freelansing in Seattle

One of the challenges of navigating our present moment is maintaining perspective on the tsunami of law-breaking and norm-breaking actions flooding our public zone. For many of us paying attention, current events violate all our sensibilities about How Things Are Supposed to Work. Yet around us (most of us), life seems to go on as normal. If we haven’t been among the unlucky few who have lost basic rights or lost jobs or lost our means of survival, we can just close our eyes and pretend none of that horrible stuff is actually happening.

Yes, maybe some bad stuff is happening, but bad stuff is always happening, right? The mainstream media is saying that some people are probably breaking some laws while dismantling a 250-year-old system of government, but that’s why we have laws and courts, right? Surely the bad things will be stopped by the impartial judges who only rule according to long established law and precedent, right? In any case, it’s all in their hands now. Nothing for the rest of us to do, right? Right? RIGHT???!!!

Beware of normalizing, of media sane-washing. If you think our country has lost its damn mind, you might be the sane one. And you have plenty of company.

Let’s start over. Imagine if I had told you 10 years ago that the richest man in the world would outright buy the US government, and then, without any official position or authority would single-handedly eliminate multiple government agencies and fire thousands of civil servants just on a whim. Most of us would have said that could never happen here in the United States of America, with its long history of governmental checks and balances. Not here, right?

And yet, that’s exactly what is happening. The institutional safeguards we have always counted on might not save us this time. But if those institutions don’t save, who will save us?

Around the world and throughout history, attempted authoritarian takeovers of countries have been prevented by mass opposition from the populace. Many times this opposition arose in countries with much less organization of civil society than we have in the US.

I know some have expressed frustration that Resistance 2.0 has not emerged as quickly as in 2017. Why aren’t elected Democrats doing more to stop this madness? Where are the organizations who should be organizing mass marches and other shows of resistance?

Truth is, Dems are now mostly shut out of power according to the rules of government. They can do some things on the margins, but we can’t expect them to save us because they just don’t have that power.

We are now in unprecedented times. Strategies and actions that have worked in the past might not be exactly what we need right now. We’re all sorting that out right now, established organizations as well as upstarts as well as you and I. Don’t get discouraged in this time of sorting things out and strategizing a path forward. We’re all figuring it out together. We are in a time when we need everybody. Who knows what creative idea will be the key that unlocks the future?

It might feel cliché, but we truly are the people we’ve been waiting for. We need to be. It might feel like we’ve been a little too quiet in recent weeks, but that’s okay. A lot is bubbling beneath the surface, ready to erupt at just the right moment. We can’t know exactly what the catalyzing event will be this time around, but it’s coming. Get ready.

One opportunity to mobilize is this Monday. “Not My President’s Day” events are happening around the country. Here is the link for Seattle event.