I heard someone once say that Barack Obama wasn’t so much the President of the nation that we were as much as the President of the nation that we were supposed to be. I thought of that while writing a note to send out to my mailing list to go along with the announcement for next weekend’s action. I haven’t written them in over ten years and thought about everything that’s happened since then. Obama hadn’t even been elected yet, and I thought back to that night and that moment of pure elation when Ohio got called and we knew Barack Obama would become our next President. And I think about the pride that I felt for my country that night as the television showed celebrations breaking out all over the world. And I’m trying to write this letter and I can’t because I’m thinking of where we were back then and where we are now and find myself crying so hard I literally can’t see the keys on my keyboard.
As a liberal that feeling of pride in my country isn’t one I get to experience all that often. And to all of the Republicans who’d point to that as proof that people like me are somehow unpatriotic - the ones who wrap themselves in the flag thinking that makes them patriots, and think that they own the whole concept of patriotism to a point where it’s become their tribal identification - allow me to explain something. Patriotism means something different to me than it does to you. To you patriotism is that feeling you get when you wave the flag and yell “We’re Number One!” and tell the world how great we are. To people like me patriotism is the feeling we get when it’s the world telling us how great we are. Big difference, that.
I put these up after the passage of the Affordable Care Act I’ll do it for Trump, but only when he resignsBut after the Bush years the Obama Presidency was like an eight year long sigh of relief. And like the people on my mailing list and probably most of you, I took a break from politics knowing that the guy in the oval office at least had my back. In hindsight I wish I’d done more to show him that I had his too. But back then we could go for days, even weeks, without even having to think about our President - man, those were the days, weren’t they? I even took a break from sign hanging for awhile, but I started again and for a couple of years I posted signs about global warming. It was important to me to fight back against the deniers, and like I’ve always said it’s easy and fun and fucking somebody had to do it.
I did so many of these for a brief spell “permafrost” replaced “coffee” after “wake up and smell the” on Google.But I didn’t write to the people on my mailing list or do much else to get people to join me because after so many years of preaching about cardboard and paint I was simply tired of playing cheerleader. And that’s kind of a pity because maybe if I had we could’ve put some sort of price on the GOP’s obstruction. Or if nothing else when that bastard out of South Carolina shouted out “You Lie!” during the State of the Union address he’d have come home to a state covered in signs calling for his resignation. Or maybe we wouldn’t be in situation we’re in now - seeming so voiceless in face of a President whose party and base seem perfectly willing to support their lying, racist, narcissist and most likely syphilitic leader even if he’s obviously working for Vladimir Putin.
Using a projector allows you to use more words legibly, so in red states you could say “just a teensy-weensy little bit less of a Nazi”Mark Twain once said something like “Don’t be negative: people don’t have time for that…” and I’ve worked really hard to stick by that rule. Sometimes it’s hard though, especially these days, and I know I haven’t done nearly enough to recruit you. Aristotle said “He who cannot be a good follower cannot be a good leader…” and in my case that’s definitely true. If there’s one thing I hate it’s being told what to do, so I’m not very effective when it comes to telling others. But I’ll keep trying of course - there’s some kind of angle and I’ve just got to find it.
You can’t paint this with spraypaint on a bedsheet.It’s getting late and I still haven’t finished my letter. The mailing list has about 2,000 people - I call them the mighty Freewayblogger Nation - my vast but reluctant army… It’s funny because all of this happened pretty much by accident. It’s kind of hard to explain, but maybe someday I’ll try. But for now I just want to say that as much as I love my country and hate the all fascists and racists I see tearing it apart, and as much as I love the First Amendment and all of its power and potential and ache knowing how much more we could be using it… and even as much as I love my children and want to save this planet for them and their children’s children to come - none of that is why I keep putting signs up on freeways. The reason I keep doing it is because it’s such a great game, and even after all these years I’m still not tired of playing it.
Maybe tomorrow I’ll try to write about that.