#JoinTheConversation

#ProtestIsPatriotic

When Donald Trump was elected, many people were dumbfounded and saddened. We even Marched by the hundred of thousands #WomensMarch as #ProtestIsPatriotic We let our representatives know that we didn't agree with the results.

Now this part is just my opinion and you may feel differently, but I remember posting that it felt like we were in some bizarre world where everything was just off. How in the world did someone with no integrity, honor, nor respect actually get to the highest office in our country? That's how I see him and he hasn't shown me I was misled. In fact, finds a new way every week to floor me with his insanity. The first 6 months he managed to take away protections that I supported like ensuring people had access to clean water.

I don't want this post to get bogged down with examples of how Donald Trump has worked to dismantle our country. Bc in the end, we must fix it. I'm a vegan atheist veteran and I know my ideas don't always fit with the status quo. In fact, I live to question why people believe what they do. But even knowing all that, when we were appalled by Trump's election, we knew we had to fight millions of people who don't agree with us. We didn't do that by caring torches, but we did get to work.

We knew the path forward wasn't by impeding the legal & #constitutional processes. Politics takes time and there's a reason it moves slowly.

Instead, people came together to form brand new groups and were very successful getting more women, LGBTQIA, & POC ELECTED. Many of these people were motivated to run for office for the first time thanks to the Women's March.

This is how we move forward.

It's not by Violence. It's not by assertions of voting fraud, but by doing the hard, time-consuming work of holding people accountable and educating the public.

#WeThePeople govern this nation.

We do so by combatting #fakeNews & hateful rhetoric. We promote kindness, compassion, and active discourse.It will be frustrating. It's not easy to run this country, but it's our civic duty to be active participants.

I trust that we will fail at times to do the right things & sometimes we do fall short, but it's a continuous process toward creating a better society that we are fighting for. It's not a violent fight, but measured, thoughtful, and based on cold hard facts.

We don't have time for empty promises about pretending that this country will be "great again" bc for others like our POC friends & family, it wasn't ever great. We must set aside our biases and work together to create welcoming communities for all people.

We MUST fight for a livable minimum wage, access & affordable healthcare because sick people can't work & work less efficiently. We must find a way to get a roof over every person's head, and access to food so no one is forced to go hungry. This country can NEVER be considered great until we solve these basic problems.

For those of you who are frustrated, scared that we are going to become some communist country, I encourage you to join us. We can't create a unified country without your voices. We may disagree with how we will get there in the end, but there are places we can agree. Let's work on finding those. Let's agree to work on mending our country so that what happened in the capital never happens again.

We can do this. 

All we need is to be open to change, compromise, and putting #CountryOverParty #AmericanHistory