U.S. Senator Patty Murray is speaking out against the Trump administration's reported plan to fire 80,000 employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Raising awareness. There’s nothing else she can do…
She can do more.
She can be functionally disruptive during Senate proceedings and votes to slow down this administration’s actions to a halt (like Republicans did when Democrats were in charge). She didn’t attend the joint session of Congress the other day, which was a missed opportunity to be a visible example of someone demonstrating actual leadership.
Senators and Congressfolk are used to “leading” by performing the drudgery of lawmaking; crafting bills, participating in committees, etc. We are in unprecedented times. Like it or not, women and minorities are shock troops positioned to bare the brunt of the hell that’s coming.
I need Senator Murray to start acting like this is a reality rather than a possibility.
Also note: every authoritarian regime has use for a struggle-bus opposition party. A group able to amicably perform the part of a political counterpoint, but at the same time be pathetically bumbling and inept, always falling just short of being able to win back power. They exist to sap attention and political will from individuals who DO want to win and properly unfuck things (outlaw Citizens United, enforce public financing of campaigns, implement single-payer health care, broaden options for voting, tax the rich, followed by addressing the million more micro-miseries that erode our eponymous pursuit of Happiness). This can be very enticing for someone with little moral fortitude who is only interested in punching a clock as democracy circles the drain. Apropos of nothing, of course.
She can do more.
She can be functionally disruptive during Senate proceedings and votes to slow down this administration’s actions to a halt (like Republicans did when Democrats were in charge). She didn’t attend the joint session of Congress the other day, which was a missed opportunity to be a visible example of someone demonstrating actual leadership.
Senators and Congressfolk are used to “leading” by performing the drudgery of lawmaking; crafting bills, participating in committees, etc. We are in unprecedented times. Like it or not, women and minorities are shock troops positioned to bare the brunt of the hell that’s coming.
I need Senator Murray to start acting like this is a reality rather than a possibility.
Also note: every authoritarian regime has use for a struggle-bus opposition party. A group able to amicably perform the part of a political counterpoint, but at the same time be pathetically bumbling and inept, always falling just short of being able to win back power. They exist to sap attention and political will from individuals who DO want to win and properly unfuck things (outlaw Citizens United, enforce public financing of campaigns, implement single-payer health care, broaden options for voting, tax the rich, followed by addressing the million more micro-miseries that erode our eponymous pursuit of Happiness). This can be very enticing for someone with little moral fortitude who is only interested in punching a clock as democracy circles the drain. Apropos of nothing, of course.