State of Emergency and Beyond “Indivisible"

WE MUST FIND ANY AND ALL EFFECTIVE WAYS TO EXERT ENOUGH PRESSURE TO DIMINISH THE HARM OF THE TRUMP/REPUBLICAN AGENDA.

With the Trump Administration past the initial inauguration stage, Americans will be negatively impacted by more and more actions and policies, either executive or Congressional, that harm our democracy, undermine hard won norms of respect in our multicultural society and, generally, further disadvantage the 99%.

Trump's strategic vision of chaos: Inventing a
non-existent crisis  so he can "solve" it
by Heather Digby Parton, Salon, February 22, 2017

In particular, given the ineptitude of the Trump Administration and the President's deception and emotional volatility, we are now at a vastly increased risk for many different kinds of crises, domestic and international. Also, the Trump Administration increases the real possibility of profound worldwide economic decline, heightened levels of international tensions, and increased, outright military conflicts. 

THIS IS A STATE OF EMERGENCY AND IF IT IS MADE TO SEEM NORMAL, 

IT IS DONE SO AT OUR PERIL.

What can we do to avoid a dark future under an incompetent, deceitful, mentally unstable President and Republican Congress? 

How do we deal with the “Donald” and his GOP supporters who are concerned with promoting the well-being of the economic elite and demonstrate an absence of sympathy/concern for the 99%? 

Our hope is an on-going and growing,
active and popular resistance movement.

The Resistance movement has to move beyond attempts to lobby/pressure the Republican Congress to be responsive to the MANDATE OF THE MAJORITY OF AMERICANS WHO VOTED AGAINST TRUMP -  AND THE EVEN LARGER MAJORITY OPPOSED TO TRUMP (as measured by all the National voter surveys before the election).

A permanent resistance is needed and this permanent resistance must use varied creative ways of mobilizing more voters to oppose the radically backward attack upon central American values and hard won gains!

• frequent, regular, (and spontaneous) protest demonstrations (including work stoppages, etc.)
• “ town hall meetings”
• community political education meetings
• teach-ins
• coordinate efforts with other like-minded groups - locally, statewide, nationwide

Please check out the article and video below.

"Studies show it takes just 3.5 percent of a population engaged in sustained nonviolent resistance to topple a dictatorship."  By Alexandra Rosenmann / AlterNet February 8, 2017

WE MUST FIND ANY AND ALL EFFECTIVE WAYS TO EXERT ENOUGH PRESSURE TO DIMINISH THE HARM
OF THE TRUMP/REPUBLICAN AGENDA.

#TheResistance

Never give up. Never give in. We must WIN.

Highlights of the Trump/Republican Party Agenda 4 the Very Wealthy

Greed is the explanation!

#The Resistance
is the antidote!

Since the end of the 19^th century, the Republican agenda has, first and foremost, been to promote the economic interests of the very wealthy.

In the current 115^th Congress, the Republican  agenda is, unmistakably, indifferent to the well-being of the other 99+% of Americans.

The primary (economic) goal of the Trump Administration and Republican Congress is to reduce the share of tax revenue from the very wealthy and “their” large and powerful corporations. By a standard measure of income inequality, America currently ranks 45th out of 144 nations – the change in the tax structure by the Trump administration and Republican Congress will certainly markedly increase economic inequality in America. In 2008, America ranked 28^th among 33 developed nations for children in poverty households. Likewise, America is an outlier for elderly poverty and single parent families headed by females. We can expect increased rates of poverty and reduced benefits available to the poor.

In turn, such a change in the tax structure will be used to justify a reduction in all areas of discretionary (as opposed to mandated by existing law) spending, except military spending This will result in reductions in programs that promote the well-being of the other 99+% of Americans. Starting with Reagan, the Republican Party has used whatever leverage to reduce the effectiveness of regulatory law passed TO PROTECT THE WELL-BEING OF THE 99+%. For example, budgets have since been continually reduced for the FDA (overseeing the healthfulness of food and drugs), OSHA (protecting employees in their workplace) and the EPA (protecting harm to the environment – particularly that promotes harm the 99+% from a “poisoned” environment). 

Regulation TO PROTECT THE WELL-BEING OF THE 99+% will be under never before imagined attack in order TO INCREASE CORPORATE PROFITS. Reducing the active role of regulatory agencies or weakening regulations will expose Americans to greater health risks (and other risks) of all kinds – at work, as consumers, and through air/water/food/medications, etc. 

In particular, gutting the protections of Obamacare and throwing enrollees into a health insurance market that will be more expensive will leave many families (as much as 30 million over time) without coverage or “healthcare poor". Thus, making American health care even less effective than all other affluent nations – in 2015, the U.S. ranked 31st of 195 nations in life expectancy, 38th out of 175 nations in infant mortality, etc. It is almost unimaginable that the richest nation, with the highest material standard of living, stands alone among affluent nations without a system of national, universal coverage healthcare system (not based on affordability). 

GREED IS THE EXPLANATION!#The Resistance is the antidote!

The Republican Road to Fascism in America

WE ARE CONFRONTED WITH POSSIBLE AMERICAN FASCISM. WE MUST RESIST. 

ANY WHO WANT A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY 
MUST RESIST. 

ANY WHO WANT A LIBERAL CULTURE OF BROAD TOLERANCE AND RESPECT FOR ALL 

MUST RESIST!

Salon article: Nixon was more like a proto-Trump

Backstory: Ever since Nixon's appeal to the backlash against greater racial equality, the Republican Party, the party of the wealthy/powerful elite, has increasingly appealed to hatred and anger against racial minorities, women, and now more than any time since the early 20^th century, immigrants – and thereby has divided America more and more, demolishing a center (e.g., Independents, ticket-splitting). 

Starting with Reagan, the Republican agenda to protect billionaires and the profit of powerful corporations has become more obvious – for example, by reforming the tax code thereby putting more burden on the bottom 99.99%, and attacking regulations (put in place to protect the lower 99.99%) by using the wealthy propaganda myth of the “free market”.          

To begin with, the Republicans captured the religious fundamentalist vote by flipping on cultural issues starting with a woman's right to an abortion (Reagan). But the fundamentalist vote and the economically Conservative vote was not enough in 2008.

As a result, the wealthy elite created the “virtual” Tea Party to build a larger angry white constituency – angry about a feeling of economic precariousness. And Americans should feel greater economic vulnerability – before the G.W. Bush “Great Recession” starting in 2008, median family income had been stagnant for more than three decades (even with more family members working more jobs) and job and retirement pension security was being progressively diminished for the almost all workers.

The Here & Now: Trump is not only illiberal but anti-democratic, questioning and challenging Constitutional constraints on the Executive and chilling any criticism by individuals or by the media (i.e. the 1^st Amendment right to free speech) by veiled and not so veiled threats of violence by his supporters or retaliation by himself (e.g. restricting the libel law). Twentieth century Americans do know something about how speech was chilled during the McCarthy era – Trump's threats during the primary campaign are consistent with his on-going twitters etc. and threaten to chill speech in a much more profound way - indeed, more similar to fascist regimes.

"In the interim, there are a slate of policies on his docket that would entrench not only his kleptocratic interests, but also allow him, together with the GOP, to create an internal empire less responsive to the plurality of voters and more responsive to wealthy and regressive special interests. "(From The warning signs of fascism that Americans should be watching for under president Donald Trump, by Casey Michel)

No surprise then that a lightning-rod-of-hate-and-anger demagogue like Trump could divide America as much as it was in the Civil War era. Trump's "MO" is:

• spouting a message that he could bring all the (better paying?) jobs back
• saying only he could fix things & “make America great again”
• bring back traditional values
• modeling illiberal behavior
• unapologetically demeaning women
• unapologetically demeaning ethnic, and national minorities
• unapologetically demeaning any critics 

But Trump is not only illiberal but anti-democratic, questioning/challenging Constitutional constraints on the Executive and chilling any criticism by individuals or by the media (i.e. the 1^st Amendment right to free speech). His challenges are by veiled and not so veiled threats of violence by his supporters or retaliation by himself (e.g. restricting the libel law). 

Twentieth century Americans do know something about how speech was chilled during the McCarthy era.Trump's threats during the primary campaign are consistent with his on-going, headline making tweets, etc., and threaten to chill speech in a much more profound way - indeed, more similar to fascist regimes.

The Republican Party and its elite economic backbone have paved the way for Trump's demagogic appeal to angry, hateful emotions (rejecting rational analysis entirely) and for his illiberalism and anti-democratic inclinations. 

WE ARE CONFRONTED WITH POSSIBLE AMERICAN FASCISM. WE MUST RESIST. 

ANY WHO WANT A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY MUST RESIST. 

ANY WHO WANT A LIBERAL CULTURE OF BROAD TOLERANCE AND RESPECT FOR ALL 

MUST RESIST!

#TheResistance