I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.- Thomas Jefferson
I sit outside on our front porch, a tall cool glass of home brewed iced tea in my hand. I'm looking over our "front 40" - basically a few raised garden beds and containers holding our strawberries, cucumbers, tomato's, peppers, Brussels spouts and zucchini. There is not much I can do for them now, just let them grow and hope that we get a harvest of something soon. I'm actually a bit anxious about the garden, I want to have something...anything for the effort.
You can plant a seed and try to take care of it as much as possible, but so much is out of your control.
Although to be honest, for the most part I am actually very content, and I can't help but think of an opening line of a poem I once read. Sadly the rest of the poem has slipped from memory. The opening line was simply. "It's quiet here Lord; In Western Pennsylvania." It's funny how I can't remember how the rest of the poem went, who wrote it or were I first read it...but that opening line remains.
For some reason I think of that line now, as the quiet day stretches out into a cool evening. It is quiet here. Sometimes to quiet and it's easy to get caught up in my thoughts. Sometimes, particularly now in our trying times, those thoughts can be dark.
It's early July in Western Pennsylvania and much of the immediate world around us seems to be on pause as we celebrate the July 4 weekend and try to stay cool on hot humid days, welcoming the thunderstorms that roll in from the east during the evening hours.
The dark clouds appear ominous.
Growing up I remember long summer days of swimming, riding bikes, catching lighting bugs in jars. Of nights sleeping in an old chicken coop that my parents had converted into a club house for us boys. Eating watermelon and ice cream.
Idyllic I suppose. Perfect little summers and for the most part...they were.
Those days are gone.
The happy child is now a pissed off old man.
As I sit out on my porch and think about how our country seems to be going backward, it's easy to feel overwhelmed and shocked by it. Even angry about it. I know I am...and I'm not a woman or gay or a minority or practice a religion that differs radically from my neighbors. I'm not any of the things that should be pissed off by decisions made by the courts or politicians.
I am, as luck would have it, privileged.
That's all it is really. Luck. That I was born into what may have been considered an upper middle class white family. That I was raised by two parents that not only loved each other but supported my bother and I in our hopes and dreams. That I was able to attend good schools; I don't think I ever had an incompetent teacher until college.
I could have just as easily been born female; or gay, or black, or poor As luck would have it, I am none of these things.
It's to easy to get depressed in these times of political, environmental and social upheaval. For a few days I know I was. Spiraling down with the overwhelming dread that this country that I love, and our planet, is doomed and that there is little we can do to save it. It seems that we are bouncing from one disaster to another at record speeds. It feels honestly like we are moving backward.
Although I am trying to keep this blog non political; the very nature of the path that I choose to go down is political. If your going to advocate for things like clean water, clean air, green energy and make small attempts to fight against climate change...then you are being political. If I'm going to advocate for that, then I have to bring the fight for woman's rights, universal health care and other social issues I believe and support into the picture.
Being political however in the day to day world is messy. It is depressing and it is a never ending battle. However I - and you - have to do something.
However we don't live in that society. Yet.
If you look back through American history the progressive moment has been part of the Democratic and Republican parties. It is simply, a movement that identifies as "a social or political movement that aims to represent the interests of ordinary people through political change and the support of government actions," Somehow that become a word associated with the left, and a dirty one at that. It should not be.
To be a progressive simply means that political action can make peoples lives better over time. I am a firm believer in Social Democracy - not to be confused with Democratic Socialism; which is another belief altogether.
I don't expect you to change your beliefs. I don't expect you to even agree with what I believe in. All I am asking is that you learn about what affects you and what those solutions may be. More often than not, the policy that you are taking advantage of or worried about is often the one that benefits you the most! The picture is often more complicated than you think.
All I ask of you is that you get involved in your local community and politics. Because at the end of the day it's going to be your friends and neighbors that need your help. It's going to be your community that needs that help. It really is up to us to make America great again.
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