Life of Wry

A friend posted an excerpt from a New Yorker article by David Sedaris today. It resonated with her and most (all?) of the folks who responded to it on Facebook:

And I get it. It’s so tempting to think all is well in the capable hands of boring Joe (boring, as in: the day to day of running a monster government bureaucracy is slow, tedious and not very exciting).

It was a beyond-horrific and scary four years under the previous guy. The presidential campaign last year was brutal. The pandemic was traumatizing. AND….. the good guy won, we have (had) enjoyed a reprieve from covid, it’s summer… and everyone wants to put the worst of all of that behind us and move on, enjoy our kids, families, friends, yada yada. I definitely get it.

I think we have to be able to do that (enjoy life, enjoy the reprieve from pain and madness) … AND keep vigilant.

I responded with this buzz kill:

Thing is, the republicans have not let up and we look away at our peril. They’re busy changing election laws and cheating their way to power as we all think everything’s fine in boring Joe’s capable hands. In Calif, the reps are working feverishly to take control of the state with the smallest minority of voters ever through a bogus recall effort. Gotta keep your eyes open.

And a few people gave that a like.

As usual, I’m wrestling with that. I am desperate to not be weighed down with the negative; with the constant soul-crushing stupidity of right wing media; with immoral, power-grabbing republican lawmakers. It sucks joy right out of me and I don’t want to live in that space.

But I’m also inspired by my local peeps who continue to stay on the job. Seriously inspired. They are reading, listening, watching. They see what’s happening while the rest of the country goes about its summer fun… blissfully ignorant of some serious no-good sh*t going on out of view. Or even NOT out of view. It’s there to see, but people are tired and the bad guys know it. They are making hay while we’re looking away.

So I’m inspired to keep up the fight. I also feel a strong sense of responsibility. Not a curse, but feels like a curse, especially as I observe so many people (so many friends) ignoring it and having fun. No judgment. I’m jealous. I want bliss.

Caught between two states of mind.

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Related: We, Sister District CA-3 peeps, are raising money for a couple of Virginia candidates for the state legislature. Virginia’s election is in off years and, this November, they’re having an election for governor, and a whole bunch of state delegate seats (among other things).

Here’s me, Lucas (vice Mayor) and two SD summer interns (Evan and Khalil). We met at Central Park last week to make telephone calls to members of SD to get them to attend tomorrow’s fundraiser for Finale Norton. That’s pretty in the weeds, isn’t it? We’ll raise thousands of dollars. Crazy, huh? And it’s important because state houses are critical pieces of the puzzle. It’s starts small, folks. But it’s all important.

There’s also the fight for the For the People Act, and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. And, so ridiculously, the bogus Gov Newsom recall effort. I’ll probably write more about that one later… but wow, it’s very possible the crazy republican effort to recall him will succeed because: DEMS AREN’T PAYING ATTENTION (and the reps are fired up). What a coup that would be.

Anyway… you have to keep an eye on what’s going on and do at least a teeny tiny bit to fight the bad guys. They really are up to no good.