An Open Letter to the Mayor and City Council of Wilmington, Ohio.
Consider exercising empathy and establishing a human rights commission.
Welcome back, subscribers to the Substack of Empathy Surplus Network USA. We are headquartered in Wilmington, Ohio, and the following is an open letter to our Mayor and City Council. We are grateful to our organizational members:
Antiracist Alliance, WESPAC Foundation, White Plains, New York
Books N More, Wilmington, Ohio
Circular Development, Sugarcreek Township, Ohio
Edward Jones Financial Advisor Jason Hillard, Wilmington, Ohio
Linndale Equipment, Wilmington, Ohio
Practice with Purpose LLC, Legal Counsel, Dayton, Ohio
An organizational membership provides four scholarships for their stakeholders or state legislators to attend our science-based communication educational Zoom Forums. Click here to apply for a scholarship. Click here for the 2025 Zoom Forum Schedule.
An open letter to:
Patrick Haley, Mayor
Matthew Purkey, President of the Council
Joshua Schlabach, Councilman
Michael Snarr, Councilman
Don Wells, Councilman
Bob Osborn, Councilman
Jamie Knowles, Councilman
David Nanstad, Councilman
Kelly Tolliver, Councilman
Greetings in service,
Happy, hopeful Wednesday. I am committed to protecting and empowering strong, diverse communities of nurturing families who care for one another’s human rights and freedoms. I know many of you are as well, or you would not be serving in city government. The cruel wing of US billionaires is running and ruining Clinton County, Ohio, lives through the corporate capture of our state and federal government for their unethical use. Their empathy is limited to their unethical businesses, and they exercise no social responsibility. Consequently, our republic and its democratic institutions that protect us from them, which make no sense to them, are anathema to them.
What’s at stake?
Cruel wing billionaires are the villains in the current episode of how to protect and empower Wilmington residents driven to crime or substance use disorder, and the neighbors who have to encounter them, or are victims of them, or are trying to assist them. Even now, the state and federal elected accomplices of this cruel wing are offering budgets that steal public revenue needed to provide the necessities of a caring society that enables prosperous and fulfilling lives for all. The cruel wing of Congress wants to eliminate Medicaid, Head Start, and Food Stamps. The cruel wing of the Ohio General Assembly wants to eliminate property taxes. Neither wants billionaires to invest in and maintain the federal, state, county, and city infrastructure that has made them wealthy.
Cruel wing billionaires don’t care if we get sick or die.
If they succeed, they will be responsible for impoverishing, sickening, and in many cases killing our neighbors, because you and your supportive infrastructure will not have the resources to prevent these human rights travesties. Our collective suffering will only increase if the care wing of Ohioans cannot effectively collaborate across party lines. The Center for American Progress estimates that ending Medicaid would endanger the health of 800 Clinton County, Ohio, residents and kill 3 of our neighbors every year.
When state and federal representatives betray us, caring citizens are the solution to preventing cruelty.
When state and federal governments fail to protect and empower their residents from billionaire cruelty, the people are the last line of defense against dismantling democratic institutions. Like you, I wish you were not distracted by your need to discover and implement a resolution process to rein in an enthusiastic, well-meaning, powerful, but misguided, lone ranger. However, to fix what’s been handed down by a state and federal government with an empathy deficit, please consider that a mayor and city council could and should be major advocates for residents’ human rights and freedoms to the state and federal government.
A human rights commission would include business, civil society, and city hall.
Establishing a human rights commission of local businesses and civil society organizations could help you liaise with them and state and federal officials to advocate for caring legislation that benefits everyone. It could also provide you with opportunities to educate the public about their civil and human rights and advocate to the state and federal governments to expand their empathy for and responsibility to humanity, especially in Ohio.
I know of two human rights commissions in operation: one in rural Kentucky and one in urban New York State. We don’t have to reinvent the wheel. My Empathy Surplus Network USA is a non-business member of the UN Global Compact.
Local business members of the UN Global Compact are possible allies.
Wilmington businesses also have affiliations with the UN Global Compact as business members: AT&T, CVS Health, Fifth Third Bank, Ford Motor Company, General Motors Company, and Verizon Communications; and, nearby, the University of Dayton. These businesses could be helpful to you because their membership includes supporting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which obliges individuals and organs of society to teach and educate publicly about human rights.
If not now, when?