Monday will be an interesting day in North Dakota. I would imagine you know more of what’s going on there than I do. (I do have a cousin who has actually gone up there for a spell to join the protests.) Follow the link to a short summary of the conflict. To me just looking at the map makes my white guilt boil. The original proposed line went north of Bismarck. It was changed due to danger to the drinking water there to run south of Bismarck, through disputed land, and “if” the pipeline leaks it will just screw the Standing Rock Reservation. The tribe is protesting. We’ve seen the water cannons and dogs and the collection of private and state and federal agencies countering the protestors. It remains a stalemate. Now the Governor of North Dakota has ordered — because of a snowstorm — that the protest camp be evacuated by Monday. The protestors have said they are not going anywhere. Two thousand veterans have bravely volunteered to act as human shields. On Monday, the “poop” hits the fan so to speak.
I will be a work on Monday. I have several meetings and projects to work on. I have two kids in college and another one a junior in high school. My wife will be at work too. We have a mortgage to pay, debts to pay off, and month to month living expenses. But, frankly, my heart will be in North Dakota — a place to which I have never been. I so wish I could be there frankly. I do not think my wife would share that opinion. I am not a veteran, but I wish I could stand on the lines with them. Maybe I would wilt in the face of water cannon, dogs, and rubber bullets in freezing temperatures, but at what point do we say enough is enough? At what point do we drop our regular lives?
Obviously, the Standing Rock Sioux and these veterans have dropped their regular lives.
If you haven’t noticed that Keith Olbermann is back through GQ, you can examine his rants here. I’m not sure how I feel about KO. I think in some ways he is brilliant, but comes across as unhinged and now may be a caricature of himself. He ends each piece by saying “resist” but then raises his hand up and says “peace.” I am more of the opinion we need to resist. But we seem leaderless at the moment. We are a collection of really upset and anxious people emoting at the moment, but not really at the point of the Standing Rock tribe. I do like this diary published today. But, I think we need cohesion and more substantial resistance. Again, you probably know details better than I, but here are my main areas of concern:
- Russia interfered in our election — Democratic/liberal/some leadership needs to push for legitimate investigation into Putin fascism interfering not only in our Democratic elections, but elections elsewhere (such as Italy and France).
- Medicare — and Social Security at some point — will be privatized. This will certainly rip someone like me off. And, it may even take years off my life when I must choose between eating and health care.
- Public education — there is a huge pile of money at the state, local, and federal level that is used to educate all children. This pile of our tax dollars is being assaulted by a cynical group of people who are using mythology (like public education is substandard, anti-Christian, etc.) to trick people into ceding those tax dollars. This is also an effort (and they will admit to it — I heard the CEO of Netflix admit to this at a conference in Chicago) to bypass elected school boards. In other words, at its core, the assault on public education is an assault on democracy.
- The environment — the planet is becoming less habitable. This is already causing great migrations of people. This will lead to conflict. Enjoy Florida and other parts of the country while you can.
- The press — the myth of a liberal media has crushed us. The low information voters that I know are besieged by right wing propaganda and it has changed their belief systems to the extent that they will not change their world view in the face of a plethora of facts. In fact, they passionately believe in the opposite of what is true (see every point above).
So, at what point do we drop our regular lives and resist in an organized and effective manner? Beyond that, what tactics do we use? I know most of us probably believe in non-violence, but exactly where is the line between violence and non-violence? Are we willing to be arrested? Are we willing to put the economic security of our families at risk? Do we really consider becoming ex-patriots? Are we willing to risk family and friend relationships beyond just un-following someone on Facebook?
I think December 19th is the day the electors vote. That gives us 15 days. Will someone lead a challenge beyond recount petitions? January 20th will be the Inauguration. Will someone lead a challenge in those seven weeks? Monday, they may try to get rid of the Standing Rock protestors, what will we do?