We Need This Moment

Now is not the time to lose faith and give up. Now is the time to act.

I have way too many socks. I’m loathe to throw any out. Grateful for my grandma’s sock egg, I recently darned a few holes in the toes. And guess what? I got more holes, new holes.

Holes are the evidence that I need to clip my nails. And that my socks are cheap or old. Holes are the impetus for action. No one likes walking around with toes sticking out of their socks. No one.

We need this moment.

Like many of you, I’m sure, I felt pretty deflated yesterday.

Then, this morning, much earlier than I wished (as I would have preferred to stay in bed with my warm pup), I realized something.

We need this moment.

Most of us don’t act until we absolutely need to. Until we ABSOLUTELY need to. We don’t go to the doctor until we are really sick. We don’t get our car fixed until it breaks down on the road. We don’t buy new tires until we have a flat. We don’t finish a project until the deadline is (too) close at hand. We don’t throw out our old socks until our toes poke through.

You get the idea.

We don’t want to see the inevitable. We don’t want to believe.

Two decades ago, an LA friend of mine helped produce a documentary titled, A Voice for Choice. With George W Bush running for a second term as president, he and his team recognized a new Supreme Court Justice could be appointed that could tip the scales, jeopardizing Roe v Wade.  Those who felt strongly against this ruling were holding a rally in D.C. in January 2023 (“March for Life”). The documentary team mobilized woman and girls to attend in a counter-protest and “stop the war on women”.  If I didn’t have a copy of the documentary, I might not believe it actually happened. Unfortunately, I can’t find any reference to it on the internet, with the exception of a calendar note at FMLA Cerritos College showing the documentary on October 10, 2004.

TWO DECADES AGO. Sean Cooley, his documentary team, and many others were sounding the alarm that Roe v Wade could be overturned. Two years ago it happened.

And now this. Now SCOTUS has indeed been packed with right-wing ideologists who are declaring presidential immunity, at least, that is, for the former president. This is unprecedented. Heather Cox Richardson (Letters from an American) reminds us:

Presidential immunity is a brand new doctrine. In February 2021, explaining away his vote to acquit Trump for inciting an insurrection, Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), said: “Trump is still liable for everything he did while he was in office…. We have a criminal justice system in this country. We have civil litigation, and former presidents are not immune from being held accountable by either one.”

But it was not just McConnell who thought that way. At his confirmation hearing in 2005, now–Chief Justice John Roberts said: “I believe that no one is above the law under our system and that includes the president. The president is fully bound by the law, the Constitution, and statutes.” 

In his 2006 confirmation hearings, Samuel Alito said: “There is nothing that is more important for our republic than the rule of law. No person in this country, no matter how high or powerful, is above the law.” 

And in 2018, Brett Kavanaugh told the Senate: “No one’s above the law in the United States, that’s a foundational principle…. We’re all equal before the law…. The foundation of our Constitution was that…the presidency would not be a monarchy…. [T]he president is not above the law, no one is above the law.”

And yet, yesterday, SCOTUS ruled otherwise.

We need this moment.

Rob Brezny’s newsletter today includes some thoughts for us to consider.

Howard Zinn: "What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something.”

Noam Chomsky: "Unless you believe that the future can be better, you are unlikely to step up and take responsibility for making it so. If you assume there is no hope, you guarantee there will be no hope."

And Naomi Klein, who learned from Australian Aboriginal elders, “Before you can fight, you have to know what you are fighting for." Now we know.

We need this moment. This moment offers us clarity. The moment begs us to act.

Be brave. Believe in our democracy. Speak up. Act. Do not doubt that you can make a difference. Together, we can.

Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands, and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.”

A week later . . . Jesus came and stood among them . . . and said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Stop doubting and believe.” – John 20:24-29