I\u2019ve been away from \u201cOur America\u201d for four days \u2013 the longest \u201cdry spell\u201d as I\u2019ve taken from writing for the past four years. It was a wonderful vacation on the Atlantic Shore of Florida, our first time away together without \u201cthe pack\u201d (the dogs) since February of 2020. Jenn and I got suitably sunburnt, drank (several) wonderful Mojitos at pool side, and revisited old haunts from our camping days. And we slept, a lot. We owe a special thank you to our son and his girlfriend, who offered to take care of five dogs for a long weekend. I hope the task wasn\u2019t too arduous. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Beach vacations are nothing without a good book, and I\u2019m deep into Congressman Jamie Raskin\u2019s Unthinkable<\/em>. The title represents two separate events entangled in Raskin\u2019s life: the suicide of his brilliant twenty-five year old son, Tommy, on New Year\u2019s Eve of 2020; and the January 6th Insurrection a week later. As he wrote about it: he was a father who lost his son, and a Congressman, an American and a Constitutional scholar, who faced losing his country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Congressman Raskin was appointed by Nancy Pelosi to lead the second impeachment of Donald Trump, just a week after he buried his son. While I\u2019m a little more than halfway through the story, Jamie Raskin brings a true immediacy to the Constitutional crisis they faced in Donald Trump. With heart shattered by his son\u2019s death, Raskin turned to fix a Nation shattered on the Capitol steps and hallways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And while it\u2019s been well over a year since the Insurrection and the second impeachment of Donald Trump, I can\u2019t help but think that Jamie Raskin\u2019s work, and our own, is far from being over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As I traveled in Florida, and prepared to return to vote today in Ohio, our Nation is in the same place it was on January 5th, before the violence in Washington and the threat of a coup d\u2019\u00e9tat by the President of the United States himself. Trump is still trying to \u201cpull the strings\u201d to invert the \u201cBig Lie\u201d into his \u201cBig Comeback\u201d, even if he can\u2019t seem to remember which Ohio Senate Primary candidate he endorsed (was that JD Mandel or Josh Vance?)<\/p>\n\n\n\n What was determined by then Attorney General Bill Barr and over sixty judges to be untrue, or as Barr then said, \u201cbull-shit\u201d; is now Republican orthodoxy. Even candidates who spent 2020 defending the electoral system, like Ohio\u2019s Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose, now echo cries for better \u201celection security\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In Florida Ron DeSantis plans on being \u201cTrump 2.0\u201d, a smarter Harvard-educated Trump, appealing to the worst instincts of his constituency to gin up votes. He\u2019s expanded the \u201cBig Lie\u201d from elections to the \u201cCritical Race Theory\u201d hoax in the classroom, and to homophobic and transphobic fears. And, sadly it\u2019s working, at least so far. He leads former Democratic Governor Charlie Crist by eight percent in current polls, a landslide in Florida\u2019s taut political world. DeSantis wants a big win to thrust him into the 2024 Presidential fray, with or without Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I fear for our Nation. I fear Donald Trump has unleashed the \u201cworse angels\u201d of America\u2019s character. And while I\u2019m fond of Martin Luther King\u2019s favorite expression: \u201cthe arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice\u201d, for the first time in my life I\u2019m not sure we\u2019ll \u201cbend towards justice\u201d anytime soon, maybe not in my lifetime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What kind of society are we that we allow our government to attack the most vulnerable in the \u201cname\u201d of getting votes? For the first time in American history, we are allowing rights to be taken away, from women, based on economic standing. We are regressing back to an ugly past, not progressing towards a moral future. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Insurrection is going on today. The January 6th Committee will not be presenting history to us as they bring the story of conspiracy and violence to light next month. They will be holding up a mirror to our present. <\/p>\n\n\n\n All of this sounds hopeless, like I found my answer in the bottom of an empty mojito glass alongside the squeezed lime peel. That\u2019s not the case. Because in Florida, the home of DeSantis, we also found many folks living a diverse and exciting life. We found lots of kindness and care, whether gay or straight, black or white or Latina, young or old. There were hundreds marching in protest against DeSantis\u2019s ploys, in Melbourne, the heart of \u201cRed Florida\u201d. We honked as we drove past the marchers, they cheered us as we cheered them. They are still here, as they are in all of America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Senator Edward Kennedy quoted Lord Tennyson in his final speech as a Presidential candidate in 1980. He said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI am a part of all that I have met<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n To (tho) much is taken, much abides<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n That which we are, we are\u2014<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n One equal temper of heroic hearts.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Strong in will, <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n For me, a few hours ago, this campaign came to an end.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n For all of those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\nFlorida, Florida, Florida<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Angels<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The Work Goes On<\/h3>\n\n\n\n