Conversation with the Chair.
My county party had a meeting scheduled for "strategic planning" yesterday. The meeting time was changed at the last minute and I couldn't attend in person, so I called our chairperson and we exchanged some very general thoughts.
Ordinarily, strategic planning is just a discussion about the most effective way to support our candidates and get out the vote. It's why our local party was formed, it's what we do every election cycle, and normally it's our only job.
This time is different. A second, more immediately important task has been thrust on us. We must also be a leading force in the resistance to the authoritarian takeover of American democracy. Our role in the resistance is not defined by our by-laws or by the state party that certifies us. It can not be formed by referring to what we did in the past - this is a new challenge. Nonetheless, much of what we can do and must do is obvious.
When I called our chair, she was at the office with others making preparations for a local tabling event (normal political stuff) but also for our local No Kings rally. We chose the time and location and are hosting the rally. We are in contact with the police. We will provide signs and water. We have organized a safety/de-escalation team. We are advertising the event on social media and in our newsletters. We believe we have no choice.
A local teacher, who also happens to be the head of the teacher's union, was suspended for a Charlie Kirk post on his mom's Facebook page. Our Moms-for-Liberty-infested School Board suspended him without pay and wants to fire him at a meeting next week. We put out a press release. Our members line up to speak on his behalf at board meetings during public comment. This is a down and dirty free speech and union-busting issue in our front yard. It is our fight.
ICE has two facilities in our small county. They have been preying on the local Hispanic and Haitian communities. Our leadership volunteered themselves and recruited others to provide legal services for immigrant families. We coordinate with churches and other local groups. We stand with the people. Their humanity is our humanity.
The Republicans prevail by following a leader and have discarded most of our core American values along the way. Watching that obscene spectacle has turned the last decade into a seemingly endless and debilitating horror show.
I am an unapologetically partisan member of the Democratic Party, but I believe Democrats (big D and small d) can prevail only by forming coalitions based on shared loyalty to the spirit of the constitution (not the constitution as it has been bastardized by partisan court decisions) and a shared sense of decency. We need to be leaders one day and followers of our allies the next. We need to join forces with people whose only apparent redeeming quality is that they are non-traitors in the battle between democratic freedom and authoritarian rule.
If we can muster sufficient humility, courage and determination, we can prevail.
