Resolving to Stand Together
Where has the time gone? It seems just a few Tuesdays ago #DSOT held its inaugural weekly action in the Summer of 2018 against the Trump administration’s concentration camps on America’s Southern border. In the intervening years, we’ve tracked the continuing stranglehold of money on our political system by the donor class, often regardless of which party is in power. That’s not to say there is no difference between the parties, the Democrat’s “good cop” governing is often less viscous and vindictive than the Republican’s “bad cop” rendition. The Biden administration’s reuniting of nearly all the separated children with their families’ is a stark contrast to the Trump administration that tore children from their parent’s arms and threw them in cages. Nonetheless, we cannot overlook the continuing enforcement of Title 42across both Republican and Democratic administrations, allowing for the continued mass expulsion and denial of asylum to refugees and migrants. It's not just immigration, where change has stagnated: Over one million Americans (and counting) died from the coronavirus and our failed healthcare system and yet Nothing was changed or improved after this collective catastrophe. Despite record protests over police brutality, only a handful of local precincts have made minor changes to law enforcement. Student loan debt continues to crush young Americans, slowing an already teetering economy. Still, in the rare moments when the people are given a voice in shaping policy we see a people ready and eager to change their country and communities for the better. From restoring felony voting rights in Florida, to defending abortion rights up and down the ballot, to legalizing recreational cannabis, American’s are choosing to act, even when the political class ignores them. Even more fundamentally, people in groups like those highlighted in our local spotlight are taking real, material actions in their communities, from defending libraries to endangered species. It’s this constellation of more focused efforts which create our civic society. These political doldrums we find ourselves in, unable to catch the winds of progress no matter who is at the helm is not from a lack of desire from the American people, it’s the result of an entwined and broken political and economic system which only responds to the wealthy donor class. To change it will take not just political power and organizing, but economic power and solidarity. A new year is, in many ways a formality; the struggle for justice and equality does not change with the turning of the calendar. Yet even so, there is a sense of new possibility upon entering a new year. So let us seize this opportunity to resolve in 2023 to fight for justice, and build an economic cudgel that can stand up to the donor class. Join us each Tuesday to fulfill that resolution and help bring America back to representing the people! Here's to an amazing 2023! #DSOT #UPM
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