RESIST:  Just say YES!

As a child growing up in the Midwest Bible Belt, we five children were constantly being told, "NO!"  "No, you can't dance.  No, you can't go to the movies.  No, you can't play cards."  There were so many "no's", they overrode any "yes's" that may have been a healthy part of our lives.

The natural reaction was to question its meaning -- and rebel.  "No, Mexicans and Muslims are bad people and can no longer come into our country.  No, Planned Parenthood cannot continue to provide women health care -- it must be defunded.  No, Obamacare must be repealed and no longer serve millions with their only health care."

Rebel!  Resist!  Question the call from Donald and fellow Republican leaders.  Remember the "Tower of Power" is, in reality, a buffalo jump (see previous post).  Tweets that emanate from his tower are intended to confuse, to make us jump, to keep us in line.  If we follow him, we are headed for our own demise while he steps aside, enriching himself through his businesses from which he refuses to divest.  (By the way, where is the news conference at which he is supposed to explain how he plans to do away with his conflict of business interests?)

For some, it is all the "No's" that produce the energizing call to resist.  For others, however, the framework from which we operate needs to come from a place of "Yes! Yes!  Yes!"

President Barack Obama reminded us in 2008 that "Yes we can!"  Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reminded us in 2016 that we are "Stronger Together!"  Aren't those the messages to which most of America responded when Barack won his election - twice - and Hillary won the popular vote this year beating Donald by almost 3 million people?  Aren't those the messages we hear when we remember words placed on the Statue of Liberty, called The Colossus?

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles.  From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips.  "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" 

What makes our country great?  It is just for the very calls that Barack and Hillary made.  It is for the sonnet that appears on our Statue of Liberty.  This is what we remember -- and must never forget!

What is the message our country seeks to live and send out to the rest of the world?  Read again the Preamble to our Constitution.  Read again our Bill of Rights.  Name the issues that stem from those documents and, in practical terms, provide our vision*:

a.  An economy works best when all benefit
b.  Terrorism stems from other than a particular religious faith
c.  A foreign policy begins with respect for all cultures
d.  Health care is a right for all
e.  A gun policy begins with the premise that greater numbers of guns (and greater power of guns) means greater misuse of guns; innocent people die
f.  Immigration policy begins with the understanding that we all began as immigrants.  This is a factor that makes our country great.
g.  Social security is paid for by America's workers.  It returns to them when it's most needed.
h.  All American citizens have a right to public education.  Public funds, our taxes, pay for public schools -- they do not pay for private education (neither secular - charter schools - nor parochial).
i.  Supreme Court appointments follow tradition:  They are filled at the time a vacancy appears
j.  Treatment of racial and ethnic minorities is no different than treatment of the majority.

Do you agree that these issues make up a vision for our country?  Do you agree that if we hold that vision as a constant in our memory, we can say YES to whatever supports it?

This is our YES!  As a team working together, we can evaluate everything coming out of the new administration.  Does it support the vision we have for our country?  If it doesn't, we commit to an action that does support our vision.  Choose what that action will be (call legislators, write letters to legislators, correct false comments/tweets coming from Donald, use Facebook to call out errors/lies when they appear, support Standing Rock, read The Nation, just take action).

YES, this is our vision.  YES, we will work together to achieve our vision.  YES, we will do whatever it takes to make our vision a reality.


*Issues were sponsored by National Public Radio in "From the Economy to Race, See Where the Candidates Stand on the Big Issues", authored by Meg Anderson, October 18, 2016.