Beware the Gray-Haired Lady Dem

She reads, she thinks, she remembers history, and she is PISSED!

This gray-haired Dem April 5th in Oakland

Beware the Gray-Haired Lady Dem—
The shit she sees, the rage she feels.
Beware the Musk-Trump ploy: mayhem!
Our freedoms for their Deals…

Yeah, ok, that’s a terrible adaptation of the “Jabberwocky” vibe. Even today, Carroll’s poem feels nonsensically apt, and makes for gleeful recitation. It’s the only poem I ever managed to memorize.

Many things have changed in the US since 1948, when I first recited the Jabberwocky in 3rd grade. What seemed like solid ground—a stable government, my belief in the goodness and reasonableness of most people—is quaking like a bowl of jello.

• Back then, the world was still reeling from the unfathomable horror of Hitler’s near-extermination of Jewish Europeans. We believed we would NEVER allow any leader that kind of manic hate-driven power again... and yet, here we are today: immigrants snatched and deported by ICE without due process, trans people vilified, critics of the president sued. You or I could be next.

• Post-war jobs paid so well that a couple with two children could buy a modest home, and the wife could stay home to raise the kids on the husband’s salary alone. Imagine! Today the federal minimum wage has been stuck at $7.25 since 2009, while the wealthy get richer by the minute.

• Under the G.I. Bill, veterans could get low-cost mortgages, low-interest loans to start a business or farm, and payments of tuition and living expenses to attend college or vocational school. Except few black veterans were able to avail themselves of these benefits because banks often refused to give them mortgages and many colleges wouldn’t admit them— discriminatory practices that have put black families at continuing disadvantage.

• We believed the Constitution was the inviolable bedrock of our democracy. The Constitution directs the president to "take care that the laws be faithfully executed" and requires the president to swear or affirm to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." This president repeatedly pretends the Constitution does not apply to him—even the Supreme Court rendered toothless.

• We believed that our three-part system of government was designed to make sure no branch became too powerful. This administration has installed toadies at the Justice department, ignored laws they don’t like, threatened any reluctant GOP congressperson with primarying, and now governs by fiat—aka executive orders (so far an historic 124 in less than two months), thus bypassing the legislative process, where many would never pass.

• The president has, without any authority, added a Fourth branch of the government—DOGE, run by the world’s richest man, a man who has billions of dollars in government contracts and an aversion to federal regulations. This immigrant multi-billionaire—with no understanding or appreciation of what these agencies or their personnel do—is senselessly, cruelly, and illogically decimating them, which will eventually hurt every American.

• We believed in the freedom of the press—that the public has the right to know what is going on in our governments. But this president refuses entry to the White Office briefings to those journalists who stand up to him. Like the AP, which refused to change the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America in their stylebook! He sues media outlets whose coverage he deems unfair or unflattering—latest spurious attack is on 60 Minutes.

• I was raised to believe all people were created equal and that America’s melting pot diversity is a strength. We all deserve to be treated fairly and to live in dignity. You know—Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. But this administration is determined to erase women, immigrants, people of color, and trans people from governmental websites, from their civil and voting rights, from their access to health care or right to inclusion in medical research. They would whitewash America’s imperfect history by trying to edit school curricula and even the Smithsonian Museums in DC.

• We believed that felons should be ineligible to serve in high government positions, and that grift and extortion were criminal behaviors, reserved for third world dictatorships. Not any more. This president takes every opportunity to enrich himself personally, and bullies, threatens and/or makes financial demands to get his way. Stand up to him at your peril. The governor of Maine did, and he retaliated by withholding federal funding from the state. The law is for suckers. Same for ethics, morality.

• We believed in the power of our voices and our votes. But today, gerrymandering and onerous voting restrictions purposely suppress the votes of young, poor, liberal, and/or black Americans. But money talks LOUD. The top 12 American billionaires have wealth of more than $2 trillion—and they happily invest millions in political candidates who will keep their taxes low or look the other way when they pollute or make people sick.
  Take a look at the graphs on this website if you want your mind blown about inequality in the US.

I could go on, but it just depresses me. I note all these issues because too many Americans, even members of my own family, have fallen under the spell of White House propaganda that oozes from Fox News, X, NewsMax and the like. They’re gonna be blind-sided when their businesses, healthcare, Social Security, the environment and their freedoms evaporate.*

So… we gray-haired lady Dems are out there protesting, speaking up at our representatives’ town halls, calling and writing them. That’s why we’re keeping ourselves informed by following legitimate news sources. That’s why we’re connecting with pro-democracy neighbors and working to strengthen our relationships.

We remember our shared humanity and we remember the rights and stability we’re losing, and we do not want our children and grandchildren have to fight the same damn fights all over again.

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*ON BEING RIGHT

Shortly before the election I wrote about not wanting to be right about who Trump was and what he might do if he implemented Project 2025 (which he pretended he knew nothing about…riiight.) Alas, he’s way more dangerous than I could have imagined—one-by-one going down the Project 2025 checklist.

Hey…. if you appreciate my posts, please like, share, restack, because Substack’s algorithm doesn’t seem to see non-important writers like me. And I welcome your comments—how are YOU doing? Have you or someone you know been affected by any of the Musk-Trump chaos yet?

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PUT YOURSELF IN THE WAY OF BEAUTY

Even in these dark times, there's rejoicing to be had. Spring is springing here. My best friend has a poetry box, and she illustrated this with one of her lovely watercolors:

The blue of this gentian made me forget all my troubles. I mean…. WOW!!