I wrote to my senators and congressman today. It was challenging to boil the issues down to a brief message because in the last two weeks, literally every institution and value in this country has been bludgeoned. To add insult to injury, the Democrats – who helped kill the Harris campaign with an insistence on a message of bipartisanship – continue to use “people want us to work with the other side” as an excuse to put their tails between their legs and help advance republican candidates and bills like automatons. They refuse to look at the reality of our time and change tactics as necessary, and it will kill our Democracy as much as trump will.
The first thing I asked of them was to strike the word “bipartisanship” from Dem vocabulary. Just like the imagined utopia of the “olden days” that fascists push on their marks, “bipartisanship” is a made up fantasy. If it was an AI image, it would be a young and very large white family wearing 1920’s German ethnic clothing, eating a family meal with their three arms, each containing anywhere from 6-12 fingers. If bipartisanship ever really worked, it hasn’t worked in decades and I can guarantee that it will literally never work again.
It’s dead, Dems. Let. It. Rest.
The second thing I asked was for them to fight every single thing. I don’t care if it’s only the naming of a post office, they need to fight it. I don’t care if the republican majority is large enough to overcome Democratic stalling, they need to fight it. Why should they cause themselves greater stress at their already stressful jobs, they might ask? Well number one, they get paid for it! That is their day job. They aren’t volunteers, and just like everyone they supposedly represent, they need to work for the money we pay them.
Number two, in the last two weeks:
- The rights of immigrants, whether they’re here legally or not, have been tossed out the window, and cities that welcome them are being terrorized by ICE.
- Birthright citizenship is on the chopping block, and trump’s lawyers are even working out legal arguments to strip Native Americans of their birthright citizenship.
- Trans people are being officially portrayed as sexual deviants, with laws now preventing them from expressing their gender both physically and through official documentation. Schools are being asked not to hire them to protect children from said sexual deviance, and yet the president removed barriers to charge teachers who actually do molest students with criminal charges.
- Along with children, cis women are being used as cudgels (see the “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government” bullshit) against trans people while also watching our own rights being stripped from us. Women are dying in red states – so much so that their governments refuse to release the statistics – and those of us in blue states know our time may be coming very soon. There may be no safe place for women to attain healthcare in the very near future.
- Departments and institutions within the federal government, along with those who contract with them, are forbidden to celebrate history that is non-white and non-male. Indeed, the republicans are trying to erase the history and achievements of Black and Brown people and of Women.
- The violent criminals of January 6, 2021, have been pardoned and released only to be arrested again.
- The federal workforce is being harassed and purged by non-elected broligarch, Elon Musk. We were told that DOGE was simply an advisory board and not an official government group. However, he has gained access to government information systems and is trying to railroad civil servants into quitting their jobs.
- The FBI is currently being purged, and it is known that a great number of agents will not only lose their jobs, they will be named publicly in order to incite violence from the pardoned January 6 criminals and their sympathizers. Trump is putting a death sentence on their heads.
- Former officials who fell out of favor with Trump also have a death sentence on their heads – Milley, Bolton, Fauci etc. – will have to face threats and harassment for the rest of their lives because of trump and the republicans who enable this.
- We are now in a trade war with two of our closest allies, Canada and Mexico. As Trump continues to make threats to other countries around the world, our country will not only be cut off from goods and services, but we will be remade in his image – hateful, friendless, and alone.
I’m sure I’ve left out many other horrors – the sheer volume of destruction is overwhelming. As it’s meant to be. If these reasons and more aren’t enough to make the Democrats fight, what will it take?
We all know that this is a turning point in our country. We know that with republican majorities in both House and Senate, Democratic hands are tied in many ways. We also know that if they don’t fight every single thing in those chambers, if they don’t try to make every single thing as difficult as humanly possible, they will be helping American fascism along.
Please, if you haven’t already, call and / or email your senators and congressional representatives. If you’re in a blue state, tell them to knock off the B-word talk. Tell them that you expect them to fight every single fucking thing. Yes, there is more that we can do, but if nothing else, contacting your so-far flaccid representatives is a start.
For those in red states – contact your collaborationist reps. Bug the hell out of them. Even though they all seem to be shameless, shame them anyway. At the very least, flood their phone lines and emails with the vitriol they deserve. Any life that isn’t white and cis-gendered male is at risk right now, and we all need to act upon that fact.
While calling and emailing may end up being a lost cause, that doesn’t mean it’s not worth trying. Get out there in whatever way you can, bug the hell out of your reps, let them know you expect them to earn their pay, and fight!