Been barely a week since Trump and his GOP worked the system to take over the White House and both houses of Congress. You'd think progressives would be taking stock of their defeat and coming up with a long term plan to retake rightful control of our government. but instead, my Facebook page is full of invites to the latest demonstration or at least mass meeting, and candidates announcing their candidacy for elections nearly two years hence. But facts are, we're stuck with Trump and his GOP for at least 2 years and probably 4 or more, given that in 2018 the democrats have way more senate seats to defend than win over, and the house is near hopelessly gerrymandered. So nothing in politics is going to change soon, and in the meantime we're got to survive a long political winter.
Our current political drought is sorta like an old time crop failure- We worked hard all year to plant and nurture a crop, and now we have little to harvest. Old school farmers prepared for such crop failures and pestilences, growing a broad array of crops and raising a variety of livestock as well to tide them over in lean years. Heck, there was always mature wood available to warm the house over the long cold winter, livestock to spare, canned vegies and fruits, and 'taters in the root cellar to make it 'til next harvest. With commodity prices low, best to leave the crops in the bins and forget about that new tractor we'd dreamed of, and spend the winter rebuilding the old one and maybe a few other things too...
They say here in Minnesota that everyone is at most only two generations removed from the farm, and I'm part of that second generation. My grandparents survived the depression remodeling an old house and worked the family connections to barter with relations still on the farm. Heck, in the 60s when grandpa took us hunting in western Hennepin County, you'd swear he had worked perpetual hunting rights into the deals to sell the family's last acreage and all the neighbors too. They passed this resilience onto my parents and me, to the point I have to force myself to spend money even though I'm financially secure.
So knowing that we're in for a long political winter, I'm shielding my savings from Trump and the GOP's upcoming disasters, financial and otherwise. Stocked up on food and other basics for when Trump chases off all the immigrant farm and packing plant workers, and tooled up to rebuild anything and everything in the house and garage. Made sure I maintained dual eligibility for health insurance in case Trump takes one provider down, and spread the investments around to where Trump can't reach them. My Farmer-Labor grandparents would have done the same... Other than the fact that their arsenal consisted of but a rifle and a shotgun, they were preppers before prepping was cool.
Meanwhile, seems like my urban progressive friends are marching in the streets instead putting away the overtime pay for an unemployed day. While they should be pouring over all their options this "health care hunting season" and picking the most survivable, they're sharing their righteous indignation over Trump on social media... Lotta good that'll do. Yup, here we have a president about to take office that has 'fessed up to wanting to register Moslems, deport immigrants, destroy jobs and american agriculture with a trade war, all while giving so many tax breaks to his big business buddies that he'll bankrupt America. And you think you're gonna stop that today with another march or Facebook thread?
It's time to dig in like our Farmer-Laborite forebears did and prepare to take back our government, and our next chance to do that is nearly two years away... 'Til then, let's make good use of this long political winter!
