Donald Trump’s GOP has decided its closing argument for today’s Battle of Hope and Decency is to point at and deride innocent brown people thousands of miles away who have the gall to be seeking a better way of life. Of course the GOP’s real message is, “Sure we are pointing at them, but we are really pointing at you, Brown America. You will never be welcomed here by us.”
That’s how a nuclear-powered dog whistle works, my friends.
If it is gross and White America in its lowest form, it also isn’t new. The GOP has been at this for decades and finally has a monstrous leader who is only too proud to say out loud what has festered in their dark hearts for years and years. They scream and drool while their featured billing travels the countryside doing his dangerous, warped standup routines. They scream for a lonely, color-free, lower place where they can fester in their self-created miserable darkness and confuse it with light.
While all that is going on, the liberals are allowing themselves to dream again. We have seen the light through the crack of the door that has finally been pushed open again … We are allowing ourselves only a glimpse for now, because shoving that heavy door all the way open only to have it slammed in our faces again, would just be unbearable. We are snowflakes after all. We have feelings. We are still limping around from that awful beating we took two years ago.
Limping or not … we have been marching. We’ve been marching in one rally after another to support people of color, our women, the right to vote, our environment, healthcare, gun control … children ripped from their families and shoved in cages …
We have been working. We have been donating. We have been making our voices heard. Sure we have the high ground, but we always have. Using that perch to keep lifting people up is the greatest ideal.
We have finally been living the dream.
If you didn’t pass out after I typed that, I want you to stay with me for a few hundred more words while I make my (our?) closing case to the American people.
For too long Americans went about their lives without purpose and about as disconnected as we can be despite the fact we were only a keystroke away from anybody at any time. We were self-involved, boring and entitled. We were better than other countries or people just because we thought so. Until we found out in November of 2016, that we were in far, far worse shape than we could have ever imagined. We had let ourselves down — forget the entire world. Joni put it better than anybody: “You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone …”
It could have gone one of two ways after the Shock of the Century finally starting wearing off a bit: We could have just conceded and said, fuck it, things are bad but I mostly still have mine … or we could mobilize, start doing the work and let our heart and souls guide us toward a far, far better way.
Our women tipped us early as to the direction we were headed, and by God we haven’t stopped marching toward hope and decency yet.
Along this beautiful, bruising journey we have found each other. Sad, terrified, angry folks looking for a hand to hold, a shoulder to lean on and an ear to chew. Welcome, everybody, we are The Resistance.
For two damn years we have been building our ranks. Not a one of us have had a decent night’s sleep that we can remember because this kind of madness never stops creeping around inside us. But we have each other.
Me? I have found hundreds and thousands of like-thinkers who give me so much hope and strength I feel like I could burst sometimes. I know their hearts. I know how tough they are and how tough it’s been. I know how much they love this country. I know how hard this has been on them.
We are a multi-colored army of warriors. There isn’t a damn thing we wouldn’t do for each other, which is stunningly amazing given most of us didn’t even know each other two years ago. We were out there drifting. Now we are riding a massive wave.
We are on the cusp of something big, but we are still allowing ourselves only a passing glance through the crack in that door. A finishing push is on. We must-finish-strong. We are all in this together.
We are living the dream.
