By CHARLES ANDREWS
THESE ARE HISTORIC DAYS
Our young children or grandchildren will be reading about this time, and the account they get in schoolbooks depends on how it plays out in the next few days and weeks. Will they get real history, or “1984”?
And how will we answer their questions? Mom… Grandpa… what did you do when the soldiers came, and they killed people, and they sent children off to prison camps? And they wouldn’t let you vote anymore? It must have been scary and awful! But what did you do?
Now… is that time they will be asking about. Today. Yesterday, actually, last month, one year ago.
I spoke to a friend in another state (not one really under attack, yet) two weeks ago who said she finds herself crying every day. I don’t think she’s the only one. This is so disturbing, even for those of us with no direct incident (so far), so imagine the lifelong trauma, especially for young children, who might see their nanny or neighbor or classmate dragged away by big masked men with guns, or come home from school to find their parents gone, no idea where they are. I think it might even be possible to be traumatized by seeing it happen on TV. I’ve had some unsettling dreams lately.
This is unprecedented. We all must do something, as difficult as that may seem – in the long run, it will be more difficult to do nothing – and the incredibly brave citizens of Minneapolis will go down in history, but wait! Take heart! This is an unprecedented and wonderful opportunity as well. To not only nip growing U.S. autocracy and fascism in the bud, to send it packing, to not only change things radically with the mid-term elections (if we have them – no, seriously), but to remake this great nation in the image many of the Founding Fathers intended. It’s not often in life or in history that you get a second chance.
THEY DID AN AMAZINGLY GOOD JOB
Their very notion of a democracy was unheard of. They had no example to guide them. They invented it all and left us a precious blueprint. The US of A has always been a work in progress, imperfect, incomplete, failing in some ways, and some of that progress has been glacial. But the guiding ideas and words remain across two and a half centuries: We the people, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, we hold these truths to be self-evident, all men are created equal, endowed with certain unalienable rights, among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Sacred stuff. And Trump and his minions have walked all over our Constitution.
We must, and shall, reclaim it from these barbarians, but it is equally important that we take the next steps and bring its precious precepts finally to fruition. And that will take work –
A SECOND AMERICAN REVOLUTION
I get so frustrated talking with friends who are only intent on “winning the midterms.” Very important, of course, essential, but only a first step, and without more, it is useless, a disguised pyrrhic victory. If a 1,000 lb. alligator is sitting on my foot and crushing it, I need to get him off my foot, and that will feel much better. But he’s still there, and still intent on eating me.
We need to elect representatives and leaders who will do just that, represent and lead… us, we the people. If we just defeat the GOP, we are still slaves to the oligarchy, and nothing has really changed.
Santa Monica, the same holds true here. Enough of City Councils that are beholden to corporate donors, and following ideologies that are destroying our great city and not putting residents first. Enough. Santa Monicans and Americans are better than this.
Charles Andrews has lived in Santa Monica for 40 years and wouldn’t live anywhere else in the world. Really. Send love and/or rebuke to him at therealmrmusic@gmail.com
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