OK, it’s been almost two months since I was willing to watch any news, to tolerate any real political discussion. It just raised my blood pressure and kept me from sleeping. But there are stages to grief. And it is time to roar. I need a million others to roar as well.
First, please take the time to watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwZZpbir35Q
There’s a reason to watch. The guy who went to jail and got blackballed from the industry for what he believed ended up winning his last Grammy with a song written by a bunch of Fourth Graders. He lived through times like ours, stared McCarthy down (well, sang him into the dust) and saved a river ecosystem along the way. He spent his last year teaching them that they were powerful, despite their age. He told them about Rosa Parks and Cesar Chavez, about going to jail and about winning in the end.
Over the past two months I’ve even avoided this site most of the time. I wanted action, and just found people in the same funk I was in. I’m old enough to have cried over Viet Nam. I cried again in November, over and over.
But that cannot last. The oligarchs have their stooges ready to change the country forever. But we KNOW they do not have the majority. The election was lost due to misinformation, massive voter suppression, a little complacency (probably financed by fake polls), and a lot of oil shenanigans led by Putin and the Kochs.
Ryan wants to destroy health care quietly. WE MUST SING OUT.
Pence wants to control women’s bodies. WE MUST SING OUT.
The Kochs want to seal the deal on global warming. WE MUST SING OUT.
The Alt-Right wants to make America “white again.” How stupid. WE MUST SING OUT as we stand hand in hand, Stronger Together.
The funny part (well, black humor) is that most Trump voters think they voted for something totally different than what they will get. They didn’t vote for a government of billionaires. They didn't vote to privatize Medicare. They didn't vote for fires, floods, and COPD. They will not see it coming until it is too late, unless we get off our high horses and explain it in terms they can understand--patiently and lovingly.
We have social media and numbers. We know what we believe. So where’s the action? We don’t have time to screw around, only time to sing.