I am my sister's and my brother's keeper. And this is why...

[CaliforniaPeggy]

I am a Democrat.

I believe in helping my less fortunate brothers and sisters, unlike the Republicans, who only want to see them disappear, preferably quickly.

I believe that ALL of us deserve to live freely and without pain under the sun.

I believe that we have a RIGHT to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

As John Donne said it: "...I am involved in mankind. Every man's death diminishes me..."


What the Republicans are trying to do angers me, and causes me to rise up to stop them in any way possible.

Who's with me?

[spanone]

1. Thank You CaliforniaPeggy

K&R...

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. ...

[spanone]

10. ...

[niyad]

2. right beside you, Peggy.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. Thank you, my dear niyad...

[Eliot Rosewater]

5. I am with you, I have no choice, they are trying to kill me.

[ButSeeYa]

6. Well said. I'm right here with you.

[furtheradu]

7. Thanks for this! 💖

I am SO with You, CaliforniaPeggy💖!

[NCTraveler]

8. K&R nt.

[Useless in FL]

9. I am with you...

too.

[Raster]

11. Thank you, Peggy!

I am with you. I am a Democrat. I believe we should all be each other's keeper.

Bless your heart!

[lunamagica]

12. That was just beautiful, California Peggy...I'm here, right beside you!

[barbtries]

13. my dear California Peggy

I am.

sometimes when i'm asked the basic difference between Democrats and Republicans, that's how i answer: we care about everyone.

[Solly Mack]

14. I was raised to be a keeper.

Because that's how people survive - together.

[mcar]

15. I'm with you

[Wellstone ruled]

16. You state the real truth.

Already planning to save our family from the Corporate Oligarchs.

[BadgerMom]

17. I'm with you!

[hamsterjill]

18. I'm with you with every fiber in my being!

I have a sister that is in need of chemo treatment for cancer. She's already not getting what she needs and I can only imagine what will happen should this Trumpcare bill pass.

No American should be without health care. Not access to health, but actual healthcare. Period. End of Story. Mic drop. Boom!

Single payer now!

[TeapotInATempest]

19. I'm with you

My Catholic upbringing (I lost the faith but kept the values) and my conscience require it.

[FM123]

20. Yes!

No man/woman is an island.

[calikid]

21. I'm with you Peggy, I'd be proud to put you on my shoulders or stand beside you.

I have always been and will be until the day I die, my brother and sisters keeper, it's my duty and reward.

[NBachers]

22. Peggy, you don't need to make rhymes to write poetry. Sometimes truth is all that's needed. Thanks!

[FiveGoodMen]

23. I'm with you, Peggy!

I can't understand how there's anyone who isn't.

[JimGinPA]

24. You Snowflake!

[mountain grammy]

25. Me! I'm with you!

[LuckyLib]

26. Thank you for posting this. Well said. And to think, with all the riches we enjoy in

this country -- natural resources, comforts, access to so much that makes life enriching -- that there are folks who want to share none of it. Not for refugees, not for those who struggle and build this nation, not for those who suffer. I'd like to think there are more of us that think like you do, CP. Generous, caring, sharing the same planet and wanting it good for all.

[defacto7]

27. I'm in!

[Igel]

28. One of the most misquoted.

It's one thing to bear another's burdens, to help others.

But please, don't keep me. I don't want to be kept to be let out or monitored, to be told when to come in. "Where's your brother?" "Am I in charge of him?" Was the answer, "Yes"? No, it wasn't. Cain was nailed for murder, not lording it over Able like the worst version of Big Brother.

It's not a trivial distinction. You see it in welfare. One is to help, get the people on their own. But then the tendency is to coerce, proscribe. A third tendency is to make it impersonal. One's good, the other is evil, the third amoral, at least in my opinion.

[classykaren]

29. You must read a different Bible.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

30. Nobody should ever coerce or proscribe for another. NOBODY.

I would never endorse such a position.

I believe that we are free (or should be) to pursue our own vision of life, liberty and happiness in our own individual ways. We should be able to do this without harming anyone else.

[madamesilverspurs]

31. Makes me crazy

that I cry when I'm really angry. And that's what happened this morning as I watched McConnell and Cornyn smirk and snipe at the Democrats over their objections to the health "care" bill. It happened again when I watched the videos of the disabled people being removed from the hallway outside of McConnell's office. The world watches us, I hate to consider what they must think of us when seeing such things.

There's a similar protest here tomorrow, outside the office of our senator who is one of the nefarious 13. If I'm able (which isn't often, these days) I'll be there with my walker and oxygen tank. It's not even about me; it's about those who will end up like me if the republicans get their way.

Damn.


.

[MiddleClass]

37. I see it a bit different

The campaign vitriol,

The White House celebration about the house tax cut disguised as a health care bill,

the president calling it mean, we need more heart.

The Senate bill details and the smug senators.

The video of police arresting disabled people at the people's house for Mitch McConnell

, hopefully, people realizing "oh, shit, what have I done,"

The Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, Mike Pence agenda. It grinds to a halt.

Please make that protest, every bit counts a lot.


EDIT: your junior senator is the most endangered and vulnerable in this next election.

Everything you do is magnified by 10, trust me make a day out, for all of us. No 1 Swing state politician 1

[livetohike]

32. Beautifully stated CalPeggy. I've been saying similar things

on Facebook all day

[CaliforniaPeggy]

33. That's great, my dear livetohike! Thank you for your kind words.

I took this post of mine over to my timeline too.

[MLAA]

34. Squeeze in a little tighter, one more joining the party 🎉 n/t

[CaliforniaPeggy]

36. Thank you! There's always room for more good souls! n/t

[MiddleClass]

35. If we don't hang together we will most assuredly hang separately

We should always work together for the common good.

If we keep it up, push back at every turn, the fever will break, the Reagan trickle-down era will end.

It's always darkest before the dawn

[Skittles]

38. you know I am, Ms. Pegster

I've donated 53 gallons of platelets to people I don't even know

[CaliforniaPeggy]

39. You set the example we all admire, my dear Skittles!

I used to donate my platelets too, but my medications prevent me from that now.

It is a precious gift!

[Skittles]

40. heh, it's a way to give back to the community without really doing anything!

seriously, all I do is watch a movie!

[bluestarone]

41. like the others

i'm with ya!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Wawannabe]

42. Right on! CA Peggy

Right on!
Hell yes!

[Sparkly]

43. With you!!

[leftstreet]

44. DURec

[Brother Buzz]

45. I'm with you, Peg. Hell,Tom Joad is totally with you, too

Tom Joad: I been thinking about us, too, about our people living like pigs and good rich land layin' fallow. Or maybe one guy with a million acres and a hundred thousand farmers starvin'. And I been wonderin' if all our folks got together and yelled...

Ma Joad: Oh, Tommy, they'd drag you out and cut you down just like they done to Casy.

Tom Joad: They'd drag me anyways. Sooner or later they'd get me for one thing if not for another. Until then...

Ma Joad: Tommy, you're not aimin' to kill nobody.

Tom Joad: No, Ma, not that. That ain't it. It's just, well as long as I'm an outlaw anyways... maybe I can do somethin'... maybe I can just find out somethin', just scrounge around and maybe find out what it is that's wrong and see if they ain't somethin' that can be done about it. I ain't thought it out all clear, Ma. I can't. I don't know enough.

Ma Joad: How am I gonna know about ya, Tommy? Why they could kill ya and I'd never know. They could hurt ya. How am I gonna know?

Tom Joad: Well, maybe it's like Casy says. A fellow ain't got a soul of his own, just little piece of a big soul, the one big soul that belongs to everybody, then...

Ma Joad: Then what, Tom?

Tom Joad: Then it don't matter. I'll be all around in the dark - I'll be everywhere. Wherever you can look - wherever there's a fight, so hungry people can eat, I'll be there. Wherever there's a cop beatin' up a guy, I'll be there. I'll be in the way guys yell when they're mad. I'll be in the way kids laugh when they're hungry and they know supper's ready, and when the people are eatin' the stuff they raise and livin' in the houses they build - I'll be there, too.

Ma Joad: I don't understand it, Tom.

Tom Joad: Me, neither, Ma, but - just somethin' I been thinkin' about.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

46. Thank you so much, my dear Brother Buzz...

It's a very apt analogy. And it's been a long time since I saw "The Grapes of Wrath."

I should see it again.

[Brother Buzz]

54. I would suggest reading the book, too

Steinbeck went in directions with material that John Ford couldn't touch because the film would never have been released.

Nevertheless, Ford, knowing the rules, still gave us an edgy film.

[suffragette]

47. Happy to stand with you!

[Moostache]

48. I admire your resolve and attitude Peggy...you are a gift to us all.

I am wallowing in hate and anger and frustration ever since November. I can't pull out of it...every time I think I might be a little better place mentally something else comes to light or a new atrocity is unveiled or Trump tweets anything and I am thrown back into a useless, destructive rage.

I can't stay positively engaged because I have lost hope. I see the string of defeats and underhanded dealings the GOP is using that Obama refused to engage in and I am despondent, demoralized, deflated and defeated.

But despite my personal struggles with this situation, I do find great solace in your tempered resolve (and many others here like it)...it helps me get to another day and maybe will keep me engaged long enough to rejoin the fight without feeling like the Tasmanian Devil some day...while I find myself shrieking and howling at the moon, I get relief from you....thank you!

[Major Nikon]

49. The flip side of that is Republicans are parasites on society

That's not to say that's the true intention of all of them, but it just means those who don't are useful idiots to those who do. Nobody gets rich without the collective benefit others provide. The GOP seeks to stack the deck even more in their favor. Aside from any individual public policy divergence between the two parties, that is the fundamental difference.

[perdita9]

50. Have pitchfork and torch. Ready to march at anytime

And a pink hat. Maybe I'll dye the pitchfork pink to match

[yuiyoshida]

51. Sadly once the deaths start piling up will anyone

start to realize it was on Trump's watch, and Republicans are responsible. They need to be thrashed good at the next election. K&R Tweeted.

[trof]

52. YO!

[BlackCherokee]

53. Fist in the air...I am with you!

[Silver Gaia]

55. I stand with you.