It is very tempting to give in to darkness
after all, we have seen America go down to its lowest point in years. On all fronts, be they Trump voters, but also the people who fought so fervently for the Democratic candidate of choice that they let the election become a squandered bit of soundbites and paid politicos. Please do not engage in the last few seconds of "we lost because people did not shut up and crown of my favorite person" before the 2016 postmortem is closed. It will not help in 2018, and won't help in 2020.
The thing is, as much as we hate the fact, and I can be honest about the fact that many of us do not trust each other at this point, but we do have much more in common with each other than we ever can with the people who put Trump in power. I'm not just saying this because we all know that there are many GOP members secretly hoping that Trump finds his way out of power. We, as Democrats will always have much more in common with each other even if the Republicans were by some miracle to lean leftward. Yes, it is easy to forget that back, especially because a lot of people were paid an awful lot of money to go ahead and make us forget that, because we became very enamored of the political game, and we forgot the purpose of that game was to make things better for the average voter. National politics was the desert, it was not the bread, meat or potatoes. The GOP managed to pull off what it did, because they realized that you had to win local elections before you could talk about national elections, so if you want to go ahead and help reverse what's happening, read your local paper and get into the elections of janitor if that is the lowest rung of your local system.
As much as Trump is hateful, we know darn well that the national politicians, the Paul Ryan's, the Mitch McConnell's already working on ways to make him forget even the nicest political promises like leaving Social Security alone. The fact is whatever guy gets laid in for four or eight years is only going to be able to pick from a set bit of options that were presented by Congress and the people who paid for them, and that is very much true regardless of Democrat or Republican,, as we have seen both donkeys and elephants back stabbers hard! All the same, if you're not thinking about 2018, which is when many of you will be able to pick a senator, House member, governor or even Mayor, then you are not making preparations for 2020. We need to become a unified front back and organize locally as well as nationally and yes even globally or we will be destroyed in our own separate worlds.
Yes, it is very easy to give into darkness, because I've seen people who I respected go low, and I've seen people who I never respected dig so low that Satan is complaining about politicos digging around in his basement. I will not lie: one of my favorite sayings of Bill Clinton was that "there is nothing wrong with America that cannot be fixed by what is right with America." I no longer have faith in that, indeed I seriously think that our price to survival might be the hard realization that the America we knew cannot survive anymore. That does not mean we cannot make a new America, one that actually does reflect its higher ideals.
Now don't get this twisted, because I see many people who call for new America who really want to go ahead and fashion it in their image, he had some libertarian paradise, some anarchist collective, some low-tech glorified commune, some sort of technological startup, or 10,000 visions that do not reflect what America wants to be a mochas they never get around to be introspection or America has to decide what it wants to be.,, And a lot of these new revolutionaries will keep on glorifying the various Saints be the Che Guevara about, Chomsky, or (insert idol here.) work that is be done does not need Saints, and frankly even the use of faith is questionable.
The work that will be done will be done by people who realize that they really only have a few decent choices, and frankly, not much to lose. It will be done by groups quietly working together at times, and yes doing the occasional protest, but one worthy learn from mistakes of occupy Wall Street and make sure to plan for all the contingencies that may happen, be it legal help, or how to deal with that guy that comes in that wants to hurt women. yes we will need to laugh at times, cry at times, and oh God yes, rage at times. But we have to realize that all that passion has to be attached to a program of consistent action, even if, especially if they are small actions on the local level, because like raindrops, tiny as they are, they will become a flood. We don't need to pray for storm to wash away the crap, we just need to go ahead and make sure we collect all the raindrops. Our big obstacle for that work will be that many different sides will want to make it about them, and not us.
A fellow by the name of Eric Hoffer once made a quote I do believe applies to the situation: "where there is the skill to move mountains, there is no need for the faith that can move mountains." What I'm saying here is this: we do not need to tell ourselves a bunch of sweet lies. Yes, long after the 2016 postmortem is over, Hillary partisans and Sanders partisans will hate each other. long after the inauguration, there will be a distrust between people who identify themselves as "urban professional" and "rural working class." However, there are some good news to be had from this very sad state of affairs,, the fact that we will work together not because we want to, but because we know we have to. We do not need idealism anymore to work against the Republicans. We do not need to sell some sort of idea that when people try to wear it, winds up being a size too big or small. We do not even need hope, all we need is to act together, focus on the big picture, and place ourselves in the right position when, not if when the GOP implodes, as it always has, as it always will, especially when it is seized up by a bunch of people who really do not have self-control, or the wisdom to realize that if they did go ahead and throw the proletariat not a few dog bones, they would be a lot safer in the long run.
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