At What Point Do We Interrupt Our Lives (Again) To Fight To Put This Country on a Different Path?
Every day I want to come onto some platform and write about the craziness unfolding up in this country.
Like there are rumours that Texas is trying to ban men from wearing make-up. It’s not clear yet where this is at.
Idaho has made it illegal to go out of state to get an abortion.
Kansas will be requiring kids to undertake a “sports physical” to determine certain gender eligibility to participate in sports; plus a birth certificate. To play sports.
State after state are passing laws to persecute LGBTQ+ people, or that hurt women, or that hide history, and so on and so on.
Tennessee is going with straight-up racism for this week… with related power plays and a diminishing of democracy in their state.
Yesterday the Tennessee legislature opted to expel 2 of 3 legislators because those legislators took part in protests pushing for some kind of mitigation to the overwhelming gun violence that keeps killing kids. The TN legislature expelled the two men of color, and did not expel the white woman. I wrote more on it here yesterday. They also did funky stuff all through the process; including not following their own rules processes, muting mics, and speaking in a derogatory manner to the targeted people of color.
The horror unfolded live on national TV over a few hours. Lots of big phrases were thrown about, like “pivotal” and “sparks” and “shocking” and “maybe a new civil rights movement.”
So…………… are we going to do something like that? Have a new movement?
I’d like to think so.
I’ve actually put everything I have into the idea here at Shift the Country that we can build one.
But I’m having trouble getting people engaged.
We’re having trouble getting people signed up for Zoom calls to push a transformation in political pressure, persuasion, and reach.
It’s not sexy… although the calls will be exciting. This is all going to require thinking and time commitments. It’s going to be tough. There aren’t easy steps. People are overwhelmed. The shocks keep coming. Life is happening.
Yadda yadda yadda. I get all that.
But at what point do we interrupt our lives (again) to fight to put this country on a different path?
When all of this hateful mishegoss first started to get more prevalent as Trump came into the presidency, people threw the quote below around a lot. Lots of memes and big talk:
“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.” — Martin Niemöller
We’ve done big action since then, too — since 2017. Look at all that we’ve collectively held together. It’s a lot.
But we’re in the middle.
This isn’t done.
We’re several years and several waves of activism in… and we’re flagging. Worn out. Traumatized. Disconnected. Disheartened.
Time to find the fire, folks.
These power seizures at the state level are going to worsen and stick if we don’t push back. Right now there’s a whole lot of steamroller action. Right now there are small bands of people pushing back in a zillion fights. They need reinforcements and we need a bigger collective movement. We can push one together from here; building on and bringing together all the things that have helped us get this far… and taking them all to entirely new levels. To new realms and new paradigms and new dimensions. We have options.
We. Can. Do. Stuff. To. Help.
We can help the majority fight differently — to build and energize a huge coalition of Democrats, independents, and ex-Republicans to stabilize this democracy and put it on a different path.
We need people to do it.
Help us get this shift going. Please.
People need us.
Join in.