WHAT DO WE DO IF...?

I don't  mean to be alarmist because for the first time in a long time I feel confident, this far out, that we are going to see Donald Trump and all of that wretched crowd, awfully disappointed. But what should we do if i am disappointed, if we are disapointed, and he is our next president? We do not do what they want us to do, we do not stop resisting. 

I met a Jewish man many years ago that told me how he, as a young man fled Poland before the Nazi's marched in. He and his family left in different directions, so that one of them would carry on the family bloodline. He was the fortunate one. It was a long and fascinating story, but what is important is that nobody gave in to the Thousand Year Reich while under occupation, The Reich that lasted maybe a dozen years. His description of resisting occupation was to use, Small Displays of Contempt. He described how the Dutch resistance would sabotage German vehicles by such actions as putting sugar in the gas tanks or plugging their tailpipes with potatoes. Not many months ago, a woman named Freddie Oversteegen died after a long and distinguished life. She, along with her sister and a friend, lured German soldiers into the Dutch forest letting them think they would get a little nookie. The amorous soldiers were later found with their stomaches slit open. These young girls felt the urgent need to keep the occupier of their nation from feeling they were welcome to stay, and they would never submit. Germany had the White Rose Society, who were martyrs of the German resistance. Britain had the Special Operations Executive (SOE) who were the WWII version of 'Q' in the James Bond movies. The French Underground had among the notable heroes of the resistance, a woman who walked on a wooden leg past German soldiers to carry information to outlying groups. Her most notable achievement was crossing into Spain over the Pyranees. These are only a tiny few who boldly resisted occupation. Not all of them survived the war.

MAGA is nothing more than an occupier who was born here. An occupier who is determined to take our rights away, so they can have more rights to themselves. They think, like the Brownshirts in 1920's Germany, that what is in store for them will not be what they want to see happen to those who they do not approve of. There will be a 'night of the long knives', you can bank on it. 

Mark Elias is an attorney who fights voter suppression in the various red states who have learned the lessons of voter suppression well. He also leads VP Harris' legal team. He told a story about a man he met while studying for his bar mitzvah. The fellow had been a pilot in WWII who was shot down behind enemy lines. There was a much graver threat to captured pilots who were Jewish. He was put in a work camp, assigned to work in the potato fields to dig those nutritious tubers. They secreted on them brass shoe nails, with which they poked the potatoes. The potatoes rotted more rapidly in storage, which threatened the food supply of the camp guards. It also threatened the food supply of the prisoners, but what doesn't threaten their food supply? 

The point is that no matter your age, your relative health, or anything else that ails you, we can do something to piss off our oppressors. And in the process we take time away from their attempts to oppress us. To do nothing is to allow them the freedom to find more people to oppress. We have no other choice. 

Poland may be another example for us to follow, though the final chapter has not been written. Poland was one of the first countries to rid themselves of Soviet oppression. A shipyard worker named Lech Walesa led the Solidarity movement. He later became President of Poland. Sometimes democracies live on borrowed time, Poland is an example. The current Prime Minister is Andew Tusk. The last ten years of Polish government have been hard on those who celebrated the Solidarity movement. Their Parliament has been led by a rightwing coalition, in much the same way as Israel's Knesset has been led by a right wing coalition. Note to Americans who wish to see multiple party's in Congress. During the last ten years, the conservative coalition in Poland's parliament has been pressing hard to pass draconian laws. Among them, harsh immigration laws (a reminder, Poland shares a border with Ukraine and one with Russia), and harsh prohibitions on abortion. Last spring the Polish people took to the polls to vote the conservatives out of power. Tusk is now a weakened Prime Minister. The centrist president, a man named Duda, not the Camptown races guy, is now a weakened president. We cannot predict with confidence a better future for Poland but the people have not allowed frustration to keep them from voting. And that is how democracy persists; in the hope that we the people will overcome the suppression of they the people who do not have a "dictator phobia".