I have strong feelings about politics and vote regularly, but generally relegate my political conversations to close friends. I believe everyone is entitled to their opinion. I believe voting is a responsibility and a privilege. I was a registered Republican for 38 years. I changed to Independent during the 2016 presidential campaign. While I was never one to vote solely along party lines, I have voted Republican more often than not. Often, as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, I found myself casting a vote for a candidate that would not benefit me personally, but if I felt the candidate was the best for the city, State or Nation I voted for them in spite of personal concerns. I give this back story and disclaimer because undoubtedly some folks will try to categorize me as a liberal, bleeding heart, Democrat.
I am not a bleeding heart. I am not a Democrat. I believe God created every human in His image. Subsequently, no human should experience tyranny, inequality, inequity and oppression. If that makes me a liberal, then I will gladly wear the label.
Which brings me to what is on my heart. The problems we are seeing in our country today … The division. The bitterness. The cruelty. The partisanship. The hatefulness. The loss of civility. All of it … is not a Republican problem, it is not a Democrat problem. It is a WE THE PEOPLE problem.
WE THE PEOPLE, myself included, have been comfortable in our homes and lives and have allowed it to come to this. We have allowed the power of our representatives to go unchecked for decades. We have consistently turned a deaf ear as things became more uncivil and more outlandish and are now surprised at the venom being spewed by our so-called leaders.
WE THE PEOPLE let the Tea Party say outrageous things and did NOTHING. We did not call them on their behavior when they tried to replace the constitution with the Bible. As a Christian, I have a high opinion of and respect for the Bible. As a Christian, my political beliefs are formed by my faith. However, the Bible is not the law of the land. Let me give an example … Murder is against the law, and rightly so. However, it is not against the law because it is a SIN or is one of the 10 commandments; it is against the law because it is against the civil rights of another’s pursuit of life. Just because something is legal, does not make it right or moral. Conversely, because something is right or moral does not make it legal. Further, the Bible is not the basis for the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence or the Bill of Rights. In fact, contrary to popular belief, most signees of the Declaration of Independence were not Christian.
WE THE PEOPLE allowed a Republican Congress and Senate to be obstructionist for the 8 years President Obama (whom I did not vote for either time) was in office. We allowed our representatives to vote NO time and time again, simply because a Democratic President thought something was a good idea. EIGHT YEARS we let this go on. During that time, anything that was accomplished in this country was done so in spite of us, not because of us. Once again WE THE PEOPLE let power go unchecked and we let representatives give themselves pay raises, without raising the minimum wage. We allowed our representative to vote down equal pay for women holding the same job as their male counterparts. All the while consistently raising the debt ceiling because there was not a balanced budget. Our representatives were not doing their jobs and we continued to vote them in office, when we should have fired them.
WE THE PEOPLE have not pressed our representatives to have a balanced budget in 17 years. SEVENTEEN YEARS! The last time this country had a balance budget was 2001; when Bill Clinton was President, and Republicans controlled Congress.
WE THE PEOPLE allowed our representatives to refuse to consider a perfectly qualified, moderate nominee for the SCOTUS for 10-months, simply because he was nominated by a Democratic President. We allowed our representative to refuse to do their job for 10-months and continued to not only pay them, but vote them back into office.
WE THE PEOPLE allowed the murder of 20 first graders at Sandy Hook without a single change in gun laws. We did not force our representatives to do anything, other than send thoughts and prayers, in response to twenty 6 and 7 year olds being terrified and slaughtered while at school.
WE THE PEOPLE did not press our representatives into action when 9 people were violently murdered inside a church in Charleston while attending a Bible study.
WE THE PEOPLE have continued to vote for representatives who have allowed our nation to sink into a staggering new all-time high debt topping $21 trillion in 2018.
WE THE PEOPLE have allowed our representatives to constantly kowtow to a president who has mocked disabled people, veterans, gold star families, sexual assault survivors, war heroes, and countless others.
WE THE PEOPLE have allowed apathy to become the rule of the day. Sadly, it is not unusual for 40% to 50% of registered voters to stay home on election-day. Bad officials are elected by good people who do not vote.
WE THE PEOPLE need to get our heads out of the sand and collectively consolidate our feces before our democracy becomes an oligarchy.
As my friend Amy Courts (@AmyCourts) said … “It’s worth remembering that America has always been sick, we’ve never been well; we’ve always been genocidal, we’ve never been equitable or just.
The progress the Right fears was made via the 13th and 19th amendments, the CRA and VRA … well, what little was accomplished was summarily and meticulously squashed by Nixon and Reagan, by the Tea Party and Trumpublicans.
There is nothing new under the sun, and yet we’re nevertheless better off.
WE ARE STILL HERE.
WE ARE STILL FIGHTING.
Look to women who fought for my right to vote and have never wasted their voice, regardless of the men who silenced them. Look to Queer leaders who gave their lives for the right to simply exist.
Look to Indigenous Nations who’ve survived genocide by violence, displacement, and cultural erasure and endure still to claim their space and protect our Mother; and to Black Americans who’ve survived slavery and Jim Crow and mass incarceration to be the most educated, creative, and revolutionary thought leaders among us.
The glory is not in the winning but in choosing to build and rebuild every time they bulldoze.
We do the work not because it will ever be done but because the WORK IS INHERENTLY WORTH DOING.
Take heart.
Keep lamps lit.
Burn it all down #ToAshes, be warmed by the flames.
And keep building.”
May it be so …