We Are Not Going Back
Hell no, we won't go!
Before I get into it and before you get into it, take a moment to make sure you’re registered to vote.
My sister, who at the time was in her 70s, had voted all her life and was politically savvy and engaged, discovered before one of the election seasons that something was amiss about her registration. Even though she was white, well-to-do and politically active, she almost got locked out of what she considered to be one of her most fundamental rights.
So, moral to the story, don’t take it for granted!
We’re not going back to the 1850s.
We’re not going back to the 1950s.
We’re not going back to the Reagan Era — sometimes known as the Me Decade.
We’re not going back to the mindset of Shock and Awe and making excuses to drop bombs on Others (though that will always — sadly — be in the American playbook.)
And we sure as hell don’t want to rehire the administration that couldn’t shoot straight, tell a truth to save their lives or bother to govern with any consistency, decency or empathy.
We’re not going back.
Nancy Sinatra’s hit — written by Lee Hazlewood — may have been clairvoyant, but was certainly right over the target nearly half a century early for what’s going on today:
You keep sayin' you got somethin' for me
Somethin' you call love, but confess
You've been a-messin' where you shouldn't have been a-messin'
And now someone else is gettin' all your best
These boots are made for walkin'
And that's just what they'll do
One of these days, these boots are gonna walk all over you
Yeah
You keep lyin' when you ought to be truthin'
And you keep losin' when you ought to not bet
You keep samin' when you ought to be a-changin'
Now what's right is right, but you ain't been right yet
These boots are made for walkin'
And that's just what they'll do
One of these days, these boots are gonna walk all over you
You keep playin' where you shouldn't be playin'
And you keep thinkin' that you'll never get burnt, ha!
I just found me a brand-new box of matches, yeah
And what (s)he knows, you ain't had time to learn
These boots are made for walkin'
And that's just what they'll do
One of these days, these boots are gonna walk all over you
Are you ready, boots?
Start walkin'
Of course, the lyrics describe a toxic male. Any toxic male. Your Every-toxic-male.
The kind who gravitate toward autocracy, and faux populists who push autocratic agendas. The kind who air their white male grievances in podcasts and through publishing as a means of earning a staggering, unwarranted income. The song’s lyrics refer to the lickspittles who fawn over a geriatric, make-believe billionaire who want only to run out the clock so as to avoid a stint in some posh, white collar prison.
But it does seem as if Lee and Nancy knew this day was coming.
When that very popular song was written women were still second-class citizens. Bank accounts, mortgages, credit cards, I’m assuming financial instruments of all kinds, were not necessarily available to women-at-large. Your average housewife had no access to that sort of freedom.
None of us can imagine how a country like ours could backslide to an era so backward. And yet…the backsliding continues in various parts of the country especially following Supreme Court rulings stripping away rights while granting exceptions and favors to corporations. A Supreme Court that saw fit to proclaim broad immunity to the Executive Branch of the government.
I really enjoyed watching almost ALL of the 2024 Democratic National Convention. Despite how much I am steeped in politics intellectually, I rarely pay much attention to these bloated exercises in mass consumption. (Although I vividly remember the scintillating speech given by the young state congressman from Illinois with all of the funny names from the 2004 DNC convention.)
But what was particularly notable — and gratifying — about the DNC — and I tuned in every single day — was the number of women and women of color who were part of every state delegation and who were front and center on the Big Stage throughout the week. I didn’t have to watch a single second of the other party’s convention to know it was homogenous and moribund in comparison.
I didn’t have to watch a single second to know that it contained litanies of grievances and angry speeches from people who prefer to stoke fear than do the hard work of governing.
I didn’t have to watch a scintilla of the sad spectacle to know their candidates said nothing about public service.
Never have the contrasts between the two parties’ candidates been so stark.
A candidate who has empathy; a candidate without.
A candidate who speaks in complete, coherent sentences; a candidate who can’t string a group of words together to make a complete sentence.
A candidate who smiles and laughs; a candidate who scowls constantly and has a predilection of falling asleep in courtrooms while being convicted of felonies.
A candidate who came from — virtually — nothing; a candidate who was given a fortune to squander at birth.
A candidate capable of showing a sense of humor and capable of being humble; a humorless candidate who couldn’t define, or show, humility.
A candidate For the People; a candidate for anyone who has a few million to throw his way but — truly — a candidate only for himself.
Were it not for the aberration of the Electoral College, we could take this election for granted. Even though one candidate has more flaws than a character in a Dickens’ novel, he is white beneath the orange paint and privileged with the “affirmative action of generational wealth” (thank you Michelle Obama and her speechwriters!). He remains in the race by being propped up by a media that abhors a vacuum and a system founded to benefit plantation owners.
Were this a national referendum, the biracial lady with the infectious smile and laugh and the former coach from the Midwest with the buoyant outlook on life would mop the floor with their opponents. The majority of us are ready to move on from the nastiness of the past decade and bring a halt to the rise of cruelty and belligerence.
Kamala Harris’ boots busted through the glass ceiling when she became America’s first female vice president. Now millions and millions of women are donning their boots to bust her through the glass ceiling between her and the presidency.
Boots versus barefoot.
Let’s not go back.
From Tara Penry on Substack:
U.S. folks: Are the young people in your orbit registered to vote? 🇺🇸 🫶🏼
⚡️ Among the 18-25-year-olds in my classes, only 1/3 are registered. We’re aiming for 100%. ⚡️
This Labor Day weekend and next week, please ask your nieces, nephews, students, and young neighbors if they’re registered.
Point them to their local Secretary of State or other nonpartisan info website.
Let them know they can find out in advance what’s on their ballot.
College students may need time to request an absentee ballot. It’s time to start now.
Getting young people registered feels almost as good as voting. Ready, set, GO! 🇺🇸
Please share widely. Let’s make democracy about mutual empowerment and love.
Also —
I’m probably the last person to have heard about the cholita skateboarders of Bolivia. But — if you were under a similar rock — check it out.
We will not go back!!!!
I love the cholita skateboarders!!!!