Can You Hear Me Now

Get up, stand up, Stand up for your rights. Get up, stand up, Don’t give up the fight.

Bob Marley

In Big Yellow Taxi, Joni Mitchell sang, “You don’t know what you’ve got ’till it’s gone.” Although she was singing about the environment, she could have just as easily written the song about our American Democracy.

Faster than Joni’s speeding taxi, the Republicans are tearing down institutions and safeguards that took generations to build. They are attacking public health, libraries, theaters, freedom of speech, Social Security, immigration, museums, election integrity, DEI measures, Head Start and other poverty programs, the free press, environmental protection agencies, consumer protection, Medicare, Medicaid, the military, courts and the legal system, education, disaster preparedness, the Federal Reserve, wilderness areas, women’s health services, the sovereignty of other nations, veterans’ services, zoos, foreign and domestic aid, food stamps, the National Parks Service, endangered species protections, our intelligence agencies, the National Weather Service, and Meals on Wheels. They’ve even canceled federal funding of bike lanes.

Their goal is to dismantle the American Republic and turn it into an oligarchy ruled by a dictator. They attack our allies and fawn over our enemies. They are pardoning domestic terrorists and jailing hard-working immigrants and refugees. They are removing public safety nets and giving the wealthiest Americans huge tax cuts. Eisenhower Republicans must be rolling over in their graves.

Sinclair Lewis’ 1935 novel, It Can’t Happen Here, is the story of Berzelius Windrip’s rise to power and drive to turn the United States into a fascist dictatorship. Like the current president, he ran on a populist platform that promised to champion the forgotten man and “traditional” American values. Once in power, Windrip used the government to attack his political enemies, jailed demonstrators, curtailed women’s and minority rights, and turned speaking out against his administration into a crime.

Sound familiar?

Mr. Lewis used Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany as his inspirations, but if he were alive today, he would have found much closer sources. We are witnessing first-hand the Republican authoritarian measures to reorganize government at a blitzkrieg pace. They are throwing so much garbage at the American public that it’s nearly impossible to keep up with each new attack. Their tactic is to confuse us until we accept this as normal.

Some dust does not readily settle
it blocks the sun and clouds the sky
it hangs in the air like a soiled veil
or a tarnished, disturbing dream

This Revolution Will Be Televised

Thankfully, there are people who are not so easily confused and are willing to speak out against this madness. This past Saturday, I joined with millions of patriotic Americans across all fifty states to let our voices of dissent be heard. We are putting the Republican Party on notice that we will not stand for their dismantling of our democracy.

We are a significant and growing part of the American populace. The margin of victory in the last presidential election was slim and the administration’s policies are proving to be very unpopular with all but the most extreme MAGA voters. We are black, white, Asian, brown, indigenous, men, women, non-binary, gender fluid, transgender, old, young, liberal, conservative, religious, spiritual, atheist, straight, gay, introverted, extroverted, rich, poor, and middle class. We have the numbers and we will take back the power.

I am no fool and I know that this is going to take a significant amount of time, effort, resources, and money. Peoples’ lives will be uprooted and some will see them destroyed. The Republicans will not give up power easily. They can’t even admit that their disastrous tariffs are destroying America’s once unstoppable economy.

As for me, I am boosting my contributions to organizations on the front line of resistance. I am writing articles like this one and sharing my concerns with anyone who will listen. I am contacting my elected officials and begging them to fight harder. I am working with groups such as Indivisible on ways to band folks together and make a difference. I am supporting the people who are most vulnerable to the Republican attacks. I am showing up and I am marching.

I am frightened and I won’t back down. I am tired and I won’t back down. I am angry and I won’t back down. I have the audacity to be hopeful and I won’t back down.

If you’re not hopeful and optimistic, then you just give up. You have to take the long hard look and just believe that if you’re consistent, you will succeed.

John Lewis

Scenes From the Resistance

Here in the beautiful city of Saint Paul, 25,000 patriots marched to the Minnesota State Capit0l to let the world know that we are not going to sit on our hands as the country burns. There was singing, chanting, and the waving of signs. Most of all, there was hope and hope is where lasting change begins.

We together marching, chanting, arms linked with arms
we of many colors, many cultures
we of all stripes and inclinations

First one
then twenty
five hundred
one thousand
one hundred million strong from sea to sea
rising together in this movement of we

Hands Off

A rally is not an end. Neither is it a beginning. It is the beginning of the end of tyranny and the race towards authoritarianism. Please join me and together we can stop this madness before it’s too late. Time is off the essence.

Thank you for reading.

The culmination of every hope one could dare to imagine
of every dream no matter how foolish
no matter how hard to achieve
the dream to be bold
to stand naked in the mirror of life
unashamed and real
the dream to be fearless and brave
to be a survivor against all odds and all expectations
to stare into the eyes of disapproval daring them to blink

For each day I rise proudly
stand tall and shout
I am beautiful
bringing beauty to the world
I am movement
and do not sit idle when there is work to be done
I am strong
with a back that bends but does not break
I am worthy
of love and respect
I am human
and though I suffer and bleed
grow weary and tired
I do not surrender
I do not retreat

And this I shout loudest