Writing Prompt × Civicus × Reverb

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Welcome, Friends

Well, hello CherryCoBiz community — and to those visiting for the first time, welcome.

Every so often, a writing prompt lands like a quiet nudge from the universe. Today’s asked: “What have you been putting off doing, and why?”

My answer came fast — I’ve been putting off writing this letter. Not because I didn’t know what to say, but because I knew that once I said it, I couldn’t un-say it. Some truths, once spoken, change the air around them. They demand accountability. And they remind us that silence, too, is a choice.

I could have written a column. I could have written a rant. But the words wanted to come as a letter — direct, unvarnished, and human. Because when leaders lose their moral compass, the people they serve must speak up — not as partisans, but as witnesses.

So here it is — the thing I’ve been putting off.

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Dear Speaker Johnson,

Character in Question: The Mask

When you first ascended to the Speaker’s gavel, the story America was told was one of reluctant modesty — a man of faith, a quiet academic, a servant of conscience suddenly thrust into leadership. But what the country has witnessed since is not modesty; it’s method. It’s the careful construction of a public saint who hides a private opportunist.

You’ve donned a mask of piety and principle to justify a relentless pattern of self-dealing and ethical evasion. Behind the polished cadence and rehearsed humility stands a man who has turned virtue into camouflage — using scripture as sound bite, power as performance, and public trust as currency.

The quiet man from Louisiana has become the chief architect of a profound hypocrisy — protecting the corrupt while preaching purity, invoking God while advancing cruelty, and defending the powerful while the people struggle beneath the weight of policies you call righteous. This is not leadership; it’s a failure of character laid bare beneath the spotlight of power.

And the more you speak, the clearer it becomes that your calm isn’t conviction — it’s calculation.

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The People’s Seat

And while we’re here, let’s talk about Representative-elect Adelita Grijalva.

You’ve refused to bring the House back into session — and everyone can see why. Because swearing her in would restore a seat that belongs to the people. It would bring one more vote for transparency, one more challenge to your control. Instead, you’ve kept the chamber closed under the cover of a shutdown, using chaos as a curtain.

Every day you delay, one more voice for accountability is silenced. One more elected representative stands waiting outside the doors of democracy while you perform piety behind them.

This isn’t procedure; it’s prevention. You are denying a duly elected representative the right to serve, and by doing so, denying millions of Americans their constitutional representation.

Swear her in, Speaker Johnson.

Because this isn’t about party — it’s about process. It’s about the oath you took: to uphold democracy, not manipulate it for convenience. The American people are watching, and we deserve a full, functioning House that serves all of us, not just the ones who fit your script.

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A Pattern of Concern

Let’s now move from character to conduct. Before anyone attempts to dismiss this as partisan hyperbole, let’s look at the record. The questions surrounding your ethics and actions are not rumor — they have been formally reported, filed, and documented by independent bodies and watchdog groups.

Use of Campaign Funds for Rent/Housing
Complaints filed with the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) and the Federal Election Commission (FEC) allege that you used campaign funds to pay rent for your personal residence in Washington, D.C. Critics argue this violates federal law prohibiting personal use of campaign funds.

Financial Disclosure Issues
The watchdog group End Citizens United requested an investigation into repeated failures to fully disclose required financial information since 2016 — including your wife’s income sources, her ownership interests, and missing accounts from several filings. You describe yourself as “a man of modest means,” yet reports show multiple privately funded trips, including one to Israel and another funded by a Christian fundamentalist organization.

Ties to Major Donors and Evangelical Leaders
Questions have been raised about your residency in a Capitol Hill townhouse owned by a major Republican donor and linked to an influential evangelical pastor — raising concerns about undue influence, even as your spokesperson insists you paid “fair market value.”

Handling of the Matt Gaetz Ethics Report
Following former Representative Matt Gaetz’s nomination for Attorney General, you publicly urged the House Ethics Committee not to release its investigative report, calling it a “terrible precedent.” Critics called it what it appeared to be — an effort to shield a political ally from accountability.

Delay in Appointing Ethics Board Members
Reports indicate that the House Ethics Board was unable to open new investigations because you delayed appointing Republican members, despite Democrats having named theirs.

Collectively, this body of evidence suggests a fundamental prioritization of political convenience over the public’s trust and the rule of law.

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Enough Is Enough

You are helping bring this country to its knees, and that truth weighs heavy on millions of us who still believe in democracy, decency, and compassion. The performance is over. I can’t stay silent anymore.

I do not support your agenda. I do not support Donald Trump’s agenda. What you both call leadership looks, to the rest of us, like sabotage — twisting language, distorting facts, and turning faith into a tool for control.

You call yourself a man of God, yet your words divide, your policies harm, and your actions betray the very values you claim to defend.

The public deserves honesty, not manipulation. We deserve leaders who protect the vulnerable, not those who exploit belief for power.

You are the warning we were told to heed — the danger that comes wrapped in the language of righteousness. And I, for one, refuse to look away.

But my final indictment is not political; it is moral.

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Faith and the False Flag of Christian Nationalism

There’s something else I need to say, because you keep speaking in the language of faith.

Christian nationalism is not Christianity.

Christianity calls us to mercy, humility, and justice for the least among us. Christian nationalism calls us to power, pride, and punishment for those who don’t conform. One is a faith that heals; the other is a movement that harms.

When you weaponize scripture to divide, you don’t defend Christianity — you counterfeit it. The Jesus you claim to follow overturned tables, not elections; He washed feet, not reputations.

True faith doesn’t need government permission to be powerful. It needs only honesty, empathy, and courage — the very things your brand of politics keeps trying to silence.

I’ve warned about this before in Shattering Illusions: Exposing the Myths of Christian Nationalism and Political Extremism, where I wrote that genuine spirituality never demands obedience to a party — it invites awareness of our shared humanity. That warning stands. The line between belief and control is where freedom lives, and it’s a line we must protect.

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P.S. — The Spark That Lit This Letter
Sometimes, one moment crystallizes everything.
This was mine.

From Outrage to Witness

Writing this wasn’t easy. But truth never is.

I built CherryCoBiz as a place where truth can breathe — where politics meets humanity, and words can heal what power divides.

If this letter moved you, I invite you to explore Midnight in the Garden of Bad Policy — a deeper look into the performance behind politics. And if you’d like to understand the larger pattern of hypocrisy that continues to threaten America’s most vulnerable, read Republicans, Medicaid, and the Myth of “Family Values” — my earlier reflection inspired by Brian Tyler Cohen’s reporting.

The threads are all connected — power, money, control, and the myth of morality that binds them.

The Writing Prompt Comes Full Circle

The prompt asked what I’ve been putting off doing.
The answer? Nothing.
I’ve been telling the truth.
Now it’s your turn.

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Truth is not rebellion; it’s repair.