Just a quick late note about our winter solstice gathering for writing and ritual.
Here’s the link to the Meetup event if you’d like to register and join us. :)
Winter Solstice / Yule — Full Circle
Sunday, December 21, 9:30am Pacific time
May you all have a sweet holiday season.
Riba
Yesterday’s Los Angeles Times has an article on the front page by Ana Ceballos (reporting from Washington) and Seema Mehta (reporting from Los Angeles) about how passing California’s Proposition 50 might not help change house control. I read the entire article, as usual, hoping against hope to find something about how wrong it is for us to be trying to rig our elections against Republicans through the 2030 election cycle.
Today I finally found something. (I should note I haven’t done any actual research, have only kept my eyes open whenever I read something about these gerrymandering efforts nationwide, hoping to read that someone else is disturbed about this, too). The last four paragraphs of the article give us the opinion of Erik Nisbet, the director of the Center for Communications & Public Policy at Northwestern University who believes the fact that this “redistricting trend is gaining traction is part of a broader problem.”
“It is a symptom,” Nisbet says, “of this 20-year trend in increasing polarization and political tribalism.” He argues that “both parties are sacrificing democratic norms and the ideas of procedural fairness as well as a representative democracy for political gain.”
This is stated more clearly and succinctly than my arguments in my earlier post for Governor Newsom and California Democrats voting in tomorrow’s election. But his message is the same as mine—this is just so wrong.
“I am worried,” Nisbet says, “about what the end result” of these efforts to rig our elections will be. People on both sides of the aisle should be worried, too. Frankly, it terrifies me.
Dear Governor Newsom,
I am 67 years old and have been on the left-leaning, progressive side of the political spectrum since before I could vote, and I suspect what I need to say is going to be wildly unpopular with the left. Yet here I am, asking you to reverse course and throw your weight against Proposition 50 instead, because it’s just wrong.
Can you please tell the voters of California that you made a mistake? That you changed your mind, came to your senses? That you understandably reacted passionately to the insidiousness of President Trump’s urging other states to gerrymander their districts to get him more votes, and in hindsight can see that you took the low road and want to regain the high road now instead?
California is one of the states that did the right thing some years ago, creating an independent commission to redraw our voting districts with each new census in order to make elections fair. Even though this proposition is “temporary,” these rigged districts, designed to help more Democrats win, would run through our 2030 election cycle. How can we possibly justify this? How would we feel if the tables were turned?
And this leads me to the heart of why I believe this is morally wrong. Doing this harms California Republicans. It’s not fair to them, and it’s not fair to the Republican candidates running for office (especially those who are running for reelection in districts that will have been redrawn to help the Democratic candidates). Democrats hold a solid majority in this state, so in my mind, “rigging” the system to harm our Republican voters and candidates is completely unjust. And if it isn’t illegal and unconstitutional, it should be. Clearly we’re in a time in the United States where doing the illegal and the unconstitutional in government is happening everywhere we turn, and it scares the hell out of me. But that doesn’t make retaliating in this way right. We need to be moving away from the “us versus them” mentality, not exacerbating it.
Believe me, I want to put the brakes on, too. In my gut, I want to fight fire with fire. But the truth is, that never works. We have to find ways to stop President Trump’s disturbing maneuvers in ways that don’t have us committing the same sins, sins that can bring our democracy crashing down. It’s a terrible precedent. How low will we go? And can we even be certain our own rigged districts will elect more Democrats? I would not be surprised if all these machinations backfire. Can we not instead keep trying to find lawful, nonviolent and more creative ways to stop what’s happening?
I would have loved to see the money we’re spending on this special election to have gone instead to reinstate some of the existing services we recently denied our California residents who need them most (Republicans and Democrats alike), though I realize it’s too late now. Still, I would have such great respect for you if you were to reconsider this extreme and mean-spirited move and urge us now instead to vote no on Proposition 50. And then pull together the greatest minds and hearts you can gather from all across the political spectrum—the best strategic thinkers and those with the most integrity and the biggest hearts—and help us find fair, ingenious, ethical and effective ways to stop our president’s agenda.
Thanks very much for your time.
Riba
Hi my dear readers. I am not yet returning to regular posts but have been thinking of things and finally taking a leap back into leading writers (and nonwriters!) a bit, and I wanted to post this for you from my Meetup site. Note, you are welcome to attend one session or all the sessions! Just click on the image below to visit the event page.
I am committing to a yearlong celebration of our eight main pagan holidays, or the solstices and equinoxes and the four other holidays that fall midway between these four. We’ll do some writing together and create some ceremony and ideally make some magic. I hope you’ll take a look if you’re interested since this will be on Zoom so location becomes less important.
Until my next “real” post, I wish you all good things!
I have been growing my love for myself for decades now, for so long a skinny, timid weed of a thing. And in recent years feeling it grow more, recent weeks, even, thinking my not-so-skinny-anymore weed is even growing fruit and seeds, and I begin to see how birds and maybe squirrels and even lizards might come to nibble, or to sit in its shade, or breathe in the sharp green scent of its leaves.
Hi everyone. I’m sorry for the late announcement pasted below but just now received this. Wishing you all so much well in these scary and disturbing times! And sending love and hope. May we change our world 🌎 for the good of all beings everywhere. :)
Riba
Please consider this initiative & share with your networks: https://www.cbsnews.com/…/economic-blackout-feb-24…/
(Posted by Jon Stewart, initiated by John Clemens, I received this from James Baraz):
WHEN:
Friday February 28th from
Midnight tonight to 11:59 P.M. tomorrow night
WHAT NOT TO DO:
Do not make any purchases
Do not shop online, or in-store
No Amazon, No Walmart, No Best Buy
Nowhere!
Do not spend money on Food & Gas
Do not use Credit or Debit Cards
Do not hire anyone to do work around your house, etc.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Only buy essentials if absolutely necessary
(Food, Medicine, Emergency Supplies)
If you must spend, ONLY support small, local businesses.
SPREAD THE MESSAGE
Talk about it, post about it, and document your actions that day!
WHY THIS MATTERS?
Those in power only care about their pocketbooks.
Corporations, banks only care about their bottom line.
Financial markets rely on consumers to spend.
February 28th
The 24 Hour Economic Black Out Begins.
Happy Samhain! Happy Halloween! Happy New Year’s Eve day! Happy beginning of these handful of holy days and the honoring of the waning of the light, our midpoint here in this moon-dominated portion of the year, our moving toward the most dark, the depth of innerness and reflection. Happy thinning of the veils between the worlds, between our side here and the other side where our loved ones who died reside. Happy magic time, ears and hearts open. May sweet or needed messages pass back and forth between us. And the love. Oh, yes. All that love.
No Holds Barred 