Are you angry? A lot of people are and that’s good, there’s a lot to get angry about in the USA these days: The Republicans are attempting to defund Planned Parenthood and reduce vital access to women’s health services and information; they want to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the only source of affordable health care for millions of Americans; the US Intelligence Community (FBI, CIA and NSA) has confirmed that “the Russian Government conspired to help President-elect Trump’s election chances wherever possible by discrediting Secretary Clinton …”, our biggest enemy over the last century has got a Trojan horse through the gate.
And that’s just the beginning. The Donald is here for the next four years and he’ll have the full backing of both Houses to push through whatever him and his cronies want. Our rights, our lives and our nation are under threat.
So what can we do about this? Stay at home and take a duvet day that lasts for the next four years? Abandon the country and move to Canada? Eat ice cream as a protest? Or just watch Frozen until we can “Let it Go?” Of course not. We all have an obligation to be the change we want to see in the world and our nation needs us now more than ever.
But how do we do that? What is one voice in such a crowd? The path to victory will be revealed to us by following the proud traditions and history of the US by getting angry and getting organized.
After all, the original founding fathers (and mothers) of this nation were protesting unfair taxes and lack of representation in the British Empire. At the time, Britain was the world’s largest and most powerful superpower. In those days it seemed impossible to overcome such a repressive power structure, but they prevailed. Nowadays, the USA is the super power. And the British Empire? Well, have you watched the Crown on Netflix?
It doesn’t stop there, if you’re a woman and able to vote it’s because of the protests of woman like Susan B. Anthony who lead the women’s suffrage movement. Not only did she win you the vote but she got her face on money (ok, a limited edition dollar coin). And, as any kid will tell you, you know you’ve arrived when they put your face on money.
If you’re black and able to vote it’s thanks to the civil rights protestors in the 1960s. Again and again when people have joined forces and shouted in unison, only then do politicians have to stop and listen. Alone we may be relatively quiet but when we join together we can rock the very foundations of the world. Every one of those politicians be they senators, presidents or even your local assembly person is only in place for a few years and then they need to get voted in again. They need your vote and so they need to listen. Despite the attacks on our democratic process we will be heard.
In fact, you can even have a recall vote and kick them out before their time is up. Kind of like packaging up a faulty juicer and sending it back to Amazon. We may not have won the last election, we may have the president Vladimir Putin wants more than the rest of us do. But if we believe in our power and come together to express it, we can make sure that 2016 is the last election where we have to put up with a nightmare result.
Tomorrow starts today and we can make our voices heard right now at the Women’s March on Washington on 21 January. Women from across the nation will be marching to tell the Mandarin-colored president that his views are not ours and we will fight for what we believe in every single day he occupies the White House. The Machisma Militia will be there loud and proud and we want all of you to join with us in a display of united power. See you there!