Who Are We?

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Joy Reid ‏@JoyAnnReid
Conspiracy theories, undermining our own democracy, gag orders on federal agencies communicating with the media & public... who are we?

from MoJones:

Many of the folks I know are getting ready to play serious defense in 2017, and they're not wrong. Before we take up our three-point stance on the national line of scrimmage, however, maybe we should ask ourselves not only what we're fighting against, but what we're fighting for. What kind of United States of America do we actually want? Maybe, in fact, we could start by asking: What is a country for? What should a country do? Why do people establish countries in the first place?

...There is, without question, much that will need defending over the next four years, so much that people fought and died for in the 20th century, so much that is threatened by the ascendancy of Donald Trump, the white nationalist right, and the Republican Party. The 20th century saw the introduction of many significant laws, regulations, and—yes—entitlements: benefits to which we have a right by virtue of living in, and in many cases being citizens of, this country...

We could mention other New Deal era victories under threat: Social Security, unemployment insurance, food stamps (now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP), and Aid to Families with Dependent Children (now known as TANF for Temporary Aid to Needy Families, or more commonly simply as "welfare&quot , which was created to promote the wellbeing of children in families facing poverty. In the coming Trump years, we can expect predation on all these programs—from renewed efforts to "privatize" Social Security to further restrictions on welfare. Indeed, former Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert, Trump's transition team point man on Social Security, is a firm believer in "privatization," the idea that the federal government should encourage people to gamble on the stock market rather than rely on a guaranteed government pension.

There's more to defend. Take widespread access to birth control, now covered by health insurance under Obamacare. I'm old enough to remember having to pretend I was married to get a doctor to prescribe the Pill, and being grateful for the Supreme Court's 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade that guaranteed me a legal abortion, when a gynecologist told me I couldn't conceive. (He was wrong.) Then there are the guarantees of civil rights for LGB (if not yet T) people won in the 1990s, culminating in the astonishing 2015 Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges granting marriage rights to same-sex couples. All of this could be wiped out with a couple of Trumpian Supreme Court picks.

Nor should we forget that in addition to people's rights, there are actual people to defend in the brave new world of Trumplandia, or at least to help defend themselves: immigrants, Muslims, African Americans—especially young men—as well as people facing poverty and homelessness...

read more: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/01/Trump-declaration-independence-constitution-founders

Jason Karsh ‏@jkarsh
The twitter bio for @AltNatParkSer is so good. The #Resistance will be led by forest rangers. And women. And probably librarians.

Kitty Chandler ‏@mightybattlecat
The year is 2017. America is a tire fire. The resistance is led by Teen Vogue, Badlands National Park, and the Merriam-Webster dictionary.