SOLIDARITY NOW

There's nothing sentimental about taking the principles of our democracy seriously.

After the United States elected its first Black president in 2008, the political tides began to run blood red, especially in the South. Today, as we approach one year since the White House welcomed its first convicted felon, a different wave is gathering.

We’ve all complained about Democrats’ following the rules while the other side sets fire to the rule of law. I’m here to argue that the fire has become an inferno, and with the arsonists at large and lighting new ones, this is no time to debate hose specifications.

I do agree with party experts telling us to beat the drum about affordability, but, in light of the current political environment in this world, I can’t bring myself to give a damn about the release of the Democrats’ postmortem on 2024.

There’s no time. When one can say, with perfect seriousness, that the future of the country is at stake, there’s just no time for that crap.

I’m not the first to observe that nothing about this is normal. The prospect of a “constitutional crisis,” which we now know began in earnest on Jan. 20, with malice aforethought, has become yesterday’s news.

The crisis itself has not.

America and the world remain on edge, every damn day, subject to the whim of a sociopath who is desperate to distract us from his ugliest crimes. It has to stop.

Even this non-expert knows that nuance won’t win. What’s crucially important is that nuance isn’t necessary! What’s right and what’s wrong will be plain as day on Nov. 3, 2026, more so than any election of my seven decades.

Say it one more time: This cruel and criminal administration must be stopped.

I believe the way to stop it goes back 250 years.

To write such a thing seriously – with as much gravity as I can muster – feels risky: It begins a drumbeat echoing the founders’ urgent declarations, and in the 21^st century, especially among the young, a whiff of rhetoric seen as maudlin is reason enough to run for the hills.

But, for what better cause than liberty and justice for all – which is precisely what’s at stake – does one stomach a touch of sentimentality and get on board?

For what better cause than equal justice under the law, a free press, due process, and the rule of law itself?

We find ourselves in interesting times. Leave cosplay militarism to the other side, brothers and sisters, but suck it up. You’ve known how wrong this is for some time, and you know today that it’s not going to change until we change it.

I am a Democrat because I’m part of the resistance to an unprecedented incarnation of the Republican Party: one that has embraced a dangerous anti-democratic authoritarianism.

I’ve been opposed to things many times in my life, but I’ve only felt part of a resistance movement since Jan. 6, 2021, or perhaps in the months following that insurrection.

And if I’m defending sentimentality, I wouldn’t do the same for melodrama. (God knows we’ve had enough of that too.) I’m hopeful that all of us realize resistance at this point is no performance. It’s imperative.

One last observation, which I hope scares you: If a recitation of our founders’ principles sounds syrupy, it’s because you’ve always been able to take them for granted. That’s no longer true.

For the sake of generations to come, let’s build on the shoulders of giants such as Lech Wałęsa, a name that comes to mind because his movement was called Solidarity. Protecting, preserving and defending our Constitution requires that singleness of purpose.