Keep the lights on for us! Keep the holiday lights that wrap around tree trunks on W Broad Street to brighten things up in downtown Falls Church! Keep them up year ‘round. We need that extra cheer, light to fight off the darkness in our town, in our nation and in our souls.
It’s shaping up with the new Trump administration that the nation will face its worst domestic crisis since the Civil War. It is becoming evident that the intent is a deliberate sacking of everything smacking of a generosity of spirit or of democratic values. The two go together. The global ruling elites behind this new offensive are too blinded by their own deep flaws to realize that they are sewing the seeds of their own destruction. We are convinced that it will end very poorly for them. Unfortunately, it will for the many, many millions of people impacted by this latest Trump 2.0 orgy of greed and selfishness, too.
As we scramble to develop an effective response, we recognize that working to maintain a buoyant human spirit is critical. Much of the “shock and awe” of these last days is designed precisely to shatter public trust and any resolve to fight back effectively, politically, morally or socially. The millions that poured into the streets the weekend after Trump’s first inauguration eight years ago in one of the biggest multi-city rallies in history were nowhere to be found this time around.
Yet we are not defeated, not by a long shot if we are to gain a true appreciation of our power, the power of the people. The comeback politically starts right here in Virginia this year with the races for governor, attorney general, lieutenant governor and the House of Delegates. Doing very well in Virginia this year electorally will send a signal nationally that the human spirit is not dead, that the lights have not gone out and that we can rise to new heights in the coming period now that the true nature of our opposition is showing itself in ways that can no longer be ignored by anyone.
The overplaying of their hand such as they are now doing will constitute a major advantage for all reasonable people from this point forward, and we must take heart in that. A liar and cheat can have his way only insofar as those he seeks to dupe can be kept in the dark about his aims and methods. Once the facade is ripped away, then the one other major obstacle is simply fear. Maybe we will be unable to overcome that. But then again, perhaps we will. Maybe this next period will be one in which building resolve, building commitment, building courage, will be our primary task. Not business as usual, not more relentless bids for campaign contributions, but a time of redemption, self-examination and a summoning of the powers needed to truly change our nation’s current course toward a more noble and virtuous tomorrow.
