IT'S TIME TO GO ON THE OFFENSE

Thank you UnPresidented Trump, you illegitimate, Russian tool.

You have awakened the Sleeping Giant.

Maybe Bernie Sanders would have awoken us to a bright new day, but your darkness has mobilized people against you.  Not since the American Revolution have people been so "up in arms."

But it is a different kind of "arms" this time.  It's the arms that cradle the world, "l'origine du monde"- it's the arms of women.

The mainstream media locally and nationally mostly ignored the millions of women around the world that marched, and the 20,000 that marched in downtown St. Louis, but we always knew the revolution would not be televised.

In the State of Missouri we need at least 600,000 people to be registered voters and call their elected officials as much as possible.  There are 4.2 million registered voters as of 2012, the most recent numbers available.
https://www.sos.mo.gov/elections/registeredvoters/2012

We need to work to get 2.2 million liberal- or even better, progressive- voters.  But mostly we need to call our elected officials.  And sign petitions. And call.  And write letters.  And call.  And call and write the media.  And call.  And stay informed. And call.

The revolution will not be televised. But it will be phoned in. We live in a time where our cell phones are more powerful than guns.

Yes, there will need to be protests, strikes and boycotts.  But mostly there needs to be constant calls with DEMANDS from We The People.

It is time to go on the offense.  This is really not the time to try to understand the Trump supporters or argue with them.  It is not time to try to educate the willfully ignorant and oblivious. 

There is an old fable about being in a burning house.  Everyone is asleep.  You are awake.  You do not try to rouse the heaviest sleepers first, or go person by person.  You make as much noise as you can and the light sleepers will awaken, and help awaken the others.

The "lightest sleepers" are the people that are paid by tax money and voted into office, followed by appointed officials and government agencies.

There is also little point in arguing amongst ourselves.  A lot of women that marched on Saturday won't do much else. A few phone calls, some donations.  Some will go to reproductive choice marches and meetings, but not economic, racial or social justice events.

Some people in that burning house are going to be hysterical and run out the door.  Some are going to waste their time trying to wake up the heavy sleepers and the drugged- instead of waking up others to help carry out the sleepers that cannot be roused. 

Find your kindred, focus on your issues and take them directly to elected officials and public servants.  If you keep using your voice to call and make demands, and sharing information, you are the revolution.

And there HAS to be a revolution right now, because the Trump regime and the GOP are trying to burn down the house. 

To win, we can't keep fighting them on their ground.  We run the risk of making them stronger by focusing our energy on resisting their agenda.

We need to take over the agenda!

Go on the OFFENSE when calling:

STOP talking about the ACA/Obamacare and START demanding Universal Health Care!

Reproductive Rights for all women and FREE birth control!

Right To Work is Wrong! DEMAND $15 an hour minimum wage, unions, worker's rights- including breaks, fair unemployment benefits, and tax abatements and incentives for small, locally owned businesses.

NO registry based on religion. (Wearing a safety pin is also revolutionary.) *

More money to public schools, especially in low income neighborhoods! Free college and trade school tuition!

Automatic voter registration!

Abolish the Electoral College!

 No more pipelines! Invest in public transportation and become less petroleum dependent!

St. Louis needs Downwinder Status.  Our water is being poisoned by the radioactive landfills at Westlake and Bridgeton.   Republic Services has had since 1947 to properly dispose of the uranium! Senators McCaskill and Blunt only need to create a Senate delegation to get Downwinder Status and the millions of dollars allocated to deal with Manhattan Project uranium!
http://pag2stl.blogspot.com/2017/01/st-louis-your-water-is-radioactive.html

St. Louis also needs to deal with the homeless, police reform, racial and social justice.  

If these aren't your issues- then call about what is!
Call. Every. Damn. Day.
#whyImarch


* I often think that what we really need is a registry based on white supremacy. If these racists don't want to "mingle" with the rest of us, we should know who they are.  We have the right to make sure that they never receive medical care from another race or a "race mixer" like me.  Perhaps we should make literature for them using only Roman numerals, instead of Arabic?  Make sure that no money from non-white racists or race mixers is spent at their businesses? Perhaps white supremacists need to be segregated? Can we give them their own neighborhood and just let them burn crosses in their own front yards?  I am only half joking.

One of my favorite photos from the marches https://www.instagram.com/p/BPkkMf4gtfi/