I am consumed with this question after today. We live in an unsettled era, for the first time in many decades civic protest is becoming the norm and many are getting involved in democracy for the first time. Whether it be running for office or donating money, volunteering on a campaign or registering their friends to vote. Sometimes all of the above and then some.
Many are frightened after the announcement of Justice Kennedy’s retirement and rightly so. There’s going to be protections that are undone, allies of ours that will be weakened and lives that will be changed forever. I feel despair, anger and a mix of many different emotions, similar to what everyone here is feeling, but every time I see someone admit defeat the question nags: What would have happened?
The events that this question pertains to is many, the fights and battles were bloody. People lost their lives, people were thrown in prison, people lost everything they ever owned and yet through it all was perseverance. What would have happened if the North gave up in the civil war? What would have happened if slaves gave up on pursuing their freedom? What would have happened if women gave up on gaining voting rights? What would have happened if Martin Luther King gave up on the civil rights movement? What would have happened if Vietnam protesters gave up on trying to end the war? What would have happened?
American history is littered with good versus evil, right versus wrong battles. Though many were lost to these fights, people still stood up and they did not back down until they achieved a better country for all. We look back on those who fought as heroes. It is now our turn. History will remember this time period of what happened when everything was at stake. Did we stand and fight to the last drop of blood, sweat and tears or did we let fascism take hold in America? The answer to this question effects not only our future, but our children’s, their children's and every generation after.
We have a choice before us, history will remember what we chose.
It’s time to fight back with everything we’ve got. Join a campaign TODAY, no, not tomorrow, not this weekend, now. Find candidates you support to donate money to, knock on doors for a local campaign, talk to voters on the phone, get everyone you know registered and drag their asses to the polls if you have to. Whatever it takes, do it. This is not a time to play it safe or make excuses, we have one shot to save America. Today is a reminder that democracy is not a spectator sport, no one is going to come and do it for you. We must be the change we seek.
If you do have some cash to spare these are the 8 Democrats whose election will decide the fate of the Supreme Court and generations of policy.
Please give what you can:
Never give up, never give in. We fight down to the last person for those who fought before us, for those unable to fight and for the most vulnerable among us. Many people died fighting for the country, do not let their deaths be in vain.
We are the majority and in November we prove it.