The current American president is demanding ignorant loyalty from anyone and everyone. Recently, this included telling Justice Department (DOJ) lawyers to drop a undeniable case against the former mayor of New York, Eric Adams, who has recently become a staunch supporter of the current administration.
Adams committed numerous criminal acts: bribery, accepting illegal foreign contributions, extortion, wire fraud, etc. The evidence is clear-cut. But the mob boss president appointed a loyalist to run DOJ, who in turn, told the prosecutors to drop the case against Adams because of his professed loyalty to the president.
The prosecutors chose a different tack: they resigned instead of throwing away all ethics. As the case is being given to other DOJ lawyers, they too are refusing to be unethical.
Sadly, the DOJ will eventually get to someone who cannot afford to lose their income, or for whom the trumpians will dug up or crafted degrading propaganda that could ruin their careers. It's part of what the presidential loyalists have done and will do; ruin the lives of anyone that doesn't obey.
Which brings me to the purpose of this post.
Basic personal financial planning includes having six months or more of liquidity that you can lean into in case you're sick or injured and cannot generate income. It can certainly take time to get there. For my partner and I, it took five years of conscientious saving. But the calm it added to our lives was well worth it.
A while back, a business ethics instructor brought up another reason for having this fund. We were talking about the Enron debacle of 2000, where numerous illegal business practices were being performed. As lawyers interviewed people that committed these acts, they came across primarily younger ones who acknowledged that they knew it was wrong. Their reason for still doing it was that they didn't have enough savings to lean on. Losing their paychecks would mean losing homes, and the means to provide for spouses and families. If they'd created that buffer money, they would have likely stuck to their ethics and left.
The current demolishment of democracy in America is putting many people at risk of termination, either because the administration wants to eliminate the agency you work for, wants to downsize it, or wants it to become a biased puppet for the president's wishes. There needs to be some downsizing, but it's Congress's duty to do so, not the Executive branch of federal government. The current Congress, from the same political party as the president, has cowardly rolled over and let him do whatever he wants, including violating the Constitution that was explicitly created to protect our country from dictators and oligarchs by establishing checks and balances. The courts, who's justices are mostly appointed by the Administration, have declared that he is virtually untouchable in committing these crimes against America.
I hope and pray that these people have such financial resources to lean into, without borrowing and creating unnecessary debt instead. The peace of mind is invaluable, and their commitment to democracy is critical.