Today's essay is excerpted from a keynote speech on democracy protection I gave (virtually) at the Center for Community and Nonprofit Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on April 28, 2022.
I’ve been hesitant to protest, wondering about it’s actual impact. This article points out many examples of positive outcomes. I will be hesitant no longer!
Thank you kindly and I agree. 'Determined bunch' is such an accurate description. Religion is being used as a tool by the pseudo-Christians. Jesus never talked of shake downs or eye-for-eye thinking in my Bible!
I understand the sentiment you are suggesting Jan but at this point we need people to be loud & crystal clear about what we are losing and how to turn back the rush to authoritarianism.
I agree with you. In my recent experience of talking to others there seems to movement towards cognitive dissonance. and their own questioning. In personal conversations with the ones teetering on the fence, my read has been it's good to recognize this, as some need some space to save face (they are a proud group) .... and keep the conversation flowing, so they may separate from GOP willfully like it's their own idea --- because it is. It's like they are on a voyage out of dark tunnel, beginning to see the light. I agree with you collectively we must be loud and crystal clear. It's almost like there are different modes of communication. Broad and then intimate.
1. Non-violent protests are indeed a great way to change minds, but when the protests turn violent (as many of the BLM/Antifa protests did) the protests change minds in the wrong direction.
2. If SCOTUS returns abortion law to the states, it doesn't mean that abortion is outlawed. All it means is that it becomes one of the things people consider when they decide where to live.
I would say the protests were non-violent. Any violence was from others that used the situation and took advantage. They were looters showing up later and not protestors. It's very easy to mix the two together for those trying to make the protestors look bad. Any violence and looting from those rioters was tame especially considering the circumstances of the pandemic hurting their demographic more than others. Police also were cautioned to be careful so as not to make the situation worse. Killing or beating Black rioters/protestors when the protests are about police killing Blacks is not a good visual. IIt wasn't as bad as portrayed in the media.
It means far more than deciding where to live. It will place abortion out of reach for those who can’t just take time off to travel states away for medical care. Doing so requires money, safe transportation, a place to stay to ensure no medical problems come up immediately after, food during the trip, fuel, and then safe transportation back home - hopefully without being arrested and jailed for crossing state lines for medical care.
This was a profound essay and talk. This is the key. Peaceful organized protests are needed. How? Who takes the reign to organize? Remember the old Hands Across America... how did garner that momentum. Let's find a way. Our children's children are counting on us. When I lose my steam at the end of the day, trying to make a difference, it's good to recall we still above water in this fight -- we just need to strengthen/ rebuild stronger what is already in place. Hope and vigilance & work.
Heather Cox Richardson has just echoed Ruth (and Brooke Harrington on last Sunday’s LUCID zoom gathering) … THIS IS THE BIG ONE. We are the majority and, once again, we can save our experiment in democracy from the extreme minority of white nationalists … by changing the public conversation from the FOX talking points, and participating locally and personally in our democracy … which includes the massive, nonviolent, visible protests Ruth focuses on here, but also includes financial and personal support of pro-democracy candidates in your area. Heather ended with an encouraging reminder: rubbing elbows with your neighbors and discovering (then working with) allies, will replace the natural fear and despair and frustration and anger we feel in response to SCOTUS today, with hope. Over and over and over again!
Yes, we are the majority. Rubbing elbows and personal conversations with neighbors and those we meet at the local grocery and pharmacy. The customers in the aisles, the check-out clerk, the bus driver, the bagger--has he/she registered, do they know where to go? Keep the conversations flowing. You are so right on replacing natural fear with hope & alliance. Over and over and over again. Keep gently talking everywhere you go. Every hour, every day. If everyone does this, it will make a difference -- like pebbles being dropped into a pond. Using our time wisely, we can make a difference.
Hard to go wrong, John, quoting Profs Ruth Ben Ghiat and Heather Cox Richardson. We are blessed to have their long, wide-ranging and detailed views of history …. and their remarkable abilities to tell us those stories, by connecting activities of despots around the world today, with despots of the past, and how ALL of them were defeated
Many don't realize that overturning Roe does NOT make abortion illegal in many states. Certainly will in many. I can and do stand up for women but it's important that women stand up for other women and themselves. That they need to speak up and also vote. As should the LGBTQ and other minorities. It's on all of us to teach others that don't understand politics that correlation isn't causation. That if they want results the midterms matter just as much and sometimes more than the presidential election year contests. That state elections matter too. Elections have consequences and not voting in 2016 likely will hurt women's rights, LGBTQ rights and can cause problems for decades. My wife aborted because the fetus stopped developing. There are neonatologists and technology that can inform prospective parents to then save themselves the devastation on the day of birth. It's rare but not as rare as many think. Women are scared to bring it up because some have made it a political issue and attack women for making a rational choice. Why carry a fetus for months to term knowing it won't survive? My son exists because we ended the prior pregnancy earlier. Still was very hard to find a doctor or a hospitial in a very liberal state to perform the operation due to the years of attacks on doctors and others in the profession. I'll likely see someone on "Facebook" post that this is a great thing. I will not hold back. A couple weeks ago I spent a few days telling off a woman thinking she was saving "babies" from being murdered. So many can't think that other women might experience a problem and need an operation if they didn't experience any issues. They can't empathize with other women that get pregnant at a time when they are not able to raise a child. That other women don't have a high earning spouse or a great job or supportive family that it takes. If a women needed an abortion she should speak up to let others know that it was important to her and necessary. No shame doing what was right for her. We should all support such women. We should also boycot the states these politicians control that push this agenda. It takes an effort to do so. Boycott the companies that support such politicians. Stand up to the influence of those peddling ancient superstiton as some moral code when it's only about group herd mind control. Nothing moral about superstition. Don't fear them. Don't give them an inch. They take other's passivity and actually use the public sphere to give superstiton some special exemption from being critiqued or ridiculed. It's exempt from government influence and control. Not from millions of rational humans saying enough of this nonsense. It's on the wane but they are fighting to remain relevant. Fight for your right to live your life under a rational government not one guided by superstitous nutters, conspiracy theorists and the wealthy and powerful that use the belief system to control millions of voters. Protest every day and at every opportunity you can. Ask Congress to pass a Federal Law legalizing it. A conservative court is filled with minds that follow the law and can't think beyond what the law says. This is serious stuff. If you are on here you understand. Help others that don't understand.
People, including women can be insensitive to an issue -- if it is not their experience. My heart goes out to you and wife for your experience. It is never easy, people think women go through these experiences as if they are going through a McDonald's drive thru. Not the case. I also had a pregnancy terminated due the fetus stopping development. I am probably a fraction of a percent of people that have seen up close, upon my request, my terminated child. It stays with you. But it is still the valid choice. This same pregnancy was twins, and the other child was ectopic; and I am grateful for the medical intervention that saved my life, and so I could continue to be a mom to my three other children. Perhaps women need to braver about speaking of these medical incidents, and incidents of choice. My recent opinion on this, and I agree with your wise analogy to ancient superstitions; is that it is again -- related to greed -- and money. Adoption industry, children as chattel, collapsed with abortions. And hence, on the other end of the spectrum, economic inequality is enhanced by lack of such services.
Our communication as a people has been condensed to tweets, twitters and other short retorts to others. Deeper, insightful, soulful communications need to be brought back into the norm. Women with stories need to be shamelessly communicative, and their men as well.
Women I speak with who are anti-abortion, it is the ancient superstition that they cling to. Who cares, or takes care of these kids once born? Hello, GOP! The party that forgets about you the day your born. Wake up America.
Let's communicate. Be the people we were meant to be.
I am so sorry for your loss. As to this issue it's political in the US because of religion being used as the tool. Only relevant because religion still dominates rural areas and gives a minority control over the majority. They fear losing their privilege. Gay rights, a black president and their faith losing it's influence all created the conditions and makes for a determined bunch. I would hope the backlash from women and others can lead to a reverse effect. I'm not optimistic because humans don't take the time to think about issues. Many can't. Lots of neuroscience to it. The ERA did not pass in the 70s. Women voted against it. All they need is some men and all women and such misogyny is eliminated.
Thank you Ruth~ the protesters outside the Supreme Court gathering instantly after the leaked info that SCOTUS is actively considering overturning Roe vs. Wade is a heartening move~ Protest is as important as you say to fighting the active virus of fascism infecting today’s Republican Party, a Putin led Russia and in other autocratically dominated or threatened nations . The fight for freedom against fascism is full on. That is why I subscribed when I heard of your newsletter. Truth is essential to know and transmit.
Thank you Ruth! What the new draft opinion from SCOTUS reminds me of is Rev. Martin Niemoller:’First they came for the Socialists….’; but as applied to various constitutional rights such as abortion, choice, right to marry whom you love etc. It’s all on the line now. Mobilized nonviolent protest should be the order of the day. Prayers for the country and every woman in it.
Agree with 'first they came for the Socialists'. The root cause, in my opinion is white privilege because it encompasses 1) economic inequality and 2) misogyny. The banner of white privilege should be easier than we may think to dismantle. It is not biblical or relevant in any religion I know of. It is the opposite. To any Christian or Catholic, white privilege defies the Gospel -- so no church or member should embrace. Embracing white privilege is something that someone should be ashamed of doing.
It is spiteful, selfish, greedy, hateful, envious of other's rich talents & culture. It stinks.
White privilege and ancient superstitions are amoral. Prayers for action of each of us, quickly in the six months, every day, every hour reaching out.
Our authoritarian information stream is so powerful now that folks on the right believe that our proto-fascist movement is the solution for this nation. Tragically, what they are missing is that once fascism is accepted in a society, it becomes entrenched and remains a stain on the moral fabric of society. The increased acceptance of social Darwinism by the right is a dangerous symptom of fascism. Protests by the left are our powerful information stream to combat the lunacy of fascism.
Agree, it seems people think it could be a fast turn-around for correction, if need be. Like elections where GOP may win, and then the next cycle in four years the Democrats win and so on. No. You are so right that people need to know it becomes entrenched, for generations. Now is our time.
GOP --- The Putin-is-a-Genius crowd, complete with heartbreaking photos of Maripol. Who on God's green earth would vote with that crowd? I really want to know.
The USA is literally 6 months and 5 days away from the midterm elections. What goes on between then and now will have an impact for generations to come. Maybe some of the 100,000,000 Americans who don’t vote will finally get off their butts? Truthfully, I am not holding my breath. The Republicans promised their constituents they would fight to overturn Roe vs Wade along with a host of other major changes. I am not surprised in the least and truly saddened to watch the USA turn into a theocracy.
the civic center. org -- is looking for volunteers to coordinate registrations at local high schools. I signed up for my local alma mater. The thought is to coordinate voter registrations for seniors at the civic classes, proms, graduations, etc. Let's tap into this younger set also. We must be smart, strategic and tireless to locate & roundup all we can to register AND to actively vote this November. Our very lives depend on it.
We need to find those 100 Million. This is the timepiece of democracy. I was privileged to live in the Delaware Valley for a time, where markers of the American revolution are commonplace and easily taken for granted and at the same time so revered. It was commonplace for there to be local stories of farmers meeting at our stone church - and others - nightly, weekly to contemplate how to support the movement. Their lives were much harsher, getting on horseback to go in the night to meet, the British moving about with no information or rumors of the enemy's location(s). Our task, in this modern era is much more convenient. You are so right, if we can get people off their butts. The task is ours. The lack of our success will be felt for generations.
Roe is just the first right to be gleefully taken away by our 6-3 far-right, blatantly partisan and theocratic Supreme Court. Which one is next in line?
Talk gently every day to ten people you don't know. The shop keeper, the person next to you in line at the store. Find a way to creatively open the door to conversation and exploration. Create spaces for doubt and cognitive dissonance.
Once again, I understand the sentiment you are suggesting Jan but with respect, what you are telling me to do isn’t realistic.
Ten people a day would require I spend every day out in the public during a pandemic. Even without being immune compromised (as I am) that’s a bad idea. The pandemic isn’t over.
Striking up conversations about abortion, theocracy, civil rights, the trump cult and such with strangers in an extremely red state is a very good way to ask to be verbally accosted, shoved, punched and even shot at. We must keep common sense and personal safety first.
Plus, it’s not my responsibility to go out and educate people, “creating spaces for doubt and (their) cognitive dissonance” - again, doing this to strangers is a good way to be attacked - verbally and physically. It’s also arrogant to think we just need to set everyone straight.
Military service taught me that in this country we each have the right to think and believe what we want. When in uniform it was my duty, under an oath I freely took, to defend that right even when I found other’s beliefs vile and repugnant. I still believe that we each get to choose what we hold dear. I might absolutely think your views are bug nut crazy but as long as you aren’t hurting or repressing others with your beliefs then who am I to try and create doubt and cognitive dissonance in you?
I have no problem living my beliefs by my actions and engaging in polite conversation with others on topics we disagree on. Until they start spewing hate and insults that is - then I’m done. You can’t reason with cultists and rabid hate. I will always support organizations that work for positive, inclusive change. I will always stand up for those being repressed, dismissed and disregarded. If the opportunity arises and I can do so safely with regard to my military earned/caused disabilities then I’ll be part of the nonviolent protests Ruth talks about.
Thanks for the advice but perhaps rethink what you’re suggesting people do in our current social and political climate.
Yes, it’s a buffet of possibilities for the far right … continued erosion of voting rights, erasing Federal oversight of environmental regulations, allowing social media platforms to continue running rampant, no accountability for our autocrats and kleptocrats and oligarchs, no possibility of gun controls, … goodness, the sky’s the limit for the 1%ers … thank you Ruth for the clarion call for nonviolent resistance!!!
Thank you Ruth. This is a wake up call for civic action and protest now in the wake of Roe v. Wade being overturned and the loss of not only reproductive rights for women but many privacy rights as well. The tragedy of Roe v. Wade being overturned is that state legislatures now will become the arbiters of privacy rights and individual freedoms that we have taken for granted for 50 years. No longer can we expect the federal government to be the protector of our privacy rights or civil liberties.
Ahead of the midterm elections, now is the time for action and national protest all across the country like never before! Our freedoms, our liberties our very democracy are all on the chopping block!
The five reactionaries on the far right conservative Supreme court believe there is no right to privacy in the constitution as was established by the Griswold decision, or from the 14th amendment, which protects privacy rights, civil rights and voting rights. Therefore, everything is on the table including, interracial marriage, contraception, gay rights and gay marriage, sodomy laws, even the right to protest, voting rights and anti discrimination legislation that protects black and minority rights.
Yes, the right wants to turn back the clock to an older more traditional time, rejecting modernity...... so did Hitler. They have also embraced social Darwinism, another fascist characteristic. The SCOTUS is going down the same rabbit hole.
I’ve been hesitant to protest, wondering about it’s actual impact. This article points out many examples of positive outcomes. I will be hesitant no longer!
Thank you kindly and I agree. 'Determined bunch' is such an accurate description. Religion is being used as a tool by the pseudo-Christians. Jesus never talked of shake downs or eye-for-eye thinking in my Bible!
Let our actions be that of listeners and educators as democracy whisperers, sharing what we know.
I understand the sentiment you are suggesting Jan but at this point we need people to be loud & crystal clear about what we are losing and how to turn back the rush to authoritarianism.
I agree with you. In my recent experience of talking to others there seems to movement towards cognitive dissonance. and their own questioning. In personal conversations with the ones teetering on the fence, my read has been it's good to recognize this, as some need some space to save face (they are a proud group) .... and keep the conversation flowing, so they may separate from GOP willfully like it's their own idea --- because it is. It's like they are on a voyage out of dark tunnel, beginning to see the light. I agree with you collectively we must be loud and crystal clear. It's almost like there are different modes of communication. Broad and then intimate.
Just a couple of key points to think about:
1. Non-violent protests are indeed a great way to change minds, but when the protests turn violent (as many of the BLM/Antifa protests did) the protests change minds in the wrong direction.
2. If SCOTUS returns abortion law to the states, it doesn't mean that abortion is outlawed. All it means is that it becomes one of the things people consider when they decide where to live.
I would say the protests were non-violent. Any violence was from others that used the situation and took advantage. They were looters showing up later and not protestors. It's very easy to mix the two together for those trying to make the protestors look bad. Any violence and looting from those rioters was tame especially considering the circumstances of the pandemic hurting their demographic more than others. Police also were cautioned to be careful so as not to make the situation worse. Killing or beating Black rioters/protestors when the protests are about police killing Blacks is not a good visual. IIt wasn't as bad as portrayed in the media.
It means far more than deciding where to live. It will place abortion out of reach for those who can’t just take time off to travel states away for medical care. Doing so requires money, safe transportation, a place to stay to ensure no medical problems come up immediately after, food during the trip, fuel, and then safe transportation back home - hopefully without being arrested and jailed for crossing state lines for medical care.
This was a profound essay and talk. This is the key. Peaceful organized protests are needed. How? Who takes the reign to organize? Remember the old Hands Across America... how did garner that momentum. Let's find a way. Our children's children are counting on us. When I lose my steam at the end of the day, trying to make a difference, it's good to recall we still above water in this fight -- we just need to strengthen/ rebuild stronger what is already in place. Hope and vigilance & work.
'Democracy is hard work, it's up to each of us'
Heather Cox Richardson has just echoed Ruth (and Brooke Harrington on last Sunday’s LUCID zoom gathering) … THIS IS THE BIG ONE. We are the majority and, once again, we can save our experiment in democracy from the extreme minority of white nationalists … by changing the public conversation from the FOX talking points, and participating locally and personally in our democracy … which includes the massive, nonviolent, visible protests Ruth focuses on here, but also includes financial and personal support of pro-democracy candidates in your area. Heather ended with an encouraging reminder: rubbing elbows with your neighbors and discovering (then working with) allies, will replace the natural fear and despair and frustration and anger we feel in response to SCOTUS today, with hope. Over and over and over again!
Yes, we are the majority. Rubbing elbows and personal conversations with neighbors and those we meet at the local grocery and pharmacy. The customers in the aisles, the check-out clerk, the bus driver, the bagger--has he/she registered, do they know where to go? Keep the conversations flowing. You are so right on replacing natural fear with hope & alliance. Over and over and over again. Keep gently talking everywhere you go. Every hour, every day. If everyone does this, it will make a difference -- like pebbles being dropped into a pond. Using our time wisely, we can make a difference.
Randolph, you're right of course, "rubbing elbows with neighbors" and "working with allies."
Hard to go wrong, John, quoting Profs Ruth Ben Ghiat and Heather Cox Richardson. We are blessed to have their long, wide-ranging and detailed views of history …. and their remarkable abilities to tell us those stories, by connecting activities of despots around the world today, with despots of the past, and how ALL of them were defeated
Saw Prof Ben-Ghiat on MSNBC Sunday show. So good when this educational material can be shared broadly.
Many don't realize that overturning Roe does NOT make abortion illegal in many states. Certainly will in many. I can and do stand up for women but it's important that women stand up for other women and themselves. That they need to speak up and also vote. As should the LGBTQ and other minorities. It's on all of us to teach others that don't understand politics that correlation isn't causation. That if they want results the midterms matter just as much and sometimes more than the presidential election year contests. That state elections matter too. Elections have consequences and not voting in 2016 likely will hurt women's rights, LGBTQ rights and can cause problems for decades. My wife aborted because the fetus stopped developing. There are neonatologists and technology that can inform prospective parents to then save themselves the devastation on the day of birth. It's rare but not as rare as many think. Women are scared to bring it up because some have made it a political issue and attack women for making a rational choice. Why carry a fetus for months to term knowing it won't survive? My son exists because we ended the prior pregnancy earlier. Still was very hard to find a doctor or a hospitial in a very liberal state to perform the operation due to the years of attacks on doctors and others in the profession. I'll likely see someone on "Facebook" post that this is a great thing. I will not hold back. A couple weeks ago I spent a few days telling off a woman thinking she was saving "babies" from being murdered. So many can't think that other women might experience a problem and need an operation if they didn't experience any issues. They can't empathize with other women that get pregnant at a time when they are not able to raise a child. That other women don't have a high earning spouse or a great job or supportive family that it takes. If a women needed an abortion she should speak up to let others know that it was important to her and necessary. No shame doing what was right for her. We should all support such women. We should also boycot the states these politicians control that push this agenda. It takes an effort to do so. Boycott the companies that support such politicians. Stand up to the influence of those peddling ancient superstiton as some moral code when it's only about group herd mind control. Nothing moral about superstition. Don't fear them. Don't give them an inch. They take other's passivity and actually use the public sphere to give superstiton some special exemption from being critiqued or ridiculed. It's exempt from government influence and control. Not from millions of rational humans saying enough of this nonsense. It's on the wane but they are fighting to remain relevant. Fight for your right to live your life under a rational government not one guided by superstitous nutters, conspiracy theorists and the wealthy and powerful that use the belief system to control millions of voters. Protest every day and at every opportunity you can. Ask Congress to pass a Federal Law legalizing it. A conservative court is filled with minds that follow the law and can't think beyond what the law says. This is serious stuff. If you are on here you understand. Help others that don't understand.
People, including women can be insensitive to an issue -- if it is not their experience. My heart goes out to you and wife for your experience. It is never easy, people think women go through these experiences as if they are going through a McDonald's drive thru. Not the case. I also had a pregnancy terminated due the fetus stopping development. I am probably a fraction of a percent of people that have seen up close, upon my request, my terminated child. It stays with you. But it is still the valid choice. This same pregnancy was twins, and the other child was ectopic; and I am grateful for the medical intervention that saved my life, and so I could continue to be a mom to my three other children. Perhaps women need to braver about speaking of these medical incidents, and incidents of choice. My recent opinion on this, and I agree with your wise analogy to ancient superstitions; is that it is again -- related to greed -- and money. Adoption industry, children as chattel, collapsed with abortions. And hence, on the other end of the spectrum, economic inequality is enhanced by lack of such services.
Our communication as a people has been condensed to tweets, twitters and other short retorts to others. Deeper, insightful, soulful communications need to be brought back into the norm. Women with stories need to be shamelessly communicative, and their men as well.
Women I speak with who are anti-abortion, it is the ancient superstition that they cling to. Who cares, or takes care of these kids once born? Hello, GOP! The party that forgets about you the day your born. Wake up America.
Let's communicate. Be the people we were meant to be.
I am so sorry for your loss. As to this issue it's political in the US because of religion being used as the tool. Only relevant because religion still dominates rural areas and gives a minority control over the majority. They fear losing their privilege. Gay rights, a black president and their faith losing it's influence all created the conditions and makes for a determined bunch. I would hope the backlash from women and others can lead to a reverse effect. I'm not optimistic because humans don't take the time to think about issues. Many can't. Lots of neuroscience to it. The ERA did not pass in the 70s. Women voted against it. All they need is some men and all women and such misogyny is eliminated.
Thank you Ruth~ the protesters outside the Supreme Court gathering instantly after the leaked info that SCOTUS is actively considering overturning Roe vs. Wade is a heartening move~ Protest is as important as you say to fighting the active virus of fascism infecting today’s Republican Party, a Putin led Russia and in other autocratically dominated or threatened nations . The fight for freedom against fascism is full on. That is why I subscribed when I heard of your newsletter. Truth is essential to know and transmit.
Thank you Ruth! What the new draft opinion from SCOTUS reminds me of is Rev. Martin Niemoller:’First they came for the Socialists….’; but as applied to various constitutional rights such as abortion, choice, right to marry whom you love etc. It’s all on the line now. Mobilized nonviolent protest should be the order of the day. Prayers for the country and every woman in it.
Agree with 'first they came for the Socialists'. The root cause, in my opinion is white privilege because it encompasses 1) economic inequality and 2) misogyny. The banner of white privilege should be easier than we may think to dismantle. It is not biblical or relevant in any religion I know of. It is the opposite. To any Christian or Catholic, white privilege defies the Gospel -- so no church or member should embrace. Embracing white privilege is something that someone should be ashamed of doing.
It is spiteful, selfish, greedy, hateful, envious of other's rich talents & culture. It stinks.
White privilege and ancient superstitions are amoral. Prayers for action of each of us, quickly in the six months, every day, every hour reaching out.
*write
Our authoritarian information stream is so powerful now that folks on the right believe that our proto-fascist movement is the solution for this nation. Tragically, what they are missing is that once fascism is accepted in a society, it becomes entrenched and remains a stain on the moral fabric of society. The increased acceptance of social Darwinism by the right is a dangerous symptom of fascism. Protests by the left are our powerful information stream to combat the lunacy of fascism.
Agree, it seems people think it could be a fast turn-around for correction, if need be. Like elections where GOP may win, and then the next cycle in four years the Democrats win and so on. No. You are so right that people need to know it becomes entrenched, for generations. Now is our time.
Let's make voting Republican a scarlet letter of shame.
GOP --- The Putin-is-a-Genius crowd, complete with heartbreaking photos of Maripol. Who on God's green earth would vote with that crowd? I really want to know.
The USA is literally 6 months and 5 days away from the midterm elections. What goes on between then and now will have an impact for generations to come. Maybe some of the 100,000,000 Americans who don’t vote will finally get off their butts? Truthfully, I am not holding my breath. The Republicans promised their constituents they would fight to overturn Roe vs Wade along with a host of other major changes. I am not surprised in the least and truly saddened to watch the USA turn into a theocracy.
the civic center. org -- is looking for volunteers to coordinate registrations at local high schools. I signed up for my local alma mater. The thought is to coordinate voter registrations for seniors at the civic classes, proms, graduations, etc. Let's tap into this younger set also. We must be smart, strategic and tireless to locate & roundup all we can to register AND to actively vote this November. Our very lives depend on it.
We need to find those 100 Million. This is the timepiece of democracy. I was privileged to live in the Delaware Valley for a time, where markers of the American revolution are commonplace and easily taken for granted and at the same time so revered. It was commonplace for there to be local stories of farmers meeting at our stone church - and others - nightly, weekly to contemplate how to support the movement. Their lives were much harsher, getting on horseback to go in the night to meet, the British moving about with no information or rumors of the enemy's location(s). Our task, in this modern era is much more convenient. You are so right, if we can get people off their butts. The task is ours. The lack of our success will be felt for generations.
Roe is just the first right to be gleefully taken away by our 6-3 far-right, blatantly partisan and theocratic Supreme Court. Which one is next in line?
Talk gently every day to ten people you don't know. The shop keeper, the person next to you in line at the store. Find a way to creatively open the door to conversation and exploration. Create spaces for doubt and cognitive dissonance.
Once again, I understand the sentiment you are suggesting Jan but with respect, what you are telling me to do isn’t realistic.
Ten people a day would require I spend every day out in the public during a pandemic. Even without being immune compromised (as I am) that’s a bad idea. The pandemic isn’t over.
Striking up conversations about abortion, theocracy, civil rights, the trump cult and such with strangers in an extremely red state is a very good way to ask to be verbally accosted, shoved, punched and even shot at. We must keep common sense and personal safety first.
Plus, it’s not my responsibility to go out and educate people, “creating spaces for doubt and (their) cognitive dissonance” - again, doing this to strangers is a good way to be attacked - verbally and physically. It’s also arrogant to think we just need to set everyone straight.
Military service taught me that in this country we each have the right to think and believe what we want. When in uniform it was my duty, under an oath I freely took, to defend that right even when I found other’s beliefs vile and repugnant. I still believe that we each get to choose what we hold dear. I might absolutely think your views are bug nut crazy but as long as you aren’t hurting or repressing others with your beliefs then who am I to try and create doubt and cognitive dissonance in you?
I have no problem living my beliefs by my actions and engaging in polite conversation with others on topics we disagree on. Until they start spewing hate and insults that is - then I’m done. You can’t reason with cultists and rabid hate. I will always support organizations that work for positive, inclusive change. I will always stand up for those being repressed, dismissed and disregarded. If the opportunity arises and I can do so safely with regard to my military earned/caused disabilities then I’ll be part of the nonviolent protests Ruth talks about.
Thanks for the advice but perhaps rethink what you’re suggesting people do in our current social and political climate.
Yes, it’s a buffet of possibilities for the far right … continued erosion of voting rights, erasing Federal oversight of environmental regulations, allowing social media platforms to continue running rampant, no accountability for our autocrats and kleptocrats and oligarchs, no possibility of gun controls, … goodness, the sky’s the limit for the 1%ers … thank you Ruth for the clarion call for nonviolent resistance!!!
Let us re-commit today.
Thank you Ruth. This is a wake up call for civic action and protest now in the wake of Roe v. Wade being overturned and the loss of not only reproductive rights for women but many privacy rights as well. The tragedy of Roe v. Wade being overturned is that state legislatures now will become the arbiters of privacy rights and individual freedoms that we have taken for granted for 50 years. No longer can we expect the federal government to be the protector of our privacy rights or civil liberties.
Ahead of the midterm elections, now is the time for action and national protest all across the country like never before! Our freedoms, our liberties our very democracy are all on the chopping block!
Lord help us when things are turned over to the state. Not good.
The five reactionaries on the far right conservative Supreme court believe there is no right to privacy in the constitution as was established by the Griswold decision, or from the 14th amendment, which protects privacy rights, civil rights and voting rights. Therefore, everything is on the table including, interracial marriage, contraception, gay rights and gay marriage, sodomy laws, even the right to protest, voting rights and anti discrimination legislation that protects black and minority rights.
Yes, the right wants to turn back the clock to an older more traditional time, rejecting modernity...... so did Hitler. They have also embraced social Darwinism, another fascist characteristic. The SCOTUS is going down the same rabbit hole.
SCOTUS going off the rails is one of the most astounding things to witness in my lifetime. Shameless.
This is what extremist white Christian minority rule looks like.
We rise today as 'Democracy whisperers' --- rising to the challenge we go. Kindest regards,
Excellent Professor Ben-Ghiat...you right truth both bold and unequivocal....