Live to Fight Another Day

Dear Friends:

The last few days have been hard and depressing for so many of us.  We are split 50-50 in this country and our path is rife with discord. Those of us (Democrats, Republicans, Independents, and even those who don't vote) who have a sincere love of country, who value our connections to our families and neighbor are struggling against the onslaught of power corrupting absolutely and how it's bleeding into our society.  

Whether those who are controlling those interests recognize the danger of the path we are on is inconsequential. Those of us who do will take informed action and persist. The brilliance of Lord John Dahlberg-Acton (English historian, 1834-1902) seems an appropriate reminder this week. He didn't live in our time, but he gave us these two eternal quotes:

"Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

"The end learns to justify the means." (You may recognize this as our shortened version of 'the end justifies the means.' They don't mean the same things, but that's a discussion for another time.)

We're feeling the results of those philosophies in our politics and have been for quite some time. Lesser known quotes from Lord Acton can form a partial answer for our frustration and despair.  

"There are two things which cannot be attacked in front: ignorance and narrow-mindedness. They can only be shaken by the simple development of the contrary qualities. They will not bear discussion."

"Every thing secret degenerates, even the administration of justice; nothing is safe that does not show how it can bear discussion and publicity."

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We need a Plan of Action going forward to counter ignorance and narrow-mindedness by shaping contrary or opposite qualities and Twitter* had some suggestions which have been consolidated and expanded to form a workable list. Channel your anger and despair to bring about change. For the next 29 days:

--Ignore hysterics and drama from Trump and the Republicans

--Ignore social media trolls

--Walk away from family, friends and strangers engaged in the vitriol of the moment.  Your strength is in SHOWING them with your actions, not engaging at their level.

--Shift your FOCUS to the ISSUES

--FOCUS on VOTING INFO and GETTING OUT THE VOTE!

Rally around ISSUES:

--2000 children at the border

--Sexual assault survivors and how to institute change

--Supporting free press agencies

--Supporting our intelligence and legal communities

--Our planet

--Puerto Rico

--Healthcare

--Gun control

--Renewal of the Violence Against Women Act

--Better pay for our Teachers

--Economic Development for your community

--Add your own

Be mindful and smart about interactions.

Suggestion #1 - --Subscribe to Jen Hoffman's Americans of Conscience Weekly Checklists.  Go Here. 

Suggestion #2 – Instead of bringing your fists to a fight or nasty words to a confrontation, be like rising water.  Your opponent can go down in a flood, too. Make the depth of those flood waters be filled with the best examples of who we are and how we truly care for each other, about inequality and suffering, and about the life of our planet. #Rising Change 

Suggestion #3  –   Be Enlightened which is defined as having or showing a rational, modern, and well-informed outlook; If you don’t know something, educate yourself.    

Suggestion #4 – Control your behavior and language; Try not to give into swearing and anger. Channel to something positive.  #NotWhoWeAre #Decency #PoliticalFacts

Suggestion #5 – . Our communities are strong.  Use all your local resources to make changes on your local level. #RisingChange

Suggestion #6 – Donate.  To campaigns, to organizations, to entities that work on human problems.  Examples: Qualified Candidates for Local, State and National Offices, ACLU, Local Food Banks, Red Cross, No Kid Hungry, etc. Example: Go here for suggestions on how to support change in the immigration issue.  #ChangeTheHumanCondition

Suggestion #7 – You can’t change the minds of those who are willfully unenlightened. Walk away.

Suggestion #8 – Fight fake news with facts. Check your sources before passing on information. 

*Thanks to @sirDukeDevin an @KassandraSeven on Twitter for the ideas.