THE TIME IS NOW
The time is now to save our democracy. Don't for a minute take democracy for granted. Don't think it works like a well-oiled machine that rarely has to be repaired or tended to. It demands constant attention from WE THE PEOPLE.
Our democracy is seriously under threat from those who want a one-party, authoritarian form of government (namely the Republican Party) that benefits the few at the cost to everyone else and the planet. We can't let that happen. We need to stay hopeful and active.
The author of Chop Wood. Carry Water, Jessica Craven, writes regularly about hope and action to uplift and inspire us and urge us to action. Here are a few of my favorite remarks.
"Hope is a discipline. It is easier to throw our hands up, give in to despair, and lose ourselves in numbing activities while Rome, proverbially, burns around us.
It is harder, more effortful, and more demanding to refuse to give up. But that refusal itself is a muscle, and as we use it it strengthens. Hope, once small, becomes larger and more established. It begins to exist separately from circumstance. It becomes habit."
"Every 'miracle' that’s ever happened, every astonishing victory, every 'mpossible' feat has been accomplished by ordinary people just showing up and working really, really hard. When we fight and don’t quit, we win. Ordinary is all we need. It’s everything."
Here's an excerpt from an article by Bill McKibben entitled "The Time is Now for a People-Powered Backlash."
"The Court has done us a supreme favor by ripping away the veil. It is entirely clear that if we want to defend the planet (or a woman's right to choose, or the right to a world where everyone isn't packing a pistol), we're going to have to fight. Their naked grab for power is succeeding—but it could still backfire if we set our minds to it.
"Fury—nonviolently exercised, but with the force of a firehose—can change the political dynamic that has been sending us in a slow drift towards some variety of right-wing theocratic fascism. But we may not get more chances. This right now is the opening."
Here is a quote from Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) at the House Select Committee to Investigate the Janary 6 attack on the Captol on January 6, 2021.
"As it is said, the only thing necessary for evil to succeed is good men to do nothing."
The message from all this is: Do something, no matter how small!
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