Choose to inspire
by NeilsPhotography [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons.
Seeing the East Wing demolished last week was a gut punch. It’s not as if Trump 2.0 is not systematically demolishing the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. (A Sunday show guest offered that Trump has effectively eliminated the House of Representatives.) But such acts of vandalism against the republic are not visually impactful the way seeing the East Wing gone is. Everyone not MAGA saw it as a metaphor for Trump 2.0 and Project 2025. Dan Pfeiffer felt it even more keenly.
It is easy to feel like political roadkill lately. So, I went back to the archives to take some of my own advice this morning on why I don’t. Because the cure for helplessness is not less engagement, but more, as I recalled in 2016:
Anyway, the upside of staying in the fight is you stop feeling like roadkill. Even when you lose. But there’s a cost. The proprietress of our local pub always comes over and asks quietly what is going on politically that she’s missed.
Once in reply, I made the mistake of complaining that I used to have a life. She stabbed a finger in my direction and scolded.
“No! This is your life. This is what you do now.”
Some people even appreciate it.
Look, I’m an introvert. A behind-the-scenes guy. I’ve written here every morning since August 2014. I extract data and analyze voting patterns for local candidates. I donate what I can. It’s not enough now. Since retirement, there’s time to do more. The right derided No Kings protesters as predominantly senior and white. That’s right. Less vulnerable to economic blackmail, we’re doing what struggling working people can’t.
For the last 11 weeks, I’ve stood on an overpass on Fridays at rush hour. Rush hour the night before the No Kings rally lasted nearly two hours. This introvert plays a dance mix on a Bluetooth speaker to keep him bobbing with a sign like a human air dancer. I may not own a TV station but estimate (I was an engineer) 10,000 passengers saw my invitation to the rally. The number of pedestrians who thanked me and actually patted my back was a stunner.
It seems I’m now the crazy “guy on the bridge.” The waves and thumbs-up have gone from spontaneous agreement with the week’s message to recognition of the sign-holder as a friend and ally.
But what stands out more as commuters roll underneath (and past major intersections three or four other weeknights) is that our neighbors are anxious. Maybe a little frightened. Those who work and can’t do this need persistent visual proof that there is a Resistance to the budding dictatorship and people like themselves unafraid to be public about it. The number of thank-yous confirm that it lifts people’s wounded spirits. They need hope. Hope builds movements.
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Is this a private fight, or can anyone join?
No King’s One Million Rising movement
50501
May Day Strong
Freedom Over Fascism Toolkit
The Resistance Lab
Choose Democracy
Indivisible: A Guide to Democracy on the Brink
You Have Power
Chop Wood, Carry Water
Thirty lonely but beautiful actions
Attending a Protest Surveillance Self-Defense