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The Sixth Stage of Grief
It is a sad statement that as I write this I can’t help but wonder if we are not heading back to a McCarthy-era place where we must fear the personal, familial and professional backlash of engaging in free speech! … such as this post. ‘Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid’ –to steal a line from an old horror film The Fly (how appropriate after all…)
Ten days have passed between election day and today. American Progressives—among whom I would count anyone who objects to the idea of electing a president who embodies all of the ‘isms plus being a shyster of the first order—have not been sleeping well. Moving on productively is the trick to getting back to some new normal. So…reviewing the seven stages of grief (we have after all lost something quite loved—that last shred of innocence we had about who we are as Americans) let’s see where we are now.
I am in Stage Six.
Just to remind you: it goes like this:
- Shock & denial
- Pain & guilt
- Anger & bargaining
- Depression
- The upward turn
- Reconstruction & working through
- Acceptance & hope
To Arrive in Stage Six, this is what I’ve done:
- My ringtone is We Shall Overcome.
- Television is gone (not the thing itself which is after all the source of Netflix and Amazon Prime but the channels of fake news, sports, smutty and/or inane network ‘comedies’ and REALITY shows). I’m sure it will be back some day but for the foreseeable future it is banned—the sight of the smug aging white faces of the shyster and his buddies must be kept to a minimum if sanity is to reign.
- The NYT doorstep edition suspended briefly—or longer. I still have access on line but it’s easier to skim over ‘those faces’ on the screen then when opening up the front page to them before one is fully awake…gag me, etc….
- HuffPost US banned. I can get all of the regional and reliable world news from HuffPost Canada, UK, Australia and South Africa, Aljazeera and on-line PBS without seeing what I’m starting the think of as ‘the faces from hell.’
- Signed up for the January 21st WOMEN’S MARCH ON WASHINGTON. Have my plane tickets to NYC, and a friend and I will bus or drive down to DC.
- Making small but at least symbolic monthly dollar commitments to Move On, ACLU and Planned Parenthood. There will be other commitments as The Movement develops, and while all small, every dollar is a vote for what I believe in…
- Paying close attention to Bernie, Elizabeth, and others like them regarding next steps. One of the first has been to get Keith Ellison to assume leadership of the Democratic Party.
- Vowing to work hard (and we all know how much easier vowing is than actual doing—but here’s to a renewed commitment to ‘doing.’) to elect honest progressive Democrats as Mayor of Albuquerque and Governor of New Mexico. Preferably ones who can generate a bit of enthusiasm in addition to being hard-working and honest!
Of course it’s easy to write a Saturday morning post about all of this. I think this time however, IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT ALL OF OUR RESOLUTIONS ARE KEPT. Just watched Geena Davis (The Fly on youtube) saying with fear, trembling and loathing in her voice “Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid.” Watch this when your enthusiasm is lagging Marjorie!
Off to the Free State of California for the holidays.
Today is Not a Good Day
I do promise this is my last political rant for a long time to come.
I’m physically at work after a mostly sleepless night but mentally I am SOMEWHERE FAR AWAY.
I spent last night veering between almost-vomiting and almost-crying as I paced the confines of my tiny living room and periodically tried dozing. Couldn’t turn on the TV once I realized the worst had happened and reading was difficult.
So I simply mourned—for the loss of Presidential intelligence, experience, good citizenship and good manners, adult behavior, the ability to articulate ideas and goals, and possibly a broad interest and knowledge of the whole wide world. Gone.
This is the last time I will write about The Shyster and his adoring public and there’s not much to say that all of us haven’t said over and over in the past few hours.
But one more time I must say this: it is so sad to think half of our voting population is ill-informed and/or terrified of the world and/or racist, sexist, misogynistic, xenophobic and/or just plain mean and dumb. And thanks to them I can’t write a happy little blurb saying “Phew, thank god THAT’S over.” I am happy to say MY states did okay: New Mexico, Minnesota, California. Good job us.
The Shyster IS NOT MY President. Hillary won the popular vote which is what I go by. But he wouldn’t be in any case.
Banish the Boogeypeople; Vote Democrat
BE AFRAID. OF EVERYTHING.
Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid…say the Republicans. I challenge you to find one Republican campaigning on anything other than FEAR. The boogeymen— of Ebola and the nurses who treat the sick and dying; ISIS fighters flooding in from Canada; black presidents and black voters, pushy damn women who want choices; gun-controlling moms and gay-marriagers trying to destroy the sanctity of all those perfect hetero-marriages— are being sent forth in great waves.
Obamacare Obamacare Obamacare. Be VERY Afraid.
ONE OF THOSE OBAMACARE DOCTORS.
Our very own New Mexico Republican governor’s biggest fear is all those illegals after that prized possession, a New Mexico driver’s license. Never mind that it’s apparently not that hard to keep driving around here after multiple drunk driving charges, it’s those pesky illegals that cause all the trouble. She is afraid, she is very afraid.
The boogeymen/women are mesmerizing the gullible the cowardly the ignorant; they are spooking the neighbors who treasure their guns above all; they are whispering in the ear of your uncle who’s never trusted Canada since they let in American draft dodgers during the Vietnam war; they are reminding the guy at the office that he met someone from Africa just last year who shook his hand and maybe he had Ebola and…
TODAY 