Onward and Upward

I marched on Saturday.  Not to protest, so much, as to demonstrate my willingness to stand up and be counted along with thousands of others about what matters to me about this country.  It’s too easy to dismiss these events as merely angry Democrats who didn’t get their way and, to be fair, there was a large amount of anti-Trump/Pence team animosity.  The election wound is just a little too fresh for many, I guess.

The march in San Francisco was crowded, chaotic and rainy in the end.  The spirit among the participants was energetic and I was glad to have been there. But it wasn’t the most powerful or emotional political event I’ve attended.  I was more touched, truthfully, by thumbing through Facebook posts of women and men marching in solidarity in places like Nairobi, Kenya and Steward, Alaska and Berlin and London and Oslo and Asheville, NC and, yes, Jackson, MS.  Sometimes, a post showed a single women holding up a sign, others were of small groups of men, women and children in action, and others showed the huge gatherings in Chicago, D.C., New York and elsewhere.

So what were we all doing?  What was the point?  I think that’s what many of us are asking now.  For me, the march was about saying that I do not accept that we can’t have clean water and good jobs.  It’s about demanding that language that shames and demeans people based on race or sex be forced back deep into the closet.  My favorite signs at the march were those that state what we believe, the attributes of a world we will see come into being.  What are those attributes — things like clean air, human rights, national security secured while adhering to the constitution, reproductive rights, good jobs and equal treatment for all.

And finally to remind those in power, that we live under the rule of law.  This is not a banana dictatorship where the law does not apply to the powerful and where lies become fact just because the leader says it’s so.  That ain’t America. For all of its stumbling and failing to meet our highest aspirations, this is one hell of a great country.  It is a country where we operate under the Constitution and the law.  Period.  Everyone.  My bet is President Trump is about to learn that lesson over and over and over again.

I don’t want to spend the next four years filing lawsuits or screaming at misdirection from the podium.  So what am I supposed to do now?  And, more importantly, how can we galvanize these feeling of solidarity and hold our politicians to account.  I’ve heard of few things and I’m eager for other suggestions.  Lets figure out how to get into action, people.  Time’s a wasting.

Here are a few ideas for your consideration.  I haven’t vetted these, but they seem worth a look:

• http://www.brandnewcongress.org — These guys want to elect 400 new members of the House from a pool of local leaders who are actually working at the business of running America (teachers, insurance salespeople, health care workers, office workers,  rather than lawyers who haven’t practiced law in years because they’ve been in the state house, etc.).  It’s a fascinating approach and it could tap into the fact that every poll says 80% of folks despise Congress.  Check it out.
• I personally love the efforts to get thousands of people to contribute money to Planned Parenthood in Mike Pence’s name.
• Swing Left — its an organization that will help you get involved in a swing district race in 2018 near you.

I’m sure there are others.  It definitely feels like time to start picking up a shovel and digging ourselves out of this rut.  Let me know how you are inspired to get into action today!!

Onward and upward.