There are ceremonies tomorrow at the Capitol Building in Washington,
D.C. At noon or thereabouts, the 115th Congress will be sworn in. All
the of 435 members of the House of Representatives will take the oath.
In the Senate, the newly elected and re-elected one-third will do so. It
goes like this:
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and
defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies,
foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the
same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation
or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge
the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.
Would that every member of Congress took that oath seriously. But
honestly, when in recorded history have all politicians lived up to
their oaths and obligations?
Last Friday, at a lunch I attended, the conversation at my table of
six turned to the president-elect. Every one of us expressed fear at
what might be coming this year and the concern that we – individually
and as “we the people” who are aghast at the terrifying proposals – are
up to the sustained effort of resistance that is required.
I like that word “resistance”. It brings to mind the brave
members of the World War II underground in the occupied countries. At
their start, it took awhile to get organized but over time, the
resistance forces grew in size and number and were amazingly effective
against an overwhelming war machine.
With the entire federal government now held by a Republican majority,
that is how we need to operate – to resist in every manner we can
imagine and create.
By
the way, I have ordered my “Resist!” teeshirt. I'm not saying you
should do that too – at $40 it's expensive – but if you are interested,
it supports
Think Progress, an important and well-established progressive institution that will certainly be of help in the coming months and years.
Between the new executive administration and the Republican Congress –
both so full of themselves - it won't be easy keeping up with number of
outrageous changes they will throw our way: environmental, nuclear,
border walls, taxes, deportation, public education, poverty, Wall Street
de-regulation and of course, what they like to falsely call
“entitlements”.
In fact, according to Robert Pear in
The New York Times a couple of days ago:
”Within hours of the new Congress convening on Tuesday, the
House plans to adopt a package of rules to clear the way for repealing
the health care law and replacing it with as-yet-unspecified measures
meant to help people obtain insurance coverage.
“Then, in the week of Jan. 9, according to a likely timetable sketched
out by Representative Greg Walden, Republican of Oregon, the House will
vote on a budget blueprint, which is expected to call for the repeal of
the Affordable Care Act.”
These are procedural moves and neither repeals Obamacare (yet) so I
don't want to waste our ammunition by asking us to call our Congress
members yet. But you see what it's going to be like - one damned move
after another and we will need to be alert to keep up.
No single person, website, political organization can handle all the
issues Congress and the Trump administration with throw out way and
because the focus of the this website has always been ageing and elders,
TimeGoesBy will target and resist the already announced threats to
repeal, privatize and/or voucherize Medicare, Medicaid, Obamacare and
Social Security.
Right now, there is an explosion of resistance plans on the internet
from old and new organizations. So far, they are scatter shooting their
resources, each with individual plans for this march, that petition,
those visits with representatives and various other public events as
they request donations from you and me.
And god bless them. We, America, need every protester and resister we
can mobilize but what I'm looking and watching for is are two or three
well-organized coalitions where people like us with targeted concerns
can share resources and support one another as events from Washington
require us to speak out and to act.
Here's what worries me (not counting the frightening assault on our
institutions): my energy. I will be 76 in a couple of months and in the
past year I have felt more acutely than ever before how much my stamina
waxes and wanes from day to day and how much I need to pace myself.
Tiring more easily is a fact of ageing life and I'm working to devise
a good plan to keep going in what will be a completely unpredictable
2017. We're facing a frightening new world and we must do our part even
if our physical gusto isn't quite what it was in the 1960s.
Meanwhile, here are a couple of links you can set aside to use for the coming campaign:
• Indivisible: The Practical Guide for Resisting the Trump Agenda that we have discussed here before
• List of the freshmen members of Congress
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"Resist and Protect"
Quote for today:
We must
learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical aids, but by an
infinite expectation of the dawn.
|
Henry David Thoreau
|
