July 5th

Patriotism has never been my thing. Jimmy Carter lost to Gerald Ford when my Kindergarten class voted for president and Ronald Reagan was the ghoulish god-emperor ruling over my adolescence. When I look back on the politics of my youthful self, a lot of what I did and said seems kind of bratty, but for the most part I wasn’t wrong. The pledge of allegiance? What even is that?

For most of my life so far, the 4th of July meant has been all about grilled hot dogs and a paid holiday—or time-and-a-half. This “Independence Day,” though, I couldn’t even get it up to go to a cookout.

I’m still recovering from the most recent Supreme Court decisions and what they mean for democracy generally and the people I love specifically. “Judge cites new Supreme Court ruling in blocking health care anti-discrimination protections for transgender Americans.” This is a headline from yesterday. The ink was still wet on Loper Bright when conservatives jumped, because of course they had their challenges ready. Conservatives are crossing the Ts and dotting the Is on a plan they’ve been working on for decades.

This is not crazy conspiracy-theory talk. The Supreme Court looks the way it looks now because Donald Trump outsourced the work of vetting candidates to the Federalist Society. Just like Trump is planning to let the Heritage Foundation replace nonpartisan bureaucrats with Trumpist toadies at exactly the same time the Supreme Court is creating an imperial presidency.

Somebody give me a beer and a grilled hot dog, please.

Things… are not good. It’s not hyperbole to say that the gains that women, Black people, Brown people, Indigenous people, queer people, disabled people, educators, environmentalists, union members have fought for—and, yes, died for—over the last 100 years or thereabouts are on the line this election cycle.

I know that I sound like someone who is about to ask you for money before books close this quarter, but what I’m asking you for instead is work. I am asking you for your time. I am asking you to use your talents.

Conservatives are disciplined and patient. Donald Trump is a useful idiot. And think-tank conservatives are prepared to let Trump enjoy his revenge tour now that they are finally seeing the fruits of years of strategizing. As Trump legal adviser Don McGahn recently said, “None of this was an accident.”

Progressives are a lot less disciplined and lot less patient—for good reasons and for bad—but there are organizations that have been doing the work for a long time and who know what needs to be done and who can tell you how you can best be of service. Is there a League of Women Voters in your community? If you think you’re a crone, show up at a meeting and get ready to be one of the youngest people in the room. League of Women Voters is exactly the sort of old-school org that is in danger of dying out because young—“young”— people don’t get involved.

As it turns out, I was feeling a little too despondent to even venture out for a grilled hot dog yesterday. I did, at my child’s request, make some burgers at home, and that was good. But maybe the best part of my day was reading this essay by Jeanna Kadlec: “on the new moon in cancer and the fall of empire.” If you don’t give a shit about astrology, please read this anyway because it is mostly a reminder that community is what endures. The activism that I do, the organizing that I do… This work is fundamentally helping people care for themselves and each other because when it comes down to it, each other is all we got.

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