Good grief, I don’t want to be writing about Donald Trump. I have so many other things I want to do with my days. I have a book I’m trying to get published. I have bins and bins of papers I dragged from Milton, Massachusetts, to Manhattan Beach, California, ten years ago. These are things I stashed away promising myself I would look at, read, write about take care of “when I have time.” Well time is running out. I’m not going to be around forever. I have stacks and stacks of unread books beside my bed (not to mention a very long “Books to Read” list.) I have excursions I want to plan, trips I want to book. Ah, but do I want to hop on a plane in the near future…with the Federal Aviation Administration in freefall… since January 20th.

Nope. Can’t do it. Can’t get through a single paragraph without being distracted by what’s been happening here in the United States in the past thirteen days.

We’re not even two weeks in, and I feel like I’m in another country. I read about the anti-everything pronouncements coming out of the White House, and I feel compelled to protest. Voicing my opinion is something I’ve been doing since I wrote my first letter to the White House in the 1960s, protesting the Vietnam War. I sent letters to Johnson, then Nixon (I always assumed those missives probably put me on his “enemies” list). Ford. On and on.

For as long as I can remember, there’s been a White House phone number I could call. I was told that these phones were staffed by volunteers and that a log was kept of callers’ messages for the President. Once the internet came into being, it was easier than ever to do what I could and should as an active, informed citizen; there was a a link to click for contacting the President right on the website

https://www.whitehouse.gov

No more. As of January 21st I guess. Whatever that first directive was that set me off, I decided to call the WH Comment line: 202 456-1111. That day the message was “The Office is temporarily closed.” But just now (Feb 1) the message is different: “The office is currently closed. Please Call back, Mon-Thu 11a.m.-3 p.m. EST Tue-Thu. “Your comment is important to the President (so important that the phones are staffed twelve hours a week); meanwhile, you may send an e-message (email?) to

www.whitehouse.gov/contact 

I’ll be calling that number next week. So many things to comment on. And I encourage you to do the same. This is still a democracy (I think.)

Don’t forget: You also have a Member of Congress and two Senators accountable to you, and all of us, for how the Government is run, how our tax money is spent. It takes less than five minutes to Google websites, click the contact button, fill out your contact information, and make a comment.

Forget scrolling social media and clicking “like.” Get to work. Fight for what you believe is right. It’s up to each one of us to speak truth to power, hold our legislators (as well as the Administration) accountable…and save our democracy.

______________________

P.S. Have you seen the current iteration of the White House website. Featured copy on the home page (and photo of you-know-who, of course):


AMERICA IS BACK.
Every single day I will be fighting for you with every breath in my body. I will not rest until we have delivered the strong, safe and prosperous America that our children deserve and that you deserve. This will truly be the golden age of America.”

I assume there are a lot of people who will find this message reassuring. Unfortunately, I am not one of them.