BRIEFING ROOM

A column by new member Ellen Berlin (ME)

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I joined JACPAC for the first time this week. It was long overdue, but it is never too late. ​

For many years, my longtime friend Hollis Wein told me about the important work JAC was doing, so I knew it was meaningful and impactful. Like so many of us, she and I would lament the state of our country in conversation over coffee, on the phone, in those moments when the headlines felt too heavy to ignore. But I was busy with my own life, focused on my work at a Boston cancer hospital. Civic engagement, while important to me, lived more in the background.

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That has changed.

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What is happening now in Washington and across the country has stopped me in my tracks. Rights are being eroded. Laws are being challenged and, at times, disregarded. Our national discourse is coarser and more divisive, fueled by chaotic leadership and rhetoric that seek to fracture rather than unite. Each time I think we’ve reached a new low, the bar somehow drops further.

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Democracy just doesn't feel under attack— it is.

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Immigration crackdowns have instilled deep fear in our neighbors, destabilizing communities that were once defined by safety and belonging. Women’s rights, the rights that were fought for over generations, are steadily being rolled back. Environmental deregulation threatens to increase air and water pollution, accelerate climate change, and trigger significant public health crises that will disproportionately impact the most vulnerable.

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Working in healthcare, I know how policy becomes personal. Decisions made in Washington do not stay in Washington. They land in hospital rooms, in family homes, in the most intimate corners of people’s lives.

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I have long believed that silence equals complicity, and I cannot be silent any longer.

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So, I joined JACPAC because it’s time for focus and action. It is time to channel outrage into strategy, and concern into measurable impact. If we want better leadership, we have to help elect better leaders — people who will safeguard democratic institutions, defend civil liberties, and fight for policies grounded in justice, equity, and reality.

For me, joining was not just a decision. It was a line in the sand. Don't wait, like I did, to join JAC. Click here.​

Because the future we inherit will be shaped by what we tolerate today.​

(We'd love to hear from other members. If you'd like to be a guest columnist, please reach out at info@jacpac.org. (YOUR WORDS MATTER!)