Tag: Democrats

It’s a Mad World Out There … Let’s Throw a Party!

On By Lorraine Devon WilkeIn Latest ThoughtsLeave a comment

A political party. The kind where music is played and money is raised.

Photo by Zach Lezniewicz on Unsplash
A friend of mine told me the other day that though she appreciates my writing and usually agrees with my perspective, she can’t read my articles anymore. Says she can’t ingest even one more word about politics and the mayhem they’ve caused.

I don’t blame. Frankly, I get it.

I sometimes feel some version of that even as a writer. I’d like to muse more often on topics beyond politics—traveling, love, the squirrel in my front yard, my cat Georgy, why my penmanship has gotten hideous since grade school—but, strangely, when I do meander toward those more apolitical themes, less readership is sparked, typically less than my political rants. And that, after all, is what it’s all about, right, building readership?

Well, no, not completely.

Yes, I want to build readership, of course. I want all of you to want to click each pithy headline to see what my latest “musing” is about. But more importantly, I want to intrigue, provoke, entertain, and inspire while widening the spectrum and offering, perhaps, more varietal opinionating. One-note pontification (not that I’m doing that, certainly, but in general) can be both creatively unsatisfying, and, I’d guess, occasionally redundant. So I am going to mix it up a bit, “view stats” be damned … maybe I’ll even get my friend’s interest back.

Today that focal-veer inspires me to talk about why performing with my band is my most organic form of political activism (see what I did there … politics and creativity!).

But let me first lay the groundwork by addressing the impulse behind this week’s headline: We are at critical mass crazy. Every single day there’s some new outrage to ingest, and the constantly percolating rage is keeping us, as a nation (world?), in a state of cortisol-inflammation. Which is not good.

This week’s short list includes:

  • “AI is going to kill us.” We’ve been informed by countless perpetrators of the AI invasion that now that they’ve built and released their “agents” into the wild, those wily robots have learned to escape their “sandboxes” to wreak havoc, eliciting from their creators a rather tepid, “Oops, sorry; they’re might/could/are going to destroy humanity… and maybe pretty soon.” That sort of thing will keep anxious people up nights for decades to come.
  • Trump continues his swooning love affair with evil overlord Xi Jingping, inviting the dictator, with gushing pomp & circumstance, to enjoy our White House where he (Trump) demeans the former president, behaves like a mincing crush-buddy, and achieves absolutely nothing.
  • Whack-a-mole seems to have become the norm for conducting an election, at least for protectors of the realm (democracy) like Norm Eisen and the indefatigable Marc Elias and his Democracy Docket team (talk about being exhausted). Give these people your money, attention, and support whenever you can.
  • Pete “Gee, I wish I was an army man” Hegseth continues to behave stupidly while putting human life at risk, whether blowing up faceless boaters, or, most recently, inviting vacuous influencers with bad hair to skulk the Pentagon and give vacuous speeches (see: The Pentagon has unveiled its secret weapon: two idiotic influencers).
  • And so on…

The sheer volume of all that crazy is undeniably exhausting. I know I’m exhausted. I imagine you are too. So I appreciated Rev. Benjamin Cremer’s recent comment:

“If you are overwhelmed by all the cruelty and tempted into hopelessness, you are a good person and on the right side of history. Those in power want nothing more than to steal your hope and drive you into apathy. Keeping your empathy and hope alive is an act of resistance.”

Amazing thing to say. And true. It can be that simple, resistance. Keeping empathy and hope alive is something everyone can do, even without leaving home. Even without joining a movement, knocking doors, writing postcards, or wailing at rallies. I think good people are doing just that … while metaphorically holding their breath, waiting, hoping, for an essential shift in the dark continuum.

Read that again: Keeping your empathy and hope alive is an act of resistance. We can all do that.

But back to me and singing … it connects, I promise.

My most joyful act of resistance is setting up shop with my band and offering our music to fundraisers helping to fill coffers for Democrats—the party in general and/or candidates specifically. Yes, I’ve done postcards, marches, mailing list promotions, etc., and have been more than happy to participate in all those ways. But I can think of no better reason to get up on stage and tap into that most exhilarating of art forms—singing—than to help save the sanity of our country. That’s a noble reason to sing, but damn … it also feels like the very best quid pro quo.

Someone once said to me that every single person loves to sing and wishes they were a rockstar. I can’t confirm that, but I bet it’s true. It was certainly true for me, both parts of that. I may have aged out of the “rockstar” option, but singing? Never. And how delightful that I have a group of brilliant musicians with whom I can do just that, and together we can take this thing we love and do something good with it. Truly a gift.

Because ever since I was a little girl riding my bike down May Avenue toward Nippersink Creek park by the baseball field, climbing into a tree on the park’s edge and belting out, “I Could’ve Danced All Night” to no audience at all, the act of singing has felt to me like a blessed event. Transformative and exhilarating. I actually conjured up a quote I gave to one of the fictional characters in my last novel, Chick Singer, that completely encapsulates the experience for me:

“It climbs through you like electricity; up from your gut and through your throat, bursting into the air with such sound and fury you couldn’t hold it back even if you wanted to. It rushes ears, explodes senses; raises goosebumps, until they wail and scream and move to the floor, arms flailing, leg pumping, every word shouted in tandem, and when that happens, and you know it was you—your voice, your energy, your electricity—that inspired the joyful clamor, you rise up out of your body in pure exhilaration. And sing louder.”

Probably not hard to figure why getting up and singing for the benefit of a benefit is my most favorite form of political resistance.

We’ve got one coming up in a couple of weeks. By the time we’re on stage entertaining fundraiser guests on Saturday, October 10th, we’ll be just 24 days from November 3rd’s Midterm election … a very big election day. I’d love everyone I know in the LA area to come join us to help support that election. I’d love everyone reading this to click the QR code in the flier below to donate (the hosts have designated 50% for the Democratic Party, 50% specifically to James Talarico, that’s how important flipping Texas is!). Mostly, I’d love all of us to benefit from the success aided by the money raised, success that will help change the course of our country.

Join me however you can, from wherever you are. Mostly, though, keep your empathy and hope alive. I will certainly join you in that.

I’m also going to keep singing, with intention, resistance, and joy … and as loud as I can.

Money—and Music—Where Our Mouths Are: ‘Rockin’ for Democracy!’

On By Lorraine Devon WilkeIn Latest ThoughtsLeave a comment

Every single day something happens in our country, in our political world, that stirs anger, triggers fear and outrage, shatters people’s lives or just makes them less secure and hopeful. There seems no end to it and there’s much debate about how, when, and where we fight, push back, take a stand to change the trajectory we’re on.

One of the ways I’ve chosen to do that is to help raise money for Democrats, particularly those running in our upcoming Midterm elections. And if I can do that not only with my money, but with my voice, my songs, the incredible musicians I’m fortunate to work with, in a gathering of like-minded activists, concerned citizens, impassioned patriots, and good friends, all the better:

That’s what this event is about. Doing what we can. Leaving no stone unturned. Showing up in solidarity. Making “good trouble.” Refusing to be complacent, apathetic, or cynical. AND HAVING A GOOD TIME!  My band, Sixth & Third, has got a great couple of sets for you, the Tufty Manse is gorgeous, there’ll be food & drink, a great speaker, and lots of positive energy!

Saturday, September 5th, 6:30-9:00

Venue address on ActBlue Donation page.

Just click the QR code on the flier to make your donation (which serves as your RSVP and ticket in, bring a copy of the receipt with you). If you can’t be there, you can still participate: just go to the “Additional Cxontribution” box to make a donation and know that it’s be very appreciated.

Hopefully you can join us to see out the summer, enjoy a beautiful evening under the stars, listen to some good music, and contribute to an essential cause. Feel free to pass along the information—and an invitation—to other friends and activists … all are welcome.

Thank you and we’ll look forward to seeing you there!

 

 

Maturity vs. Purity: Which Will Drive Democrats in Election 2020?

On By Lorraine Devon WilkeIn Latest Thoughts

When I was a kid growing up in Catholic schools there was much discussion on the topic of “purity.” We were awash in demands to maintain it, honor it; fight any urge to sully it. “Impure thoughts” were sins, “impure actions” were damnable, but being a sentient little girl with an open mind I was beset by both (albeit of strictly PG nature) even before puberty hit. As you can imagine, I spent significant time in confessionals penancing for those biological curiosities.

“Purity” itself is a curious word. Signifying “immaculateness,” “cleanness” and “untaintedness,” it’s also aligned with “whiteness” (hmmm…) and a slew of other definitions suggesting it’s the condition of being free of guilt, evil, pollution, debasement, and other contaminates that make a thing, or person, one presumes, undesirable.

As applied to political candidates, how does “purity” play? Are those who fail to meet standards of hard-left progressives (as opposed to, say, regular, moderate, or center progressives) deigned sullied and contaminated, unworthy of political consideration? Who decides how pure one needs to be to pass the test; can someone be pure on one issue, “tainted” on another, and are candidates ever graded on a curve?

I ask because, as occurred in 2016, the wholesale slamming of good, decent people running in the Democratic primary is again happening in the name of “purity testing.” Spend any time on Twitter or other social media and you’ll find biblical threads of caustic debate dedicated to the parsing of and pouncing on of anyone who dares tilt from the hardest of hard left progressive platforms, often concluding with familiar foot-stomping assertions like, “if they steal it from us again I’m not voting for anyone!” (insert whichever us applies).

This, at a time when a certified lunatic looms in the White House and exorcising him from our national stage is paramount to the literal survival of many… of the world, at this point.

Perhaps those waving purity flags most vociferously are so dogged in their enthusiasm they’ve missed the unique urgency of this moment, determined, instead, to fight to the death for purist ideals without considering the impact a potential loss to Trump would impose not only on them, but those outside their bubble. Perhaps they’re framing this election as a pivotal moment when activists and socially conscious citizens are supposed to fight for essential, necessary change.

But here’s the rub: this isn’t like any other election. Not even close. This is a fight between good and evil, survival and destruction, democracy and authoritarianism. Rule of law and flagrant corruption. Life and death. Sanity and insanity. Peace and war.

Hyperbolic? Just look around, people… and we’re barely into the new year.

Younger voters can, perhaps, be excused for any confusion or myopia on the topic. They’re newer at this, idealistic as hell, and driven by passions unbowed by historical perspective. They’re activated, plugged in, and convinced about what they want, what they believe the country needs, and won’t accept otherwise. In a normal election, their indefatigability would be applauded. It is applauded, even now.

What isn’t? Tunnel-visioned political petulance. Assailing candidates under the shared tent who are deemed “not pure enough.” The “take my ball and go home” intransigence that is too often bundled with passion. We, as a nation, cannot afford that sense of entitlement, not ever, certainly not now.

But I get the enthusiasm. At the dawn of 2019, I was very vocal in my demand that we finally—and well behind 70+ other democracies—elect a female president. I wasn’t alone: the evolution of culture demanded it, the gender balance of our country demanded it; the logic of who, per countless studies, provides exemplary leadership and management skills demanded it. And though occasionally accused of “voting with my vagina” (thanks to the weary, sexist trope immortalized by purity cultist, Susan Sarandon), I made clear it wasn’t just about gender. It was about who I believed would best serve as president and who I believed could beat Trump.

I believed Kamala Harris was that person. So I attended rallies, wrote articles, spread the word, would have done more but then… she was out. After months of strangely vapid media coverage, pushback from purity testers snarling about her law enforcement background (amongst other things); unhelpful campaign blunders, predictable disdain from racist/sexist small-minds, and the burgeoning demand for mega-dollars as billionaires joined the fray, she dropped out and I lost my candidate.

Yep, ball in hand, facing the direction of home, I moped, snarled, and vented. Then I turned back around and reassessed. Nothing had changed in the #1 priority: beating Trump. Nor was there any less urgency to choose the candidate I believed was best positioned to do that. And not just in liberal, progressive enclaves, but out in the wide world of middle, southern, northern, eastern, western, blue collar, lower income, less liberal, more conservative, moderate, centrist Democratic America. The one with voices, experiences, and circumstances as diverse as our population; the one that doesn’t necessarily like Trump but tends to find “socialism” suspect and women presidents discomforting.

Party extremists may choose to ignore that huge, disparate demographic, but it’s at their peril. Mature voters know we need them all to get the job done.

Maturity vs. purity. That’s the stark choice for Democrats this go-around.

Circumstances in 2020 demand that citizens of compassion, empathy, and civic responsibility prioritize “the greater good,” a concept that transcends every other metric on the table. Anyone with a grasp of both history and the power of selective compromise knows our most urgent task at this moment is saving America—the world—from four more years of Trump, front-burning choices and decisions to best ensure his removal, thereby securing the survival of policies and platforms that aid all citizens, not just those who are rich, white, evangelical, or conservative.

It means understanding that purity, like perfection, is unattainable, and certain passions may have to be put on hold until we no longer have a deranged person in the White House. It means understanding that the noble principles many are fighting for—Medicare-for-All, student loan forgiveness, immigration reform, breaking the glass ceiling—can only be prioritized after the basic demand of beating Trump has been accomplished, when the possibility of losing an election comes without tangible risk to the health and welfare of an entire nation…the world.

Joe Walsh, an occasionally teeth-gnashing Republican who notoriously helped elect Trump in 2016 and has often espoused opinions likely to offend any liberal, is currently primarying him. And though who knows where he’ll lean post-Trump, at the moment he’s a Never Trumper earnestly apologizing for his part in Debacle 2016, speaking openly (a rare feat amongst Republicans) against the man and his corrupt administration. And Joe Walsh recently articulated my entire thesis in a 230-character tweet, making it a perfect summation of what’s at stake:

Agreed. Exactly. Bingo. Exclamation point. Read, repeat, retweet.

As I learned in grade school, purity may be touted as an admirable trait, but outside of diamonds, dog breeds, and organic soup, it doesn’t much allow room for life’s vagaries and the demand of circumstances. Maturity does. And being a mature voter in 2020 means prioritizing the “greater good” (urgency made even “greater” by Trump’s warmongering move of 1.3.20). It means supporting the Democratic ticket, whoever it is, and fighting like hell to get them elected.

Because purity means nothing if you have no power, and though protest votes, write-in votes, and third-party votes may feel righteous and rebellious, they will not get you what you want: power or progress.

They will only get you Trump… and nothing could be less pure or progressive than that.

Flag photo by Jonathan Simcoe on Unsplash
B&W voting photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash

Visit www.lorrainedevonwilke.com for details and links to LDW’s books, music, photography, and articles.

When Did Being a Republican Become… THIS?

On By Lorraine Devon WilkeIn Uncategorized4 Comments

I’ve known Republicans all my life.

Family members. Neighbors. Select friends. Workmates. Maybe even a boyfriend or two. And though my parents were Chicago-bred liberals, and I was most definitely raised with the political sensibilities of the “big tent” Democratic Party, I can’t remember a time when Republicans—their brand, their image, their policies and platforms; their mission, their words and deeds—were something that would make you grab the children and run screaming from the room.

Until now.

We all remember the old Republican Party, grand or otherwise. It was a party that used to stand for small government and free enterprise, with fewer regulations and lower taxes. It promoted fiscal responsibility, ideals of self-reliance and individuality, with a focus on family values and law and order. It emphasized national pride and valor, while supporting notions of human and civil rights, and peace and freedom throughout the world. In fact, it positioned itself as the “grown-up” party of conservative values, certainly in comparison to the freewheeling, wildly diverse, and politically liberal Democrats.

And they pulled it off for a while. At least some version of that idealized branding. They were able to wrap themselves in bright, shiny purpose and actually make their constituents feel that those mandates were being honored. Some Republicans became political stars: Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt; Eisenhower. More recently, Ronald Reagan was a Republican who made them swoon. Despite his background as a “lowly actor,” his paternalistic—sometimes bumbling—oration; despite the Iran-Contra scandal, his lack of action on the civil rights and AIDS crises, even when evidence of his dementia became clear, they called him “The Great Communicator,” and his name was invoked by any member of the party who wanted to be seen as comparable in the slightest. A likeable, admirable Republican. Hey, even Bush Jr., whose administration was a clusterfuck of corruption, graft, and what some would frame as actual war crimes, was often referenced as someone “you’d like to have a beer with.”

Then came Trump.

The chaos and corruption that was imagined in the fever dreams of every single person who worked their ass off to see that he was not elected have now come screaming to life in full, horrifying, three-dimensional color. And in the months and years of his almost unfathomably toxic administration, the Republican Party has devolved into a thing so unrecognizable, so pandering and capitulating, so crass and enabling of crassness, that Ronald Reagan is quite possibly rolling over in his grave.

When did being a Republican become engaging in corrupt, criminal, even traitorous activities with foreign adversaries to win elections?

When did being a Republican become wearing a red hat intended to signal bigotry, ignorance, and “fear of other”?

When did being a Republican become impugning, insulting, and negating our national intelligence, justice, and law enforcement agents and agencies?

When did being a Republican become ignoring your constituency to pander to the petulant demands of the executive branch?

When did being a Republican become embracing, enabling, and propagating verifiable lies in an effort to win favor with a corrupt president?

When did being a Republican become running up the budget deficit nearly 50% in only 2+ years?

When did being a Republican become handing welfare (paid by taxpayers) to farmers after imposing tariffs that gutted them, gifting tax relief to the wealthiest among us, and doing everything possible to dismantle a healthcare system that actually works for the people who need it most?

When did being a Republican become disseminating lies, slander, insults, and ignorance on social media, emulating a POTUS who’s lowered every standard of decorum and decency?

When did being a Republican become ignoring protocols and rules set up by your own party to, instead, spuriously attack and defame the opposition?

When did being a Republican become dismissing the party leader’s stated declarations of sexual harassment and assault, while concurrently ignoring the legion of credible women who’ve accused him of the same?

When did being a Republican become agreeing with, sharing, even finding humor in vile, ugly name-calling by the man our children should look up to but cannot?

When did being a Republican become turning a blind eye to the inhumanity of caging asylum-seeking refugees, kidnapping their children, breaking up their families, and denying them legal rights?

When did being a Republican become advancing discrimination against Muslims, Mexicans, LGBTQ, people of color, women, and immigrants?

When did being a Republican become openly embracing white supremacists, Nazis, KKK, racists and bigots who see “America first!” as a battle cry for white nationalism?

When did being a Republican become insulting war heroes, dismissing the needs of vets, and treating national security like a dangerous and badly played game of “Risk”?

When did being a Republican become cozying up to inhumane dictators, even comparing them favorably to former presidents?

When did being a Republican become cowardice, spinelessness; an inability to speak truth frankly, or stand up for integrity and honor?

When did being a Republican become supporting, enabling, complying with, or otherwise propping up the most corrupt, inept person who’s ever been in the Oval Office?

When did being a Republican become something shameful?

Any group, certainly any political party, has its share of criminals, hooligans, fools, idiots, and the ethically challenged. I mean… Anthony Weiner. But as I watched Matt Gaetz and his Mindless Minions march in self-righteous lockstep to disrupt and violate a private impeachment hearing in a secure room, and listened as he and his cabal spewed nonsense about “secrecy” and “lack of transparency,” maligning the very respectable Adam Schiff as a Machiavellian purveyor of nefarious intent all while pretending to forget (or consciously ignoring) the fact that Trey Gowdy himself—the Wag of Benghazi Street—stated that the procedure was proceeding exactly as it should and in compliance with rules that, yes, REPUBLICANS put in place, I saw a Republican Party that had devolved to the very worst of human weakness, corruption, arrogance, and stupidity.

But it’s every day I see a Republican Party willing to ignore facts, lie with zeal,  break laws, gaslight constituents, flout norms and protocols, demean and mudsling with the prattles of insecure bullies tap-dancing either at the behest of the Fool on the Hill or to gain his approval and acceptance. And every day I realize this party is no more.

It’s not “grand,” it’s not even “old,” because the Republican Party of yore is gone. The one that exists today is a mutant version of what came before, and until the snarling head of that beast has been removed, either by impeachment or election, this party will continue to metastasize into a dark, corrupt thing unrecognizable to the two-hundred-and-forty-three-years of Republicans who came before.

Until then, rethink, America. We have a country to save.

Photographs in order:
Jorgen Haland, Roya Ann Miller & Jon Tyson, all on Unsplash

Visit www.lorrainedevonwilke.com for details and links to LDW’s books, music, photography, and articles.

We’ve Reached That Point: This Election Is Like Fighting With Your Boyfriend

On By Lorraine Devon WilkeIn Latest Thoughts2 Comments

Or girlfriend. Or that customer service rep at the insurance company, your cable provider, or any one of those monolithic corporations that cyclically make your head explode.

You know that point in a fight:

You’ve exhausted all worthy material but you keep going just for the sake of “principle.” Every known argument has been made, debated or deflected to no avail, but you can’t keep yourself from hitting even lower below the belt. Any reasonableness or respectfulness of earlier has devolved into epic flinging of invectives and epithets, some you didn’t even know you knew. The mantra of “wait… just LISTEN!!” comes with increased decibels of volume and venom to the point that neighbors call, dogs bark; walls are up, minds are closed, stress chemicals flow, rational thought exits, and no one can possibly win because it’s a zero sum game. But still… you keep throwing that mud until someone finally collapses under the weight.

Welcome to Election 2016, the Democrats.

(I’m ignoring the Republicans until we settle this mess.)

We’re there, folks. We Democrats are at that point. It’s ugly and wounding and has absolutely no value, but still people are out there trying to draw blood any way they can. They’re posting propaganda, screaming “fuck yous” at opposition rallies, ripping up kids’ posters, sharing unsubstantiated slander and gossip, and acting like the very worst the worst has to offer… and couching it all in the nobility of “fighting for my candidate.”

Witnessing this insanity as a sane bystander — one hoping to stay politically involved without being sucked into the maelstrom — is as soul-killing as that awful road trip your sophomore year when the couple in the front seat screamed at each other from Redding to Lake Tahoe and later demanded that you take sides if you were “a true friend!”

That kind of soul-killing.

We Democrats probably reached the zero sum game months ago. Or at least after the New York primary. When the idea of trashing the winning candidate to aggrandize the other just made the entire ticket seems as nuts as the Republicans. Beyond the math, beyond arguing the math; beyond delusion and fanaticism and revolutions and glass ceilings and wishful thinking and slogans and hashtags and conspiracies and finger-pointing and idiotic celebrities and Westboro-style harassers and sexism and ageism and all of it, the jig is up. Whatever you think the ending is going to be isn’t the point. You can have hope, you can have faith, you can keep fighting the good fight, but fighting the bad fight gets us nowhere.

And we are fighting the bad fight. And it is getting us nowhere.

Let’s be honest: we’re deep enough into this thing that odds are good everyone’s taken their positions. They know where they stand, who they’re supporting and why, so preaching from here on out is only to the choir. As long as folks are happy with that harmony, keep on a’preachin’! But anyone who thinks there’s anything to be gained from the incessant posting of the most incendiary, salacious stuff they can find on the other candidate in hopes of — what? convincing someone to jump on their bandwagon? — has missed the trajectory of this narrative.

Even if — in the most random of circumstances — there really is anyone left who doesn’t feel informed enough to make a choice, that person has to know they aren’t going to get an unbiased, objective education from the posts of oppositional supporters. Let’s start with that truism.

So, given that, may I suggest to ALL who continue to post ridiculous things like videos screeching, “If you would still vote for Hillary Clinton after watching this 4-min video…,” or anonymous blog posts by someone who’s talked to someone who knows a doctor who says Sanders has Alzheimer’s, or scurrilous and slanderous propaganda from sites run by known Hillary-haters, or unsubstantiated dirt on Jane Sanders, or slimy posts about Chelsea Clinton’s mothering, or…STOP. JUST STOP.

It’s over. The fight is over. It no longer has any merit whatsoever and continuing it will only toxify any good thing that still exists between you and the other side and what’s the point of that? There’s still Trump out there.

If, despite the math, Sanders supporters want to continue to promote positive information about their guy as a way to keep the team going, great. If Clinton supporters want to shout their enthusiasm from the rooftops, they should be able to do that without enduring a gauntlet of verbal abuse. But beyond in-house, in-candidate, to-the-choir pumping up, there is no where else to go with this fight.

We’re at that point. It’s obvious, everyone knows, let’s not get the neighbors on their phones again.

When you hit the wall-of-no-return with your customer service rep, that call is terminated (either by you or them), services may be cancelled, grievances may be filed. When you reach that point with a significant other, one of you has to have the wherewithal to shut the f**k up, leave the room/house/apartment, walk off the adrenaline, and detach until both parties can manage rational conversation, sincere apologies, and a willingness to let go of past rancor (that’s a big one!).

And at that point in a party primary, everyone on oppositional sides has to put down the swords, eschew further debasement, and attempt to reframe the debate. There has to be a willingness to reconsider whatever indoctrination has been amassed or allowed to flow freely, to change the filter to look at the bigger picture, to see past preconceived ideas, and find a way back to party unity.

That’s what grown-ups do. That’s what this party needs to do. Now. Not later. Now. Whatever happens at the convention is another moment. This moment is the one where we acknowledge the zero sum game we’ve been fighting and step off this battlefield, to rejuvenate and rehabilitate to take on the bigger battle ahead.

Are Democrats and those in their camp willing and able to do that? I don’t know. I hope so. We’ll have our answer when the intra-party, click-bait, poop-throwing mud-fest on social media finally stops. That can’t happen soon enough… I swear I hear the phone ringing.

LDW w glasses

Visit www.lorrainedevonwilke.com for details and links to LDW’s books, music, photography, and articles.