’24 is a make-or-break year for our democracy. I am going to invest a lot of time explaining why everyone needs to vote BLUE in every elective race.
We don’t need to be afraid of losing our democracy this year if every eligible voter who believes in our representative system of government votes BLUE this time. The response from our side has to be so overwhelming that no doubt is left in the minds of anyone on this planet that we value our rights (which are being systematically stripped away by far right ideologues and autocrats) and our Constitution and will not allow anyone to tear them away from us.
The GOP has declared the side of history it is on, starting back in 1980: the losing side. They’ve become the Confederates, in essence.
The GOP wants a nation that coddles and underpins a privileged few (mainly rich, male, white supremacists) to the detriment of the rest of the population, which outnumbers them by literally hundreds of millions when you count among the “others” white women, who they’ve also screwed by taking away their rights to bodily autonomy. And they are no longer shy about proclaiming their goals.
Obstructionists of equity policies used to hide under hoods and ride by night terrorizing people, back when it was Southern and Northern Democrats doing the deeds to people they considered “lesser than.” The Party of Lincoln has become the Party of Insurrection and Ugliness. They want what they want, and the rest of us be damned.
WE HAVE THE ABILITY TO TELL THEM NO — BUT NOT FOR A WHOLE LOT LONGER
2024 may well be the last chance we have to push them back using ballots. They will not relinquish their reign quietly, but relinquish it they MUST, or the America we pledge allegiance to will be subsumed into an autocracy by oligarchs, plutocrats and bigots. Truth is, America started that way: these folks made the rules under which the rest of us live. Slowly, over time, people of color and women have clawed some rights into existence, but it has always been a struggle. It no longer need be, AS LONG AS WE ALL TURN OUT AS ONE VOICE AND DECLARE WITH OUR VOTES, ENOUGH! They’ve had their centuries in the sun and look how that has turned out. They just want MORE OF THE SAME, not less.
Well, guess what?
They have met their match. Game on.
WE CAN BEAT THEM AS LONG AS WE STAND TOGETHER IN SOLIDARITY and proclaim, “No farther. In fact, back up. We want equal representation, we want bodily autonomy, we want the same shot at success that you’ve had. We want free higher education, transportable universal health care, and safety nets for those you’ve been screwing for hundreds of years until we are able, in truly representative numbers, to sit at the same table and have our concerns addressed in equitable ways.
WE NEED TO DO THIS. IF WE DON’T, FUTURE GENERATIONS WILL DAMN US FOR OUR INACTION. WE HAVE WHAT IT REQUIRES TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN. We still have the vote. But for how much longer unless we do everything within our power THIS YEAR to wrest back control, and send the bigoted powerbrokers packing.
I wish you a happy new year. And it’s entirely up to YOU. You know that now.
What will you be doing every day to help ensure that 2024 becomes the Year America Got Truly on Track to live up to its highest ideals of (abundant) life, (extensive) liberty and the pursuit of happiness (for ALL)?
Rich racist, misogynistic white men intended these benefits to apply only to them. It’s time to claim them for all. “With liberty and justice for all.”
We can get there. This is the year. DO SOMETHING TO MAKE FUTURE GENERATIONS GRATEFUL FOR STANDING UP FOR THEM even as you stand up for yourself!
Make 2024 TRULY the year of the DRAGON
Breathe fire and don’t back down until American Democracy is secured again. Every generation has to do this. Simply do your duty and all will be well.
2024 is made up of increments of TIME. My New Year’s card (attached below), makes that abundantly clear. We’re entering a new year made of brief moments. Each one will count. How will you be spending yours? I’ll be right here doing my damndest, and encouraging people to vote not AGAINST SOMEONE, but FOR SOMETHING THAT WE ALL HOLD DEAR.
