The Great Coming Together
Democracy is worth the Fight!
So I'm from what's considered Generation X. I'm right on the cusp of being considered a millennial. In my 45 years I have grown up in a generation where it was uncool to stand up for what was different from the status quo and it reflected in our politics and policy. That's what you get when Ronald Reagan and two George Bush's.
What we've seen in my early years is that there's been a generalized trend for the progressive side of the party over to start to lean more and more conservative.
As a gen Xer I was always wondering whether or not something like this would ever happen like we're experiencing now. This authoritarian style government that has wanted to just scrap the whole the whole idea of democracy and shut down all civil and social services that help support the least of us, not to mention people who have been struck with unexpected hardships.
What I'm starting to see is a coming great coming together. Those people who were Gen Xrs and millennials in high school who said it's uncool to care about anything and that we shouldn't bother with politics or or putting yourself out there when things are difficult. This attitude seems to be fading away and I couldn't be more pleased. I think it's been a long time coming. I don't know if it's perhaps that the generation prior to mine was involved in large protests fighting against the Vietnam War or major civil rights movements. I'm so thankful for the people that came before me were out there because they made a difference for people who were not white, Christian, straight and male.
There is however a long way to go still and that has been made clear. Sadly, the focus right now by our authoritarian leaders is that they want to do away with the progress that we made in the years prior to Gen X. They want to remove things like diversity, equity and inclusion. They want to blame the people who have every right to live in this country with the same rights as any white Christian male who is straight as everybody else. We are supposed to be an equal opportunity society. If we decide that we don’t want to be an equal opportunity society, then we have to look no further than our president. Since the '80s our president has screwed over workers. He has made it clear that he's an anti-semite. He hates women. He is a pathological liar and somehow he got elected president. I don’t know if there was cheating or not but there may be evidence there was but I will leave that post for another day.
No, I didn't vote for the president we have right now, but it doesn't take a whole lot of digging and research in order to make the determination that this is not a good person. On the other hand, I think a lot of people see the R next to Donald Trump's name and assume that he has all the supposed Republican values in mind. Clearly he is not embodying those ideals.
And that's what brings me to my my thought for today, which is something I would call the great coming together. We don't all have to agree on every aspect of politics. That's why our country is so good and that is why Donald Trump is trying to take it away because he wants it his way only now.
I can see that with this great coming together, some people are going to be late to the party and that's okay. And some people are going to have to be directly affected by these policies that the Trump administration is trying to to enact like removal of Social Security, of Medicare, of Medicaid without even having a plan in place to replace those things except to privatize, which will do nothing for the American people. It will force us us all to be poor except for the top percentage of wage earners in the nation.
So I couldn't be more proud to see what's happening across our nation. I've seen amazing things already and I think there's more to come. It took us a minute or two to start to realize how serious this situation is. And yes, we're slow to start to get out on the streets and make our voices heard but we are making a difference.
Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are out in public with their Stop The Oligarchy tour, we have operation Tesla Takedown happening. We have Hands Off campaign that's coming up on April 5th if you don't know already. I expect Hands Off to be the biggest protest yet. Hundreds of protests are taking place all across our country because I see people coming together in droves. I think we have only seen the beginning of this movement. The great coming together is going to be what saves this country, and puts us on the trajectory to a better life for those of us who struggle day in and day out.
For those who rely on Social Security and government healthcare and you're unable to participate in a protest on the streets. I strongly encourage you to make your voice heard either by phone or by typing because every single word against this administration will count, every single movement. Every single action will count. If we continue this momentum we will win. We cannot get tired at this point. We cannot bow down or wither to these greedy billionaires and I'm not in the prediction business but I think we will win in the end. It's just a matter of persistence and continuing to encourage our leaders to fight these people who outright in public and open air try to subvert the Constitution of the United States.
I'm not saying that there's not going to be setbacks and tragedy along the way, but I know that happens with big changes in any country. There's unfortunate things that will happen.
Putting myself out there exposes me to those potential problems which is very frightening. But I do this for my children and I do it for my children's children and my wife and family that live all across these United States. Because I consider you all family too. And I just thank you for reading my column. I am not a professional writer by any stretch of the imagination. I tried to put these words down on a page that can be encouraging, maybe sometimes infuriating, but I'm just speaking what's on my mind and sometimes may not make a whole lot of sense. Please continue to fight. We are all counting on you as you are counting on me to be a resistance to this current regime.
I love you all.
Erik