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As the 2018 midterm elections approach, resisting Donald Trump and his Republican allies and their agenda for our country is now more important than ever before. Everyone, especially more men, needs to get involved and stay involved in this struggle. At stake are virtually all of the progressive political gains of the past seventy years or so. Think Civil Rights, Women’s Rights, workers’ rights, and the laws and regulations currently in place that protect our environment. All are at risk, in whole or part, in the remaining two years of the Trump presidency if the GOP can hold onto control of Congress.
Born out of my own feelings of anxiety and helplessness when it comes to this prospect, I came up with these five quick rules that I am now sharing with all of my brothers in the hopes of encouraging them, if they haven’t done so already, to join me in the fight for the future of our country.
The five rules are as follows:
1. Channel Your Anger
I am going to be honest—resisting Donald Trump is exhausting. With all of our 21st century lives being manically busy already, it is virtually impossible to keep up with his daily political transgressions.
It should be painfully apparent to all of us by now that Trump is going to do something virtually every single day to invite our fury. Whether it be his cruel immigration policies, his ill thought out tariffs on imported goods from China and our allies, or just the graft and corruption of the members of his Cabinet, we are bound to hear or read something that will make our blood boil.
With so much to be furious about, it’s easy to lose our way and begin to feel like we are trapped in an inescapable anger bubble. The upside of the anger we may be feeling is that it is confirmation that, unlike many of our fellow citizens, we are awake and engaged enough to be aware of what is happening to our country. The downside is that perpetual outrage is not sustainable. To be in that constant state is to risk burnout and desensitization.
What we must do then is find a way to channel our wrath and convert it into a steely resolve for change. It’s not enough to just be anti-Trump, we must develop an alternative to his attempted destruction and dismantling of so many things that we hold dear about our country, and we can do that by laser focusing our energy towards workable solutions of repair and reform. Harnessing our indignation holds an enormous potential of transformational power, so let us learn how to use it.
2. Maintain Your Hope
Activist William Sloane Coffin once said, “Hope resists. Hopelessness adapts.” I have found that the single biggest obstacle to living up to sentiments like Coffin’s is overcoming our own obstinate pessimism. There is a tendency for many of us to believe that once something happens politically in this country, it will always be so. The problem with this line of thinking as it applies to America is that it runs in diametrical opposition to her history. Consider this—we are a country that has survived two World Wars, a Civil War, countless other conflicts, and an infinite number of social upheavals and movements since the late 1700s. We are not a static entity but one which is and has been in a constant state of change.
The fact that there is such a vibrant and robust resistance to Trump should be reason enough for us to feel optimistic. Our capacity to resist and be resilient politically in the face of a foreboding political situation or enemy like Trump is built into our American societal DNA. Now is not the time to despair, my fellow citizens. No, let us maintain our hope as it leads us to resist.
3. Control Your Fear
While Trump has shown an unmistakable predilection for authoritarianism in his words and deeds and it is a perfectly normal and healthy reaction on our part as Americans to feel a sense of dread for the future because of it, let us not allow our fear to run wild and overstate our current political situation.
We do not live in an authoritarian state and to say that we do, as some are quick to proclaim, is to be dishonest and disingenuous. Donald Trump is a lot of things, but he is not Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Kim Jong-un, or his pal, Vladimir Putin—and the country he presides over is not a Nazi Germany, a fascist Italy, a murderous North Korea, or a repressive Russia. Far from it. The simple fact that I can write this piece and criticize Trump in the manner I am doing and not be afraid for my life is one of several examples that I could use as proof that we are not living under a dictatorial government.
In the potentially tumultuous days ahead (think the results of the Mueller investigation and its inevitable fallout and the 2020 presidential campaign), we no doubt need to be vigilant and clear-eyed about what is going around us and in front of us. But we can’t let ourselves be controlled by our terror or anxiety if we expect to do what is right and good for our country.
4. Get Loud and Stay Loud
In the face of the existential threat that Donald Trump represents to America, it should be morally imperative to all of us who disagree with him and his policies, to get loud and stay loud. And just to be clear, by” loud” I am not referring to simply engaging in epic internet political battles on Facebook or Twitter, but loud in the sense of action. We should be loud by volunteering to work on a local candidate’s campaign, loud by going to that protest gathering, or loud by donating whatever amount we can financially to the Democratic cause whether it be locally or nationally, just to name a few examples.
For those of us who reside upon the Left of the political spectrum, this is especially requisite now because if there is one thing that Trump’s party of enablers, the Republicans, are good at is that when it comes to their messaging and their organizing, they are always vocal about their beliefs and not shy about proclaiming what they do and do not stand for. In other words, they are always loud and for us on the Left to be silent now is to risk being drowned out once again by the overpowering voices on the Right.
5. Commit to Vote
So, if you have done me the honor and read this piece down to this point you knew this was coming, right? In political pieces like this, it always sounds so redundant to give the spiel about how important and essential voting is but give it I must because it is true.
So, here it is: Everything that I have written about in this piece and everything that I recommend you do as a fellow resistor against the monster who now occupies the White House—Channeling Your Anger, Maintaining Your Hope, Controlling Your Fear, Getting Loud And Staying Loud—is just useless noise without the simple glorious act of going into the voting booth and performing that act that helps set us apart from so many nations down through the annals of time.
Setting aside anything the Russians did or didn’t do in their attempts to interfere in the workings of our democracy, there is nothing more destructive to our democracy than its citizens staying home and not voting.
For those of us on the Left, it is clear—the demographics are on our side and will only continue to be as long as we keep reaching out to an ever more diverse America. In this bare-knuckled brawl that we are now engaged in for the soul and future of America, the solution is quite simple. If our voters show up, they lose. And we win. Again, and again.
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