across the country, in which individuals or small groups are doing things about matters at hand that need help and transcend ideologies that can overwhelm causes.

Opinions, and we all have them, are never themselves going to bring about change. Each of us can choose what else to do, but the message has to be in this perilous time: definitely do something.