Grow

“Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better. Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson


I saw a news report about a rally that was scheduled for the next day in the county seat. The article described it as a Democratic Party event. Several people had left comments correcting that, noting that they have told the editor that it is non-partisan. Knowing that the editor answers to the paper's owner, Claudia Tenney, I wasn't surprised.

Some of the comments made fun of those who protest in that community. And taking shots at our party. Other responses made it clear that it includes registered Democrats, republicans, and independent voters. That led a young hot head to ask how he would be treated if he came wearing his trump t-shirt? Certain people seem limited only to thinking in the rigid context of potential violence. But two other people agreed with me, saying they are republicans opposed to the administration.

I commented that I respect any group that exercises their Amendment 1 rights in a peaceful, legal manner. I might not agree with them, but I can respect their constitutional rights. Immediately after, I called a friend. Four of us had hoped to go to the same city we had a couple of weeks ago, but we made plans to attend the one at my county seat. They immediately came up to my house, so we could make posters with messages specific to the need to let our elected representatives know we will not stand for the direction this administration is taking us in.

Two days ago, on the ride to the rally, one friend said, “I hope we don't get shot.” We are four old men who have been life-long Democrats. People shouldn't have to think that way. Right? No matter if it is a space cat considering wearing a trump t-shirt to an anti-felon rally, or an old man heading to the same rally. But here we are.

Those planning the rally said they had hoped for a turn-out of about 40. At the last count I heard, there were 250 people. Good music was playing, some people danced, and lots sang along to Lennon's “Imagine.” Lots of drivers beeped their horns in support. I am only aware of three hostile reports of drivers waving their middle fingers. Of these, I only witnessed one such incident: an elderly lady, likely close to my age, face as bitter as apple cider vinegar. We smiled and waved to her.

I'm not in the habit of confronting people about their party affiliation in circumstances like this. But I do express my opinion that the Democratic Party is the appropriate vehicle for reaching positive change. That said, I met a lady who currently holds a seat on her town board. In the next election, she will run for a one-step higher office, and another lady will run for her seat. They are both Democrats. The other lady is the midwife that delivered my older daughter. My friends and I will volunteer for and donate to their campaigns, and I think several others from the rally will, too.

I am admittedly not objective in my opinion of my friend the midwife. I might not see her every year – for I am a hermit – but I've long known her to be one of the best human beings I have met. Although she is white, her thinking is much more like that of traditional Iroquois women. I suspect that her career allowed her to experience life in a very different realm than, say, a republican politician who takes campaign donations from big pharma. And the 250 people at that rally think a lot closer to her thinking, than to the republican who has either personally or had family members make big bucks from their legal insider trading. You know, the type that asks for donations, rather than invest their ill-gotten gains themselves.

My friends and I have worked together for the Democratic Party – local, state, and national – since the 1970s. Others attending included a psychiatrist and therapist from the mental health clinic where I worked, a friend who teaches for the state university, and friends who were professionals in health care. We all identified the three political leaders we are most impressed with: Bernie, AOC, and Jasmine Crockett. There are, of course, a number of Democrats in DC that we admire.

As we head into an uncertain future, there are different directions we might head towards. In early March, for example, there was reporting on one of the meetings that some held, saying the party need to be more corporate friendly, and have candidates going to gun shows. They also agreed that they must move away “from left-wing figures like Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the “small-dollar donors” that fueled their rise to the national stage.”

I will speculate that 99.99+% of the people at the rally on Saturday disagree with that mind set. Thus, there is a potential division that we must make every effort to avoid. Some of us will support a candidate who supports AOC and Bernie, for example, challenging a representative favoring corporations who attend a gun show. We find that some of our siblings, neighbors, co-workers, and childhood friends think differently. They think our thinking is a threat to the party.

Even on this forum, I have seen Ops/posts about an attempt to do a “hostile take-over” of the party. A “source” was a 2018 article about a fringe group that had goals far larger than their capabilities. That is not who we are. We are not SNCC leader James Farmer, saying if we don't get a seat at the table, we'll kick the legs out from under it. No, we know that we are the legs to the table.
We are the people that have put in the work at the grass roots' level for decades. We identify with the Democratic Party of Senator Robert F. Kennedy circa 1967-68. We identify with the wisdom of SNCC member Robert Moses: “Leadership is there in the people. If you go out and work with your people leadership will emerge. We don't know who they are now – and we don't need to know.” We want to make the Democratic Party stronger from the grass roots up.

Those who disagree with us on potential primary challenges are just as sincere in their wanting to make our party stronger. They have every right to support their candidate if there is a primary. What is essential is that no matter who wins a primary, everyone continue to support the party's candidate in the general election. I will suggest that in order to do that, we not demonize others by assigning false motivations to them. That can be harder now, in a socio-political environment that has been poisoned by maga emotional saturation. But it is an option available to us.