My parents

Are most likely rotating in their collective graves as I have been joining various left of center organizations they warned me never to affiliate myself.  They came of age during the years of the Holocaust when it was ever so dangerous to be a Jew in any country and also during the McCarthy Era in the 1950s when it was just dangerous to be anyone with an opinion.  They warned me not to let my politics be known.  Too late, parental units, I have been busy being politically proactive to save my sanity.  I think my parents were constantly worried that the Holocaust would never end so if they wanted to go to a "restricted" restaurant in say, St. Clair Shores, they made a reservation in a gentile sounding name, like Lee.  To me if I am not wanted I am not going to give that business my money.  My folks just wanted to belong and be Americans, not tied to the Old Country of their parents.  I think that pendulum has swung back the other way with me as I very much identify as Jewish and have joined a synagogue and participate.

But my politics have always been at odds with my parents who were Goldwater Republicans.  I have been more liberal in my world views.  So in addition to joining the ACLU, the Anti-Defamation League, read the NY Times and Mother Jones.  If the McCarthy Era ever becomes fashionable again I want to be with my conscience and not my fears.  Fear is what has given us our current environment.  Fear of becoming a minority in a nation of immigrants.  Fear of being the wrong religion at the wrong time.  Southern Poverty Law Center, B'nai Brith.  Oh, they will come for me, those Agents of Orange.  Planned Parenthood, Emily's List...and so on.  Get the point? Basically my year end bonus has gone to financing my beliefs and the felt need of opposition to Agent Orange and his Minions.  And they are not the cute one eyed yellow Minions.  No, these are dangerous ones; the one like Steve Bannon who doesn't want his kids going to school with whiny Jews.  Those like Betsy De Vos who believes in school vouchers and schools of choice, which would basically kill public schools and create ghettos of them.  I am surprised, well, so far, that he hasn't made Ms. Palin head of the EPA only to have her disband the agency and let ecological havoc reign supreme.  Jefferson Sessions as Attorney General...might as well write off any proactive voter of civil rights adjudications.

The fact that Agent Orange has told his supporters to treat people with respect, he has opened a Pandora's box brimming with hatred for people of color, people of non-christian beliefs, of people believing that political correctness has no place in civil discourse.  He really can't unring that bell.  Hence I want to be really upfront with my politics.

I was scared.  I still am to some extent but the joinings have strengthened me to the point that I can read a newspaper, read news magazines (and thanks to whoever sent me a subscription to The Week...nice!) and watch the news again.  And I am heartened by the fact that the restaurant in Washington, D.C. that did not know what event it was hosting (It was the NPI holding a whites only rally) donated the proceeds of that evening to the ADL. Kudos to Maggiano's Little Italy for doing this.

It is time to remember the words of Pastor Martin Niemoller.

"First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a Socialist

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out because I was not a Trade Unionist

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew

Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak for me."

It is time to speak out and speak loudly. 

Finding a voice

Made a decision to subscribe to the New York Times (Sunday only) and joined the Southern Poverty Law Center.  Every step I take I am taking to empower myself to withstand the onslaught of Trumpiness and make sure that the singular voice I do have is heard.  Education, read and support with be my first act of Civil Disobedience.  I re-read Thoreau's classic essay on the subject and rather than continue to feel stuck and sullen over the turn of events I am choosing to radicalize myself and support the kind of organizations my parents warned me about.  I understand there will be a march on the Michigan's state capitol on the 21st of January from 1-3 to coincide with the Million Woman March on Washington. 

All this said I am encouraging all of you to take steps to "radicalize" yourselves.  Sure, wear a safety pin, but more to the point educate yourself.  Read Thoreau.  Read.  Just read.  Read a newspaper, read several.  Talk among yourselves.  Join organizations Your Parents warned You about.  Read, Radicalize and Resist.  I encourage you to take up books and papers.  Read.  Read histories.  As George Santayana (among others) has said "Those you forget the past are condemned to repeat it".  So very true.  I cannot recall an election that has had me this disillusioned about the course America is to take.  Certainly I was disappointed with Nixon, Reagan, the Bushes.  But none of them put me in fear of the sanctity that has been the American Dream, co-opted now by the Alt-Right and this demonic vision of a resurgent white dominated culture.

My three Rs are not reduce, reuse and recycle.  No, they are Read, Radicalize and Resist.  Read a paper, read a book.  The Trumpians are not.  They will not know what has hit them when they run into an educated class in this country who refuse to repeat the mistakes of the past.

And that, my friends, is the lesson of the day.

I lost my voice

Yes, I have lost my voice as this country has lost its collective mind.  Agent Orange, aka the Orange Ogre, has taken over.  And I am scared.  And I am not doing too well in accepting this new reality.  What I have done is join the ACLU.  I sent money to Planned Parenthood in honor of that great egalitarian Mike Pence.  I have retained my membership in the local Democratic Party. Save for these actions I have been in a stupor.  I still can't believe how stupid this country is to elect someone who hasn't taken a basic civics course and doesn't know the meaning of the word nepotism.  But he probably knows depotism. 

And most of all I am scared of that anti-Semite Steve Bannon, who the Orange Ogre has made his senior adviser.  I am scared for all the Jews, Muslims, Latinos, African Americans, LGBT community...basically all Americans who comprise the diversity this truly is this country and not the hatred of the banal citizenry who have spoken.  Fully 50% of Americans didn't vote in this election.  Fully more of them voted for Hillary but she lost the electoral college.  The electoral college was designed by the framers of the constitution to prevent this type of demagogue from attaining power.

We must remain vigilant in the face of this incipient fascism that is lurking in the shadows. And what, pray tell, happens when the promises of the The Wall and Jobs do not materialize?   I suspect the followers will follow others and move more to the right.  I am scared. 

This country is not a business.  It cannot be run on the model of a business. 

And just when I think things can't get worse they do.  With each new appointment I shudder.  Sessions, a  racist of the first order, is Attorney General.  That's what made me join the ACLU.  I don't think the Democrats will grow a pair and oppose the new regime with the full force of the constitution.  It is up to organizations like the ACLU, the Southern Poverty Law Center and the media to watchdog and safeguard us.  We must use critical thinking and call out the racists, the homophobe, the Islamaphobe, the anti-Semite.  But truly we are all targets of a regime that has the impetus towards fascism. 

The media, which gave rise to Agent Orange, must make him accountable for his actions and make sure he abides the laws of this country.  We must be vigilant and not vigilantes.  I am sick unto death.  I am scared. 

I have been strangely silent

Blame it on sitting shiva for our country as Agent Orange (Thanks Green Tuna) has somehow been elected.  In spite, or maybe because of, his racist, homophobic, xenophobic, misogyny and other less than "politically correct" attributes, he managed to get elected by people who wanted an outsider with no political expertise, no restraint (yes, they have re-opened his Twitter account) and a VP who is slightly to the right of, well, everyone.  It is no wonder that some have taken to the streets to protest this foolish election.  I have been clinically depressed since Tuesday night.  In spite of running a positive campaign, winning all the debates, and not grabbing any pussy, Hillary managed to lose to a egotist who really only wanted to prove he could win and now doesn't have a clue as to what to do, other than to make American great again while Pence handles the political agenda.  It seems to matter not that Wiki-Leaks and Russian intelligent has tainted our election, with Putin already reaching out to U.S. to establish friendlier ties. 

So that said, I cannot bear to watch my beloved MSNBC, Bill Maher and SNL this week.  I have on sack cloth and ashes, my mirrors covered.  How, I wonder, can so many vote against their own self-interest and elect such a moron?  Here is someone who won't raise the minimum wage, will use the old gem of trickle down economics (which is what put us in a recession in the first place, in addition to stupid trickle-down wars) to bolster the wealthy while the middle class continues to get squeezed.  Yes, this was a knee jerk reaction to having an African American President.  They want to take their country back (all the way to the 1950s it seems), before feminism, before civil rights, before the voting rights act, before marriage equality, before Roe v. Wade.  Here we have the genial Mike Pence with his Religious Restoration Act which basically guarantees the right to discriminate based on one's religious bent. 

I fear for out nation.  It just doesn't make sense to me.  How can I make sense of all of this?  The Pandora's Box of racism, antisemitism, homophobia and xenophobia has been opened and will not get closed any time soon.  I am waiting for the mass deportations, the Muslim ban, THE WALL.  Will this shit actually happen?  God only knows.  And God only knows what the hell will happen in the next four years.  This is like the Brexit Vote, where people didn't understand really what they voted for.  All they wanted was "change".  Wait until the ACA is repealed and the uninsured want their medical insurance back.  The damn insurance companies who dropped out of the program because, guess what, profits were down and basically killed the program.  No one should make a profit on health care.  We need a single payer system, like Medicare, only that ain't gonna happen, but people are going to be clamoring for help.  Who will champion the underclass?  The Millennials who voted or didn't vote will suffer with more student debt.  The great unwashed won a Pyrrhic victory that will be short lived. 

I am saddened by all this and can't deal with the truth...that we have elected Agent Orange and he will be just a deadly for the country as the chemical bearing its name.  So, those of you who voted your conscience, be careful of what you wish for...you just might get it.