White Flags

Desperately looking for something positive, I finally found a light during a killer dinner party last evening. Our daughter, whose taste in music tends to be heavy, punky, and/or classic rocky, made a "mixtape" for the gathering. I noticed that her playlist contained mostly songs of resistance. (Yup, Nina Simone was on there.) But one song, on a bit of a loop the last few days, is really speaking to her: JOSEPH's "White Flag." The positive -- and I'm seeing this everywhere with ALL our friends' teenagers -- is that this younger generation is attentive, policy-oriented, humanistic, and galvanized in ways we never fully were. (They'll correct our mistakes!)

Last night, when "White Flag" came on, Aleda said, "I feel Ike they could've written this 10 days ago" and you could see the protest in her. Those of us who were listening to her heard her:

"Noises closing in from all sides
Warning all the ways to die
They say, 'You'd better give up, you'd better give up'
I say, 'I'll never give up, I'll never give up'
"I'll be an army, no you're
Not gonna stop me getting

Through
I'll sing a marching song and
Stomp through the halls louder than
You
"I could surrender but I'd
Just be pretending, no I'd
Rather be dead than live a lie
Burn the white flag
Burn the white flag
Burn the white flag
Burn the white flag"
(-- JOSEPH)

Hope? Hope.

The Spineless

If I were a Republican, I too would disdain the Left – our "representatives" come across as sniveling milksops. The Trumpzis are “manning” themselves with the bowels of THE Right -- zealots who are waging war on OUR rights, our planet -- and many elected Democrats in Congress are already lining up, lock step (under the guise of “looking for common ground”) behind the Führer-Elect. Another leadership term for Nancy Pelosi? Chuck Schumer – a Wall Street champion – as Minority Leader? Same old, same old. Fuck, I’m beginning to hate us. Twelve days later and we’ve changed nothing. NOTHING! THEY NEED TO REPRESENT US! Will your passion still be here in two years? Your voices now, dammit!

Time to Make the Break?

Maybe it's time. We are in the midst of an abusive relationship and we seem to be trying to make something work that just can’t. Maybe it’s time to civilly accept what’s what and seek a divorce from each other before it gets worse. Let’s divide our property. Let Trump’s America be Trump’s America. Let the West Coast be its own United States. Let the Northeast be its own Old America. Maybe this is what we should do, peacefully. Maybe it’s time… because those of us in the popular majority are scared shitless of what’s coming down the pike but we’re still going to stand up to assaults on our rights and our bodies; and we know that those in the electoral majority are not afraid to use their guns. So, maybe we can avoid blood in the streets and go our separate ways. Maybe.

We Are Megaphones and Sledgehammers

Trump’s proposed Cabinet of Miscreants validates all our fears. But if there is some beauty on the other side of Trump's heinous reshaping of America it’s that those of us who believe in plurality and kindness are galvanized. We had eight years with a president who mostly represented our ideals… but eight years of mostly stalled policies. We settled until Bernie emerged on the national scene to remind us of our values… but he lost (and that's our fault too). Now, we are electrified; now we have our purpose back; and now we are megaphones and sledgehammers. Fight for humanitarianism.

Immensity

The collective “minority” (race, religion, sexual orientation, ideology... and/or any combination) is the “majority.” Wake up tomorrow knowing that; and wake up on November 3, 2020 knowing that. And know that between now and then, they can’t hurt us. We are a wall of ideas, voices, and bodies that stand between their policies and our rights. We are immense.

Alternate Outcome

These petitions spreading to urge "electors" to change their electoral college votes from Trump to Clinton in order to reflect the popular vote are not entirely baseless. Since 1968 there have been 6 examples of electors changing their votes for a variety of reasons. Realizing, entirely, that this is unlikely to happen, the act of signing a petition like Change.org's does help to magnify the issues surrounding the "popular" vs. "electoral" outcome. Still, should electors in Michigan and Wisconsin, states with thin margins in Trump's favor, see the value of switching... Well, we can dream.

https://www.change.org/p/electoral-college-electors-electoral-college-make-hillary-clinton-president-on-december-19?recruiter=1855019&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=share_page&utm_term=mob-xs-distancing-custom_msg

FUCK. THEM.

You don't need another Facebook scolding or diatribe telling you how you should or shouldn't be feeling and/or acting. So, for those of you who are more emotionally wrecked today than even yesterday, two words: FUCK. THEM.

Take that in any way you need to. For me, I'm sick of the Trump gloaters telling me and mine to get over ourselves. I'm sick of those who are telling us that this is just a reaction to Obama's policies. I'm sick of those posting their thoughts everywhere about how the protestors are careless, babyish, anarchic... I'm sick of the "Yeah, but if it were Bernie" people because it wasn't Bernie (even if I wish it were). I'm sick of the conciliatory posts, the exclamation points, and the supine. I'm sick of the flabbergasted media because most of us on the left saw this coming. I'm sick of the Democratic party for letting this happen... because they kind of did. I'm sick of the asshole who's going to post a snarky comment below. And more than anything, I'm sick of feeling hopeless.

Two words: FUCK. THEM.

Last Ditch Effort

I am so fucking fried.

Hovering over the polls, I’m a broke junkie skirting a motel by the Holland Tunnel circa 1981. I’m breaking out in a rash, biting my nails again, and developing new twitches… And like the poll watching junkie that I am (I realize how that sounds), I’m going to finish this post with a pic of my final statement until the 9th of November, return to Real Clear Politics, and find another way to interpret the numbers (pennies in my pocket).

Despite my fears, despite the ad hominem, despite the fact that the thirteen Facebook friends I still have who are voting for Trump are unswayable,… I’m going to try a totally different approach. I’m putting this out there, a statement to ride the waves of bad energy traversing this country like the fix that’s overwhelming my senses.

[Now, back to the electoral college map for another interactive session.]