BRATTLEBORO — Our way of life, our principles, and the most vulnerable people living here are under attack.
The travesty that was last year's presidential election exposed not only the rampant bigotry and continued bitterness of the GOP, prompting them to put forward such an incompetent, hate-fueled monstrosity as their candidate, but also the petty, self-righteous bickering side of those who could have prevented the nightmare by standing as one against that monstrosity.
Republicans, unless and until you face your self-made problem, you've forfeited the opportunity to join this fight while still supporting the GOP.
Your continued determination to destroy Obama's legacy and serve yourselves and your personal bank accounts has come at the expense of this nation and its people.
If you want to defeat evil, you need to leave the GOP. The truth is there is no longer anything “grand” about your party.
A significant number of you supported a person in Alabama, and a person in the White House, who, with much evidence available, has at the very least attempted to assault women (see proud brags, available freely) and, in Alabama, children. Children.
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We have a fired-up, determined bunch of folks to lead us. (Thank you, our fantastic leaders in Brattleboro - folks, you know who you are.)
There are plenty out there, from every single part of taxpaying society, and they're speaking to this evil daily. And many of these taxpayers don't have the vote.
(The stalwarts have a place, but that should be as mentors and supporters. The status quo, sadly, let us down in the past election, and I'm not just talking the Democratic National Committee. Sorry, Bernie Sanders, I love ya, but jeepers.)
We need journalists to expose the people involved in these crimes/corruption.
We need to talk to one another about what really matters: taking our nation back from white supremacists, ruthless billionaires, arms salesmen, and the self-promoting, carnival barking pussy-grabber posing as president.
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We need to, daily, and loudly, shout that no one is going to put our brothers and sisters back in the closet. No one has the right to terrorize and deport hard-working people, wrongly arrest or incarcerate our townspeople, or deport anyone, child or adult, brought here for a better life (the actual cornerstone of our modern nation, by the way).
We live in a racist country, where police are allowed, daily, to assault or murder black and brown men, women, and children without consequences.
This insidious bigotry permeates American society, including the rare arenas where people of color are allowed to flourish. The backlash against NFL players exercising their First Amendment rights to protest police violence is the clearest example.
We live in a greedy, selfish country. Never in my lifetime has the choice been clearer: We can choose evil, or we can defeat it, together.
It really is that simple.
We don't need to label ourselves as Democrats, Progressives or Independents. We don't even have to be “the left.” We need to be human beings.
We need to oppose the GOP. From the tiny towns like Brattleboro to the biggest cities fighting gerrymandering and voter suppression, we are better than this, and we need to take sides and join the fight.