Letters

I implore Congressman Nick LaLota to fulfill his own promise and stand up for Long Island by refusing to yield Congress’s power, and that of his constituents, to Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency.

In light of the recent actions taken by the executive branch via Elon Musk (though without oversight or transparency it’s unclear who is really in charge with these actions) to gut the federal government and usurp the power of the purse from Congress, conferred by Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution, I want to know what he intends to do to preserve our community’s voice in our country’s shared government.

Congressman LaLota has been silent throughout this apparent coup, Musk’s usurping of Congress’s vested power to legislate budgets conferred by Article 1 of the Constitution. He is allowing his constituents to be silenced as his own power in Congress is made redundant.

Perhaps he personally agrees with the actions he’s seen Elon Musk take thus far. But what happens when those actions, by one unelected billionaire, begin to diverge from his interests? When they actively hurt the health and safety of the people of Suffolk County? If no one takes a stand now, there will be no recourse then.

Right now, LaLota is sitting idly by and allowing his power as a member of Congress, and thus the power of the people, to be eliminated. From my eyes, it amounts to a nullification of the American experiment

The concept of America, of a country by the people for the people, is being wiped out before our very eyes. Currently, the one member of our community best placed to push back and save 300 years of history and identity is Congressman LaLota. Our community should be lobbying him to push back on behalf of his constituents.

This isn’t a partisan issue, this is a question of whether we as citizens will retain any say in the governance of our county and our community. Do we want to remain a constitutional republic, or yield our basic right to participatory government to instead live under the whims of a billionaire without transparency or oversight?

The checks and balances that the founders put in place to guard against this very situation are failing because those in power are choosing not to uphold their end of our constitutional bargain — but we need to be fighting back. This isn’t a fire drill, the house is on fire.

I implore everyone in our community to make themselves heard and protect their rights. Call on LaLota to push back against Musk’s usurpation of the Constitution.

Madeline Kiss

Sag Harbor