Lately there has been quite a bit of unrest, agitation, both obvious and nameless sources of deep concern, and general anxiety roiling about in anyone who has been paying any attention to the recent turmoil in not only politics but in everyday life.  Will I still have insurance by the end of the year?  Will I still get my Social Security Check?  Will I still have Medicaid?  Will my rights as a woman be stripped away?  Will I live until tomorrow if I cannot escape my war-torn country?  Will my drinking water poison me to death?  Will the United States honor existing deals with our allies or spurn them, creating an international issue?  Will my leaders create situations in which our country is at risk because others now perceive us as a genuine threat?  These are all rational concerns at any time in history, but they are at the fore now in ways they have never been before.  There is nothing paranoid about any of them.

In large part, social media memes, flame wars and fake news have stirred the pot to extremes.  What used to be limited to the citizenry is now employed by our leaders who are in the mix online, and they are just as bad if not worse than we are in terms of spin, exaggeration and innuendo.  Social media has come of age and served as one of many conduits to polarize us.  Because so many people derive their news from “outlets” like Facebook and Twitter, they fail to see the larger picture.  They fail to seek valid sources of information, compare and contrast them, analyze them, and realize that the truth lies somewhere betwixt and between.  Sometimes it lies entirely in the negative space, in what is NOT being expressed.  The trick is thinking critically, a skill which has largely died out in the age of five-second sound bites, instant gratification, attention deficit and lack of interest in anything that isn’t as salacious as the latest gossip.

This is where we delve into the realm of ethics and morals.

What we see playing out right now is a collection of people with no impulse control over their baser instincts run amok.  I have noted that many people have used unsubstantiated, utterly false data that they found somewhere in a vacuum to bolster their arguments, ensconced in the relative safety and distance of a keyboard and a cloud, in order to feed their own ego (“Look at how much smarter I am than you who I have never met in person!”), to deliberately mislead, flat out lie, and/or to camouflage the fact that they have not taken the time to do the hard research necessary to have a logical, intelligent discussion or debate with another.  That is both unethical and immoral.  The reason I say that is that those who lack an ethical standard and moral compass contributes to the devolution of our communities, our government, indeed very lives.  Without these important standards it is a dreadfully effortless process to lie, whether knowingly or pseudo-knowingly, to attempt to bash another’s position whilst simultaneously attempting to bolster their own ego by tearing someone to shreds in a public forum.  More importantly in the case of our government, it is far too simple to lead those who desperately want to believe something (“You’ll get your old jobs back and I will defeat ISIS!”) to a place of focus while they carry out whatever they really have planned.  It’s a shell game, and our government as a whole is playing it with our entire country.

The ethics and morals violations I see are people in power deliberating doing all they can behind the scenes to bolster their power while knowingly putting those they portend to govern in no-win situations, dodging the facts and not answering simple questions altogether in a Conway-esque fashion, or cherry-picking facts in a deliberate effort to deceive so they can continue the work of making themselves more powerful.  We actually now have #AlternativeFacts.  When I see this confluence of deliberate falsehoods, egomaniacal boasting at the expense of others, and deliberate instigation of arguments you would never pick in person that lack any basis in reason or fact, and you throw all of that into the mix with racism, misogyny, xenophobia, homophobia and more, you have a recipe for disaster.

Now, here are some of the ethics and morals our founding fathers exalted:

  • If you truly believe an egregious wrong is committed, do something about it. Speak up.  Stand up.  Because if you don’t, who will?
  • Work hard. Be more educated than your opponent, whether they are friend or foe.  Friends can and will argue.  It is a healthy thing in point of fact, so long as it doesn’t stray far from the factual basis on which it must necessarily begin in order to get to a point of agreement.
  • In order for a governing body to remain in check, it is essential that those governed not only have the right but also assert the right to speak truth to power, to assemble peaceably. In fact, they saw it as every true patriot’s duty to do just that, and given our history, is it any wonder?
  • Study and learn from history. Not everything needs to be repeatedly relearned the hard way unless we make it so.

Recently, many people who voted in this administration and Congress have suggested to me that I sit tight, be quiet, and give them a four-year shot (two years in the case of some).  After all that I have seen them do and say, the answer is a blanket, “No,” and the reason is that it would be ethically and morally impossible for me to do so.  I would be failing my country if, when I see it straying in a dangerous direction and fail to muster the courage to draw attention to what is going on and suggest ways we head instead to preserve our Republic.

When foreign nations and former foreign leaders speak out or act out, expressing  verbally or through threatening actions to rapidly destabilize the delicate balance of peace in our world, when we sit idly by and watch environmental regulations get gutted, when we let pass without comment a mounting war on women’s rights and the rights of the LGBTQ community, when we normalize things like alternative facts and bragging about sexual assault, when we ban people desperate enough to leave their lives behind hoping just to live a little longer, when we do all of that and more, we are indeed ETHICALLY AND MORALLY BANKRUPT.

I understand that we are necessarily going to disagree about how to implement necessary changes to make our union more perfect.  I understand that we are fairly divided right now.  That is why now more than ever, we must find the gumption to honor and enact the simplest of ethics and morals.  Think about the things you learned in kindergarten.  Be respectful of others, wait your turn, don’t pull Suzie’s hair or stomp on Tommy’s foot, share your lunch with someone who doesn’t have any, listen, be kind, look out for others, play nice.  And if you recall, there were consequences of various severities if you violated any of these and other rules.

Did Trump end up in the White House as a result of an institution created by Hamilton that was initially meant to prevent someone like him from rising to power?  Yes.  Is he POTUS?  Yes.  Did Republicans gain control of both houses of Congress?  Yep.  You might like it, and that is fine.

Not all of us like it and it is our right to disagree with and our duty to challenge our government.  If the tables were turned, I would expect you to act on the courage of your convictions in an ethical, moral, peaceful manner to draw attention to the ills of society and to work in your community to try to better it in whatever way you can.  I expect that of all my countrywomen and countrymen regardless of your point of view.  To assert that I and people like me are sore losers and need to shut up is fundamentally un-American.

We, those who actively dissent, love this country as much as you do.  We love our family and friends.  We love our environment.  As I found out at the Women’s March in L.A., we are even capable of extending kindness and care to perfect strangers about 100 times in one morning alone.  That is my America.  That is the one I will fight for routinely.  If you do not want to fight for that America, if you truly believe that what is happening right now doesn’t concern you or if you don’t lose sleep over the myriad of possible consequences to the direction we are heading, most of them rather frightening, then by all means, stay home.  Do nothing.  The rest of us will gladly do the heavy lifting.  Our consciences will allow nothing less than to act in what we view as an ethical and moral manner.  You don’t have to share that view.  But we certainly have a right to our view every bit as much as you have a right to yours.

I have often joked that I only run when chased, so if you see me running past you, you would be wise to get up and run your ass off too—it’s likely something truly terrifying is close on my heals and therefore also on your heals.  I am a student of history, and what is going on right now is eerily familiar to me: If you see me and mine fleeing this nation, that is the day I finally became frightened enough to give up the fight and run, and you might want to consider donning your sneakers.  Until then, on we march.

Final note: I am, according to my husband, the most stubborn bitch alive and apparently am also in possession of a rather large dick.  So for those of you who think talking down to me online or suggesting that I am acting inappropriately by standing up for the ethical, moral and patriotic values I hold dear and stand by fiercely, well, I thank you for strengthening my resolve.