Where do I go from here?

[wildeyed]

I don't post much these days, but I am feeling kind of broken by the events of the past year or so and need to vent. Furguson is killing me. First the killing of an unarmed man, then the fact that the police are running so rough shod over all constitutional rights that they seem to actually be a rogue military unit. So, so wrong what is going on there. And earlier this summer, the part where Americans SCREAMED in immigrant children's faces to go home and then chanted USA USA USA.... Who does that? So much hate toward CHILDREN by grown men and women. Give a new meaning to the word "bully". It just made me weep.

I came to DU as a way to find relevant news stories and like-minded people in the run up to the election of 2004. I had begun to hate Bush so much it felt like my brains were going to start running out of my ears, so I got educated and, for the first time, politically active. Having always been inspired by MLK, I decided to focus on voter registration, both as a tribute to his legacy and a way to help further my own political values. We lost the presidential election, but did well locally, so I stayed involved and we made huge local gains, increasing our state's voter turnout from one of the lowest to acceptable. And then 2010 happened, Dems lost statewide, we got redistricted, and my state is now some sort of playground for a very wealthy conservative ideologue named Art Pope. Everything we worked for is repealed, they are gutting our fine public universe system and attempting to break our decent public schools so they can privatize and profit. And my kids are in middle school, so they will feel the brunt of this awful General Assembly. I can already personally see how the best teachers are leaving my children's schools and how hard it is to find a decent replacement. And who could blame the teachers for leaving? We made it clear we did not value their services. I would leave too.

One of my largest worries in the run up to the 2004 election was the fact that Bush was going to replace two Supremes during that second term. And it has turned out worse than I could imagine. Citizen's United, Hobby Lobby, and the Voting Rights Act case are some of the highlights of awfulness that occurred. And I don't see anyway to fix this now. The Supremes are awful. It is just an extension of the partisan bickering and gridlock that has engulfed the senate, but they are there FOR LIFE. Fucking Scalia gets to define my reproductive rights and those of my daughter for the next umpteen years? Shoot me. These cosseted, out of touch, bigoted old men get to tell us that this country no longer needs all the protections of the Voting Rights Act? And that the voice of corporations are more important than the voices of actual citizens, that they can buy as much speech as they want and drown out everyone else? And I forgot about the case where they decided the separation of church and state was not really all that important after all. Really? We founded the COUNTRY on that principle, at least according to what I learned in school. My rage meter is constantly redlined by these guys, but I don't see anyway to make them accountable for the disasters that they are engineering.

So what do I do? How do I stay upbeat and engaged? I know I am rambling, but to recap, I am painfully disgusted by a good portion of my countrymen and women due to their hateful, racist and just plain horribly rude actions. I see the Supreme Court as the root of much of what is wrong with this country right now, but other than electing a second Dem for the next eight years and then waiting for a conservative to die, there is no way to rein them in that I know of. And beyond that, what is the point of the Supreme Court if they are just and extension of our broken, partisan congress? And then what is happening in my state is really awful to watch and is impacting my children.

I can't even focus on the awful that is the Middle East these days, although I know I need to since it is really, really bad.

I know I need to stay active, now more than ever. But I feel so depressed by it all. And I know that is what the other side wants, to make me feel powerless and apathetic. So tell me how you are keeping upbeat and fighting the good fight. Are we turning a corner? Will this country ever hit bottom with the love of bad conservative policy? I need a pep talk or something.

[grasswire]

1. time for this

The Low Road

What can they do to you?
Whatever they want..

They can set you up, bust you,
they can break your fingers,
burn your brain with electricity,
blur you with drugs till you
can’t walk, can’t remember.
they can take away your children,
wall up your lover;
they can do anything you can’t stop them doing.

How can you stop them?
Alone you can fight, you can refuse.
You can take whatever revenge you can
But they roll right over you.
But two people fighting back to back
can cut through a mob
a snake-dancing file
can break a cordon,
termites can bring down a mansion

Two people can keep each other sane
can give support, conviction,
love, massage, hope, sex.

Three people are a delegation
a cell, a wedge.
With four you can play games
and start a collective.
With six you can rent a whole house
have pie for dinner with no seconds
and make your own music.

Thirteen makes a circle,
a hundred fill a hall.
A thousand have solidarity
and your own newsletter;
ten thousand community
and your own papers;
a hundred thousand,
a network of communities;
a million our own world.

It goes one at a time.
It starts when you care to act.
It starts when you do it again
after they say no.
It starts when you say we
and know who you mean;
and each day you mean
one more.

- Marge Piercy

[VanGoghRocks]

3. Or for this:

On Living

Living is no laughing matter:
you must live with great seriousness
like a squirrel, for example—
I mean without looking for something beyond and above living,
I mean living must be your whole occupation.
Living is no laughing matter:
you must take it seriously,
so much so and to such a degree
that, for example, your hands tied behind your back,
your back to the wall,
or else in a laboratory
in your white coat and safety glasses,
you can die for people—
even for people whose faces you’ve never seen,
even though you know living
is the most real, the most beautiful thing.
I mean, you must take living so seriously
that even at seventy, for example, you’ll plant olive trees—
and not for your children, either,
but because although you fear death you don’t believe it,
because living, I mean, weighs heavier.

II
Let’s say we’re seriously ill, need surgery—
which is to say we might not get up
from the white table.
Even though it’s impossible not to feel sad
about going a little too soon,
we’ll still laugh at the jokes being told,
we’ll look out the window to see if it’s raining,
or still wait anxiously
for the latest newscast . . .
Let’s say we’re at the front—
for something worth fighting for, say.
There, in the first offensive, on that very day,
we might fall on our face, dead.
We’ll know this with a curious anger,
but we’ll still worry ourselves to death
about the outcome of the war, which could last years.
Let’s say we’re in prison
and close to fifty,
and we have eighteen more years, say,
before the iron doors will open.
We’ll still live with the outside,
with its people and animals, struggle and wind—
I mean with the outside beyond the walls.
I mean, however and wherever we are,
we must live as if we will never die.

III
This earth will grow cold,
a star among stars
and one of the smallest,
a gilded mote on blue velvet—
I mean this, our great earth.
This earth will grow cold one day,
not like a block of ice
or a dead cloud even
but like an empty walnut it will roll along
in pitch-black space . . .
You must grieve for this right now
—you have to feel this sorrow now—
for the world must be loved this much
if you’re going to say “I lived”. . .

~Nazim Hikmet

[wildeyed]

13. It is exhausting to always be the one who is willing to go to the mat for an issue.

you can die for people—
even for people whose faces you’ve never seen,
even though you know living
is the most real, the most beautiful thing.

That speaks to me about so many people I look up to, about what make a person great.

I will look up more of Hikmet's work. I have not read it before.

[VanGoghRocks]

14. I was introduced to him through a recent Chris Hedges masterpiece:

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_myth_of_human_progress_and_the_collapse_of_complex_societies_video_2014

[wildeyed]

15. Chris Hedges is one of those people who makes me feel really, really stupid, but in a good way.

He is so amazingly verbal and his mind moves in such effortless arabesques. I read his work and my jaw just drops at his ability. Don't have time to watch it all now, but will look at it later.

[wildeyed]

12. Poems are always a balm.

[seveneyes]

2. Where do we go from here?

[malthaussen]

4. Look, it's damage control.

Can't oblige you with a pep talk. The country is in damage-control mode. There is nothing glamorous or exciting or cheerful about cleaning up messes. Cleaning up, did I say? Rather, keeping the rate at which they expand down. Repairing infrastructure, whether physical or moral, is never going to give a sense of progress or accomplishment. You do it because it has to be done. Or you give up and let the people with the agenda ram it right down your throat.

-- Mal

[deaniac21]

5. .

[link:

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[IsItJustMe]

6. Bad things can and do bring good results.

Look at how horrible the 60's were with racism and yet the civil rights movement came out of it and through it anyway.

It's a slow process and yet we are living in a world were all things are possible. There are also lots of good things happening. Stay involved, if that is what your heart desires, and find those good things and let that be your focus.

The world is not static and there will be steps forward and backward. I do believe though that even the bad things serves the good in the grand scheme of things.

[PasadenaTrudy]

7. Take a break

Disconnect, disengage. The world will still be a mess when you get back. Take care of yourself, realize what is in your control and what isn't. Personally, I don't watch the news. I'm online a lot so I get bits and pieces of what's happening but I don't immerse myself in it. I look for the beauty and joy in the world around me, it's there. I watch funny movies, read engrossing books, play with my dog. It's your choice to make

[wildeyed]

10. I think I need an internet break.

At least for a few days. I am sure there is something stupid on Netflix that needs watching.

[jeff47]

8. Stop reading. Start doing.

We are in our current situation because people stopped doing anything about politics, and started only reading about politics.

As a result, our politics are determined by the tiny fraction of people who actually show up to every election. Exacerbated by stupid decisions like the party saving money by ignoring lots of local races.

To fix it, we need to stop just reading about politics, and start actually doing politics. Drag everyone you know to the polls. Find out who's actually running for city council. Don't treat primary elections as a hassle - primaries are how we get to control the party.

Does everyone on your local ballot suck? Then run for office.

Stop reading. Start doing.

[politicat]

9. Can you go local?

I get the outrage meter being redlined. For me, when national and international makes me feel like I'm shouting into a hurricane, I find something small where I can see I'm making a difference.

Last September, my community got hit with major flooding. It did major damage to our parks, to mountain communities, and to homeless encampments and gathering places. We had structural issues that only showed up when the community's emergency response protocols were tested (such as, when the community evacuates an area, how do we ensure that homeless people are also evacuated, and get shelter? Initially, the emergency shelters were rejecting homeless people because they didn't have an address.) In the last year since, I've found a lot of projects that need hands, minds, money and time, and in focusing on those, the tangible results help me be involved and recognize that I can make a difference.

Same with reproductive rights, civil rights, inequality. All politics are ultimately and originally local, because where you live is what affects you most day to day. Yes, my police department is generally fine, but that doesn't mean I skip going to city council, and that I don't speak up for my neighbors (I live in a predominantly minority/low-income neighborhood, though we're neither; my specific community needs a voice who can code switch between white privilege and urban Latino/East Asian.) I expect my winter to be focused on ensuring that the dash cams we paid for are installed, can't be tampered with, and reviewed by a citizen council. Civil liberties matter, and the people who can most eloquently bring people with privilege to understanding that civil liberties apply to all are other people with privilege.

Even if you live in a red town in a red county in a red state, there are local issues where you will find common ground, and by working at a local level, you may help turn your community more purple by being an example of another way. Yes, we disagree with the conservatives, and yes, we think they're wrong, but often their stridency comes from ignorance, fear, feeling helpless and anxiety, not out of active malice. If we can model a better world, they will see it, be educated, decrease their fear and feel more effective. Will it change them entirely? Not necessarily, but it may make them more amenable to compromise. Just because Faux is destructive doesn't mean their entire audience is.

I'm also an introvert, and being directly involved with people on a daily, heavy basis leaves me drained. I happen to be good with data, so whenever an organization needs data assistance (I.e. Setting up a system for tracking resources versus needs within the homeless day center, or getting hardware are working, or organizing job planning for trail restoration) I aim for those. (And since I follow through, which is something a lot of volunteers don't, I get great referrals. Also, funny enough, job offers.)

Alternately, you can focus on a single, large national or international project. I know someone whose entire activism is ensuring that young women have functional menstrual supplies so they can remain in school. She makes hundreds of pads a year. She's home-bound, so she can't be out doing more, but she can get to her sewing machine and cutting board. Another who is only on call for FEMA, but when she gets the call, she goes for weeks at a time. And I know someone who white-hat hacks to ensure that reported crime stats match official records. These women don't ignore the bigger picture, but they recognize that de-focusing will decrease their effectiveness.

And it's okay to take a break, take a step back, spend a day or a week or a month doing nothing on line but looking at cat videos and recipes. (Or whatever your calmatives are.) Compassion fatigue is a thing, and so is outrage overload. The first rule of caregiving, of emergency response is always to not make yourself a casualty, too. That should apply to activism, too, because when we burn out, we're gone, and it's a lot easier for everyone if we step back, recover and rejoin the fight than it is to recruit someone new who will only last 12 or 18 months then burn out, too.

[wildeyed]

11. I get what you are saying about the local.

I started out doing voter registration drives on my own, just me and anyone I could fine on the internet who wanted to help. We were awful at first, with no training or experience, but no one else was doing it. And then I got in with other activists and started doing it almost like tech support. A church or fraternity would want to do a registration, the group would put me together with them and I would come in with supplies and train their volunteers. And then Obama came to town. It was great to see it done with so many resources, but suddenly I was extraneous as anything other than a basic street volunteer. And now the campaign is gone, with all their money and paid organizers and we are on our own again. I tried with the Hagan campaign (NC), but it is hard to really commit since she is so bland. It is mostly a matter of hating her opposition with the fire of 10000 suns that gets me out for her, and that is hard to maintain. At some point the candidate has to inspire me for what they are doing or saying. I made a crack last week while I was volunteering about her being mealy-mouthed on the immigrant children's issue, and the organizer did not pester me this week to come in this weekend for the first time in like forever, so I guess I offended. sigh.... Just as well.

I am going to the Planned Parenthood Action meeting this week. It is an issue I can get behind. And I am on a list of people who have been working on the Citizen's Review Board (review police complaints), so that should get some steam after the election.

I hear what you are saying about stepping back, but I did that a bunch last year, and we have an election coming up so I feel like I need to stay with it through November at least. Thanks for taking time to make the post. It helps.

[politicat]

16. Yup on uninspiring candidates. And on the national campaigns not handling local levels well.

The Kerry campaign burned that latter bridge for me in 2004. I'll work for PACs, for local and state candidates, for EMILY's List, NARAL, League of Women Voters... But never again a national. Too many of their operatives behave like they're gifts to politics, while completely ignoring on the ground resources. (And I'm glad they're not in diplomacy.)

I'm sorry your candidates are meh; that's a slog at best and painful at worst.

Personally, for me, getting fired about a midterm, when our choices are meh and kill it with fire, means picking an issue and using that as my entry. I happen to like my Senators and Rep, which makes it easier, but here, governor is the one that's blowing me down. Hick's better than the alternative, and I try to keep remembering that Hick's not interested in chaining me in my kitchen and eminent domaining my uterus.

Does your local PP or NARAL have a state PAC branch? The PACs can support the candidates, so even if you're not fired on the candidate, you have issues that matter. Would you mind being a local rep if they don't have one?