Why We Fight

Why We Fight

1943, in the midst of World War II, movie director Frank Capra made a series of films called Why We Fight.  The goal was to explain to Americans why we were fighting World War II, what the stakes were, and how they could help. In the beginning stages of the War when United States forces were struggling to come back from losses in the Pacific and in North Africa, the movies helped solidify public support.

It is October 7^th, 2018, the day after the Supreme Court majority was turned over to the right wing conservative Federalist Society.  I sit here typing, watching Trump Advisor Kelly Ann Conway smiling smugly over the Trump judicial victory, and listening to her spewing layer after layer of nonsense into the air.  It is a low point for “the Resistance.”

As if it couldn’t get worse, a new movie has reopened the wounds of the Democratic Party of 2016, tearing at the scars of Sanders and Clinton.  The carefully re-constructive surgery performed by the National Committee is being pulled and pressed, barely knitted together after the stitches were removed.  A united Resistance to the Trump era is now starting to turn upon itself.

It is also twenty-nine days before the 2018 mid-term elections, the real “first chance” to change America since the disaster of 2016.  After yesterday, with the narrowness of the defeat, and the bitterness of the failure, it would be easy for “the Resistance” to quit.  Reading post after post on Facebook, there are many who would choose that path.  They depended on a Republican Senator, Susan Collins, to go against every power in her party, and stand up for women.  It shouldn’t have been a surprise:  she didn’t do it.

It is time to remember, Why We Fight.

We fight for those who can’t afford health insurance.  There are many Americans who cannot access health care because they can’t pay for insurance, and they can’t pay for care. And even for those with insurance, the cost of a catastrophic diagnosis may well drive them into bankruptcy.  Americans are forced to ruin their financial lives, to save their actual lives.  In our modern society, this is unacceptable.

We fight for those who live at the lowest incomes in our society.  We fight to create a “living wage” so that getting a job means getting paid enough to live, not working full time hours only to fall short.

We fight for all of those who don’t meet  “the norms” of 1950’s America.  In the past seventy years, we have learned that being “different,” does not mean “lesser.” We, as a nation, have recognized the right of folks to choose their lifelong partner, regardless of gender, and gain the legal rights that marriage offers.  We recognize that young black men are at greater risk of violent death than any other group, and that their lives do matter.  And we know that women are a co-equal force in every aspect of our lives, and need to be legally recognized as such.

We fight for a nation that recognizes that a child might determine that they are different than their biology, and should be nurtured and protected so that they can become the person of their fullest potential.  We fight so that child, or any child, can go to a school that hasn’t become a fortified prison, get an equal opportunity with all other children to learn and grow, and be protected from the weapons of war we have distributed into our society.

We fight for a nation where our leaders are not indebted to a hostile foreign power.  We recognize that Russia “fooled us once.”  Shame on them, but we fight to make sure, “we don’t get fooled again (thanks Mr. Townsend.)”

We fight for the child ripped from their mother’s arms at the border.  We believe in an America that treats everyone with respect, even those who come to us unbidden to find a better life.  It doesn’t mean we don’t have borders, it means we treat all with humanity regardless of their legal state.  It also means that  someone  raised in America, and  living as an American,  needs to have a way to become a legal American.  We fight for humanity, and for an America that enjoys the benefits of all races and ethnicities.  We fight against the white, male, elitist society that is being thrust upon us.

We fight to protect our world, and to make it a better place environmentally.  We fight to stop the changes in law that will allow more pollution in our air and waters, and create more warming of our climate.

And we fight for the right to vote, without restrictions or barriers, so that all Americans can participate in our Republic.

We have a lot to fight for. We have a nation depending on us.  We know that the America of today is not the America we believe in.  And we know that we can make a difference.  This weekend we lost a single battle in a long-term conflict.  We can mourn for the loss of the Kavanaugh seat later, for the next battle is near. Right now, we fight.