Gerrymandered America of the Future?
Part of my withdrawal from life, in large measure, has been due to the chaos in our political system. I never expected to live through the destruction of America from within. Then again, I never expected someone like our current president and congressional houses would be puppets to a foreign power as we are seeing now. I found something this morning which has given me a glimmer of hope that this "crisis of corruption" can come to an end and democracy can be restored, something that will help us become the nation our founders hoped we would be - for the people, of the people and by the people.
In cruising the internet for videos on how to repair my washing machine, I found one that had nothing to do with repairing household appliances, but everything about how we could repair our country. Watching it gave me hope, made me feel this might be the answer we need.
I quit looking for washing machine repair videos. I (we) have a bigger job to do.
Please take a few minutes to watch "Unbreaking America". I think you might be glad you did. Hope so, at the very least. "Find out how you can get involved at http://represent.us"
15 comments:
A retired lawyer whose children I used to babysit is behind legal action re gerrymandering in WI.
I haven't followed up your link yet so don't know it he's mentioned---but I am HEARTENED to know that many, many of us are doing our bit
--and it doesn't take as much as one might think to turn the tide...
A la this article in the BBC today:
"Nonviolent protests are twice as likely to succeed as armed conflicts –
and those engaging a threshold of 3.5% of the population have never failed to bring about change."
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20190513-it-only-takes-35-of-people-to-change-the-world
Even a simply little blog post can create ripples---so nice to see you here, Crow!!!
I wouldn't be here, nor would I have stumbled onto this video, if you hadn't found Annabelle and helped me get her, so I thank you!
It seems there is a groundswell of people moving together, rationally, peacefully, earnest in their drive to bring us - worldwide, not just the US - back to a kinder, inclusive, stronger world than we have now.
Perhaps we will soon see people wearing buttons that proclaim they are part of the 3.5% threshold!
Hello Martha;
Nice to hear from you again. I must confess I could only take a few minutes of this video. More and more I find the sound of American [particularly young female] voices really grating. There is a risk of course that that discomfort gets in the way of addressing the very real problems around American - and I must add, British - democracy. This discomfort is only the tip of an iceberg relating to how we view both the people around us, and the people we elect into office.
The more I listen to the news from both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, the more I look askance at the behaviour of both politicians and electorate. Was it not said that we get the governments we deserve? If that is the case, then we do need to look at ourselves and our attitudes, social and political. I will make no comment about your President. The exercise would be too demeaning.
We are in a mess, of that I am in no doubt. It is good, therefore, that there are those who speak out. But we must exercise some respect, discretion and responsibility. Somehow, Mr. Trump convinced enough people to get him into office. What does that say about his support base? Indeed, what does it say about any society who elects any particular leader?
Again, it's good to hear from you after so long. I trust you are as well as can be politically expected. :)
Hi Martha
Good to hear from you. I'll listen to the video later, I'm in Seattle for a couple weeks, just got out of the hospital again.
Sometimes I think the best case scenario is that I'll need a visa to travel from Montana to western Washington. Divorce court, writ large.
I was talking to Kate a bit ago (I'm at her place) and bemoaning that I predicted all of trump's actions (lying as a way of daily life, liking autocracy's better than democracy, starting a war to help his ratings) over two years ago.
Hope you're well.
Mike
Here's to hope.
Tom:
No one deserves this government, this President or Congress, not even the ones who voted for them. None of us deserve the level of corruption, fraud and destruction to democracy (such as it is) that we see taking place in this country. The last election saw greater numbers of voters turning out to participate than in the last three or four, so it isn't like we were sitting on our asses thinking our neighbors would take care of it for us.
The election was compromised by interference from outside the US and by moneyed special interests from within, from entrenched corruption, by a tired and bamboozled electorate and by a nest of vipers unlike I've ever seen in my lifetime. We are war-weary, trying to survive a failing economy, with a health system dominated by insurance companies whose only concern is their bottom lines. Many of us have lost faith in our political, justice and social institutions, numbed by seemingly unending assaults from invisible sources we feel helpless to do anything about. And that's not even the half of it.
I'm sorry you find the voices of American females so irritating, so discomforting. I try to focus on the message rather than the messenger.
Thank you for taking the time to comment. You raise a couple of interesting points, which I will try to analyze, perhaps incorporate on some level into my perspective. I'm glad to see you blogging again.
Mike:
Perhaps it is presumptuous of me to suggest that anyone else listen to the video. I was so surprised to find what seems to be a rational, reasoned approach, backed up with non-partisan data, that I wanted to share it, in case it was new to others as it was to me.
Since then, I've found that this is not a new idea nor is the RepresentUs organization the only ones touting the need for cleaning up the corruption that has insidiously taken control and hijacked our democratic foundation. Recently, I came across Elizabeth Warren's campaign site; was pleased to see she believes pretty much the same things.
I am possibly the last one to come to the table and am endorsing ideas everyone else has embraced long before now. That's okay, because the video came along when I needed an injection of hope, to help pull me out of the pit of despair I keep slipping into with every tweet, news conference and spurt of idiotic bullshit coming from the White House...et al.
Very glad to read you are out of hospital again. I wish you well, too.
Zhoen:
Without hope, life would be difficult to bear sometimes...but I don't have to tell you that, do I?
Finally had the chance/time to watch and listen (home!). The idea that people can join together across traditional divides is one that I find appealing, no matter how improbable. And the picture of political change presented here — slow movement, key event, then greater change — rings true. Thanks for posting this, Martha.
Thanks for sharing Crow-- glad you are still seeking and hoping.
Surely living through it is better than dying through it. I mean all those US regulations about where and where not you can deposit corpses. And the need for concrete vaults round what we call the coffin and you call something else which, for the moment, escapes me. Oh yes - the casket! Another rip-off, no doubt, by what we call undertakers and you call funerealtors.
I am glad you've found some scraps of encouragement. Even more so that you've returned - however briefly - to the blogosphere. I'm only sixteen days late so let me offer another scrap.
Given the spirit of melancholia that is abroad in the world I've been re-visiting the past, re-reading the comments supplied by readers of my posts. Going way, way back. One belated discovery is how much gratititude I owe you. All those feisty, up-yours observations, frequently first before Joe, Lucy, Julia, et al. Then the silences when I - attempting to out-feist you - went too far and I got right up your nostrils and you went off in a huff and I was bereft. Happy up-and-down days.
Well I have to say that one of them was not just witty (that was in any case par for the course) but clear-sighted and prescient. I intend to weave it into a forthcoming post which may allow you a snigger or two
amid the encircling gloom*
* Quote from the hymn Abide With Me which we - just to be nostril-invasive - sing to a different tune.
I owe some responses to Michael, Harlequin and Robbie; a few life things have delayed me.
I'm going to King of Prussia today to visit with my grandson who is in a technical college near there. Daughter is driving. I think she has some concerns about mine. (Sometimes, so do I!) It is my intention to answer the comments I've let slide by for the last several days tomorrow, or later this evening if we return early enough. For now, please accept my gratitude for your kind attentions.
Michael:
Things are changing so rapidly on the political scene since I last posted here, it is hard to keep up. Seems more and more politicians, from all sides, are speaking out about the Frauds in the White House, having at last found their voices if not their consciences, and some small measure of courage to speak out loudly.
I hope this continues.
7-9-2019
Harlequin:
How wonderful to see you here. I hope things are going well with you and your loved ones. Thank you for dropping by.
7/9/2019
Robbie:
Yes, we call them caskets. I plan to leave only a few ashes behind; no casket required. Accordingly, I have selected a shoe box to transport the remains to a hole in the backyard.
Any huff I left in was usually justified, though perhaps exaggerated at times. I have enjoyed reading your posts even if I haven't left a comment. Snappy/snarky retorts are not as easily come by in recent years, which might be the better way to go.
Thank you for taking time to comment here; graciousness is still a lovely quality in your conversational arsenal.
7/9/2019
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