Let‘s examine the exhaustion with dealing with a weaponized government. Who is saying it must be this way? Are you allowing it? Are you accepting an unfair fate? Are you accepting someone else’s definition of your powerlessness?
It has become absolutely exhausting to be a citizen of the United States. Each day, there is a fresh outrage or new perversion of our democracy.
How did this come to pass and how are we letting this be?
Does it all come down to an over-muscled, over-reaching Executive Branch, or is there more at work here?
Will you continue to accept each branch of your government when its actions are turned against you?
If you don’t protest, or resist, or reject, then this is the way it is going to be.
DHS/ICE
Can we protect ourselves and others without losing our compassion?
Does the template of protection require being authoritarian?
Will you remain silent when authoritarianism devolves to fascism?
Congress
Who is pulling these strings?
If they don’t act and they don’t act on your behalf, something is clearly wrong.
Senators and Congresspersons are supposed to balance the opinions of other Senators and Congresspersons.
They are not supposed to move in lock-step.
Who benefits if our governing body does not govern or takes only self-serving action that only inflicts pain?
Yes, there is another way to go.
Courts
Who says it’s ok to pack them with ideologues?
They’re our courts, not the courts of someone with an agenda.
What happened to checks and balances here and a sense of fair play?
If a system of checks and balances has functioned well for decades and suddenly someone throws the baby out with the bath water, then what fundamental shift now threatens our democracy?
Fatigue
The Executive Branch under Trump has been nothing but outrageous. Congress during Trump has acted as an abject enabler or remained gridlocked. Meanwhile, life goes on, needs are unmet, and reality becomes more complex every day.
Who is looking out for us?
We can only take so much negative input, so we have to push back.
Don’t accept the weaponized actions of your government. Remind them who put them there and what they are there for.
Vote them out November 3.
Vote them out and mind the new crop of their replacements.
Curing systemic fascism doesn’t happen by wishing it away, but through constant oversight, consideration and action.
Turn the swords of our government back into plowshares that serve everyone‘s needs—and reject the hateful administration that thinks of nothing else but wielding them.