Four months after.
Originally posted on Medium, 3/17/2017.
11/9 began a reality that barely seems possible — and leaves us with a future whose potential shape imposes dread and rage upon us.
How many of us stared at TV screens in disbelief on Election Day this past year? Millions of people were left terrified, adrift, feeling as if everything we believed and knew was somehow rendered invalid by the nation around us. Many of us felt betrayed. All of us got angry.
The anger was clear from the outset. We came out loud and strong. The second day of the new regime, over 4 million came together in protest on seven continents. Think about that for a moment — seven continents. Everywhere in this world, people stood with America on 1/21/17.
I wonder how many of them would do so today, 3/17/17, just shy of two months past inauguration. I have to wonder how many nations are still hanging onto hope, and how many have begun to write us off.
The state of our nation isn’t just about what lies within our borders. America does not have the luxury of being insular, no matter what insanity denies that fact. We’re been a world power for too long to draw back into our red-white-and-blue bunker and deny our connections to allies and the rest of the world. We are embroiled in warfare, alliances, treaties, detente, and just about every other possible level and method of relationships between nations. It is impossible to simply shove that genie back into the bottle. We are as we are. We can only build from where we are.
For decades, we were the example of what could be done with power in the hands of the people. Our nation has never been perfect, but it has, with the hard work of those determined to bring progress, moved forward and grown. I’d be the last person to claim we have no problems, or that life in America was idyllic before this regime — but we had the room to begin to push forward, press back the wave of denial, cultivate our country’s best traits and weed out its worst.
That was then.
At this point, here and now, we’re going to need years just to get to where we were on 11/8/16, let alone move forward from there. Realistically, this is an enormous regression in our collective principles, and we’re going to have to root out all the causes that led us to today before we can begin to grow again. For one example, right now, our K-12 school systems are in jeopardy, and thus, the issue of college education has to take a back seat to that. We can’t allow our desire for progress to overwhelm what is possible and what must be done to build the foundation for the future.
I have to believe that we have a future as a democracy. I cannot allow myself to believe that we won’t reclaim America.
That reclamation is going to be expensive in all senses of the word. It’s going to hurt. It’s going to draw a lot of rage and fear, pain and estrangement, into its wake. It isn’t going to be pretty, and it won’t be safe. I could lie, perhaps, and say it’ll be simple… but we all know that isn’t true. Every one of us is going to have to commit to not weeks, not months, but years — possibly even decades — of remolding the clay of our nation.
That’s the bad news.
The good news is this: If we get ourselves to the point where rebuilding begins, our unity and newfound commitment will keep us strong. We need to tend our local gardens as well as the ones of state and nation. Reform of laws, of government, of policy are all needed. New faces and voices are needed to carry us into the future. I would say the majority of politicians need to be primaried and replaced with actual public servants who understand that they work for us, for the People. The representatives who do their jobs, who work with us, will find we’re damned supportive. We owe them that, just as they owe us for their paycheck.
We need to make our demands for what must be, lay down that line in the sand, and refuse to move back from it. We cannot compromise our values. We cannot accept half-measures. We most definitely cannot allow erosions of our rights and liberties, as has happened in the past. Rights are rights and shall not be abridged — must not be abridged, or else, they are not rights at all.
We’ll face opposition. How much, I don’t know — after the inevitable debacle in Washington when this administration self-immolates, it’s anyone’s guess how many people will rethink things, or at the very least, hang on for dear life to what‘s left. I have a strong streak of idealism, but at the core I’m a pragmatist about people: they will do whatever they feel they have to do. People don’t change unless they choose to do so. I can’t alter that fact. As far as I’m concerned, they can either follow or get the hell out of the way while we fix things.
The commitments we have to make to ourselves will be varied, but in every case, those vows need to include staying awakened to the sociopolitical and economic issues of the time, remaining determined to vote and voice our opinions, and educating ourselves and others to make us all better-informed citizens.
Looking forward is important. We have to keep reminding ourselves not just what we have lost, but what we can be once this crisis is past. We may be in the gutter, but we must keep looking to the stars for inspiration on how best to build a more perfect union.
📡 APH
11/9 began a reality that barely seems possible — and leaves us with a future whose potential shape imposes dread and rage upon us.
How many of us stared at TV screens in disbelief on Election Day this past year? Millions of people were left terrified, adrift, feeling as if everything we believed and knew was somehow rendered invalid by the nation around us. Many of us felt betrayed. All of us got angry.
The anger was clear from the outset. We came out loud and strong. The second day of the new regime, over 4 million came together in protest on seven continents. Think about that for a moment — seven continents. Everywhere in this world, people stood with America on 1/21/17.
I wonder how many of them would do so today, 3/17/17, just shy of two months past inauguration. I have to wonder how many nations are still hanging onto hope, and how many have begun to write us off.
The state of our nation isn’t just about what lies within our borders. America does not have the luxury of being insular, no matter what insanity denies that fact. We’re been a world power for too long to draw back into our red-white-and-blue bunker and deny our connections to allies and the rest of the world. We are embroiled in warfare, alliances, treaties, detente, and just about every other possible level and method of relationships between nations. It is impossible to simply shove that genie back into the bottle. We are as we are. We can only build from where we are.
For decades, we were the example of what could be done with power in the hands of the people. Our nation has never been perfect, but it has, with the hard work of those determined to bring progress, moved forward and grown. I’d be the last person to claim we have no problems, or that life in America was idyllic before this regime — but we had the room to begin to push forward, press back the wave of denial, cultivate our country’s best traits and weed out its worst.
That was then.
At this point, here and now, we’re going to need years just to get to where we were on 11/8/16, let alone move forward from there. Realistically, this is an enormous regression in our collective principles, and we’re going to have to root out all the causes that led us to today before we can begin to grow again. For one example, right now, our K-12 school systems are in jeopardy, and thus, the issue of college education has to take a back seat to that. We can’t allow our desire for progress to overwhelm what is possible and what must be done to build the foundation for the future.
I have to believe that we have a future as a democracy. I cannot allow myself to believe that we won’t reclaim America.
That reclamation is going to be expensive in all senses of the word. It’s going to hurt. It’s going to draw a lot of rage and fear, pain and estrangement, into its wake. It isn’t going to be pretty, and it won’t be safe. I could lie, perhaps, and say it’ll be simple… but we all know that isn’t true. Every one of us is going to have to commit to not weeks, not months, but years — possibly even decades — of remolding the clay of our nation.
That’s the bad news.
The good news is this: If we get ourselves to the point where rebuilding begins, our unity and newfound commitment will keep us strong. We need to tend our local gardens as well as the ones of state and nation. Reform of laws, of government, of policy are all needed. New faces and voices are needed to carry us into the future. I would say the majority of politicians need to be primaried and replaced with actual public servants who understand that they work for us, for the People. The representatives who do their jobs, who work with us, will find we’re damned supportive. We owe them that, just as they owe us for their paycheck.
We need to make our demands for what must be, lay down that line in the sand, and refuse to move back from it. We cannot compromise our values. We cannot accept half-measures. We most definitely cannot allow erosions of our rights and liberties, as has happened in the past. Rights are rights and shall not be abridged — must not be abridged, or else, they are not rights at all.
We’ll face opposition. How much, I don’t know — after the inevitable debacle in Washington when this administration self-immolates, it’s anyone’s guess how many people will rethink things, or at the very least, hang on for dear life to what‘s left. I have a strong streak of idealism, but at the core I’m a pragmatist about people: they will do whatever they feel they have to do. People don’t change unless they choose to do so. I can’t alter that fact. As far as I’m concerned, they can either follow or get the hell out of the way while we fix things.
The commitments we have to make to ourselves will be varied, but in every case, those vows need to include staying awakened to the sociopolitical and economic issues of the time, remaining determined to vote and voice our opinions, and educating ourselves and others to make us all better-informed citizens.
Looking forward is important. We have to keep reminding ourselves not just what we have lost, but what we can be once this crisis is past. We may be in the gutter, but we must keep looking to the stars for inspiration on how best to build a more perfect union.
📡 APH
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