Call to Arms

Today, I awoke at some ungodly hour in the morning with the grim realization that the state of  American politics is somehow askew and the implications for its citizens is dire.  The urgency ran deep; like a calm wide stream with a current racing just beneath the surface.

I thought for a moment that no one would listen to me; that no one would take me seriously or that my lone voice would not matter.  I kept thinking that it is very possible that my lone voice would not be heard; that no one would want to hear what I have to say because I am not writing for a major publication.

And all of this is true…I don’t have the backing of a major publication.  But I do have my voice.  And it is with that voice that I will tell anyone that chooses to listen that we are in the middle of a crisis.  It is a crisis that will impact ever single citizen of the United States.  And unless we act, we will lose the institutions that we have come to love and live by.

We cannot afford to wait until the institutions are eroded and then subsequently lost.  We cannot afford to look back and shake our heads sadly and lament over the good ole days because we allowed the current administration to turn our democracy into the realization of a dictator’s dream.

We, as American’s cannot afford to let this happen.  We cannot sit on the sidelines and say that we don’t have a voice.  Yes, our elections will be attacked by a foreign adversary.  Yes, the person that is supposed to lead the American people will attack our institutions including the right of the free press.  He will continue to say that the press is the enemy of the American people simply because the press reports each misstep; whether that misstep is deliberate or a mistake.  He will continue to attack our judicial processes and rules of law because he believes that he is above the law.  We are holding ringside seats to the GOP who controls the House and the Senate become something that we don’t recognize.  They have become the party of Trump instead of the conservative party that at one time had been conservative for the American People.

We have one opportunity and we must get this right; because if we don’t, we will be looking at an America that we will not be able to recognize. 

Our civil liberties are at stake.  Our rights and privileges are on the line.  Right now, the far right is waging a war on the citizens of this country.

We cannot afford to sit on the sidelines and let this administration take away the American Dream that so many of us have worked so hard to obtain.

We have a civic responsibility to do what is right and to take back our democracy.  We must go out and vote in our November election.

We must do this because our democracy and very livelihood depends upon it.

~ J.L. Whitehead