Everything is moving too damn fast, and by the time I get my jumbled thoughts written down, edited, typed up, linked to other better sources and more coherent writings than mine, and finally posted…the event I had such strong thoughts about is way in the rearview, everyone has already moved on to the next Biggest Awful Thing. Rinse and repeat every day, every week since January.

There are two things I keep circling back to, as the hits keep coming and certain folks really dig into either causing the most harm possible or defending the complete unraveling of our government and economy. “The cruelty is the point…” but not for everyone. Not for all. If you look at the actions of the current badministration, and the people “in charge” themselves, without context or labels, most everyone I know and talk to agree most of it is pretty damn bad. Plenty of friends have been or are starting to organize protests, local supporting actions, possibly running for office themselves, or just a daily check in of “yup, this is bad.”

Daily life has been so much worse, and folks still fought for what was right through much more dire circumstances than these. Yeah, the whole more or less stable government and economy we’ve had for decades (see, I said stable, not good or perfect for everyone, there’s always changes that could have been made and there’s been plenty of bobbles) is not only being dismantled, but trashed, but at least most of us have running water and iPhones to doomscroll on. I may not be able to vote in the midterms (my married name doesn’t match my birth certificate), but we can fill up our cart on a Costco trip. I can spend all afternoon at the barn, working on my horsemanship and annoying my pony by telling her she’s pretty, then come home and read that *checks notes* anyone and everyone can be deported for any reason and too bad, so sad, there’s a cheering section glad to see you buried in a prison in some other country, lost to those that love you. Due process? Don’t know her, and she’s not meant for you anyway.

Going to work is starting to look exactly like Severance. While at work, we talk about our narrow scope of work items, and when they do brush up against any news or political topic we have to tip toe around it, feel out the vibe of the folks in the room, because we all need our jobs and just want to do good in our sphere. What’s really starting to tick me off is so many small businesses I follow on social media (most of them equine products), that are posting about the effects of the “look here, now a tariff, look over there, no more tariff, look again, a 100% tariff!” with BIG BOLD “NO POLITICS HERE” warnings. When are these folks going to accept that everyone’s very existence is political in this environment, every choice, every story shared, every purchase is political? “The personal is political“. It always has been for so many, and it seems folks have forgotten that. To go back to my point that Americans are, on a whole, bad bosses, we’re also terrible voters. Most of the politicians at the Federal level (and the State level too) are there because they appealed to the grossest or most afraid or just loudest group in the room. If we don’t vote for folks who profess not to have every answer, who try to understand and create space for a variety of perspectives, if we get mad at things for moving too slow and not toeing one super specific line of ours, if we pile on the hate and the doxxing on folks running for office, who do we have to blame but ourselves for the current spineless crop of folks in Congress?

I have a feeling we’re hurtling towards a Constitutional stress test (or crisis) of some stripe, I’m just not sure what shape it will take. There’s so many conflicting opinions and needs and red lines and lines that keep getting pushed. The recent protests had killer signs and good vibes, but they weren’t exactly the “good trouble” John Lewis was talking about…or what he went through to gain his rights. Stonewall was a riot! Mimi Jones had acid poured in the pool they were just trying to swim in (and the man that did it never expressed remorse). “I dissent!” Four students died at Kent State. How many folks have been beaten, jailed, fired, or killed for daring to stand for themselves, to insist the Constitution widen to finally, rightfully include them? How many folks were behind them, caring for families, feeding everyone, supporting as they were able?

There’s so much work to be done, caring for our direct communities and ensuring folks don’t fall through the rapidly widening cracks, trying to preserve what can be saved and guarded while we all have to fight to maintain our current level of rights and freedoms and ability to live in a free society at the same time. It’s exhausting and even knowing that’s the point doesn’t make it easier. There won’t be a lot of ease while billionaires play stupid, cruel games with everyone else’s livelihoods but their own, with zero consequences.