Tag: gun violence
Take it personally. Get out the vote.
by Patricia Daniel
Do you know any veterans who were disabled in one of this country’s many wars? That injury affected them personally. Could they use some support in exercising the democratic values for which they fought–ask them if they would like help getting a ballot in November or demonstrating outside polling stations.
How about someone (perhaps yourself) who was the victim of sexual assault? Take it personally. Offer a ride to the polls.
What about those individuals whose economic and personal wellbeing has been undermined by the billions of dollars invested in warfare and foreign conflicts rather than in education, the environment, and health care? Talk to them about how they’ve been affected. Encourage them to vote.
Do you know people who feel so disenfranchised and despondent about the state of the world that they think voting doesn’t make a difference? Help them to understand that taking action helps to overcome despair—and that the most important action this fall is to get out and vote on November 6.
Who in your community has been affected by gun violence—your neighbor, the high school in the next town, the family going through divorce? These people have been forced to take gun violence personally. Get them to the polls. Learn about relevant ballot measures.
Do you know immigrants whose lives have been uprooted by government-sponsored hatred and family separation? They didn’t ask for maltreatment , but they have to take it personally. Make sure they are registered to vote.
We must take this election seriously, and personally. War and violence are not things that just happen in faraway lands and affect people we don’t know.
On the contrary, look around at people in your community and you will see that a large number of them have been affected by violence and injustice in some way. We can and must do something about it.
Learn about the candidates and issues. Share what you learn with others and ask them to exercise their democratic right to vote.
Many states have early voting and the polls are already open. Take advantage of this to help your friends and neighbors find the time and place to fit voting into their schedules. Start the conversation now and inspire others to engaged citizenry.
Take it personally. Get out the vote.
Note from Kathie MM: What are you doing to get out the vote? Please send us your action stories.
Hang your head low
by Kathie MM
Hang your head low in sorrow as you read about the latest set of child victims of a school shooting in Santa Fe, Texas, and hear their stories .
Hang your head low in embarrassment that the whole international community is getting yet another damning look at the moral sickness embedded in the heart of the power structure ruling the United States and contaminating our whole society.
Hang your head low in shame if you have done nothing since the last school shooting to support the student gun reform activists, and nothing to remind your Congresspeople that they are responsible for the well-being and safety of the citizens they represent, not the NRA, which will grease the palms of anyone who supports their deadly agenda.
Or
Lift your head high and set your eyes on the prize: a successful campaign for sane gun laws. There are countless efforts underway. Join them.
Raise your head up and square your shoulders back and commit yourself to doing everything in your power to break the death grip that the NRA and the arms industry it represents has on the hearts and souls and wallets of the people elected to represent you.
Use your head to ask yourself if you really, truly have examined every opportunity available to you to resist fear-mongers, violence justifiers, promoters of hate, and exploiters of us all.
Invoke your conscience to propel you to take action in support of what may be the best chance in many decades to resist the power of the gun lobby and the violence-profiteers, and move instead to promote and protect the lives and well-being of our children and all of us.
You have real choices.
If you really, truly, honestly want democracy…
by Kathie MM
What you really need to do is promote quality education—including supporting, appreciating, rewarding, and protecting the teacher and student activists who embody democratic principles. As neo-fascism and anti-intellectualism and the distrust of education and educated people they promote engulf our shaky democracy, give thanks for the students and teachers who have the courage to speak out on behalf of nonviolence and quality public education . We need good role models right now.
Enemies of freedom and justice have always worked to prevent and curtail education for any perceived threats–click here and here for examples– to their desire to dominate and control. “Keep them in their place,” is the eternal message, “or they will threaten our way of life”—a way of life that keeps all too many people downtrodden and feeling powerless.
Right now there is a huge conflict going on in this country—between the tiny but powerful and very greedy plutocracy exercising increasing control over the lives of the non-elite and the forces of resistance, the promoters of democracy, the broadest category of dreamers .
If you really, truly, honestly want a functioning democracy, support the students marching for our lives and support the teachers speaking out on behalf of public education and nonviolence. Find the causes and undertake the actions that make you feel you are doing your share to make the country better for all. And please tell us about them.