Dont Let the Bastards Grind You Down

[sheshe2]

Like many women, I spend most of the final months of the Obama presidency battling a constant feeling of anticipatory nausea; I didn’t know what was in store for me and the people I cared about, but I felt sure it would be deeply unpleasant at best.


I also knew that I would probably survive the upcoming administration, but I’m cognizant enough of my relative privilege to understand how flip it is when people say things like, “We survived W., we’ll survive this,” or “We never thought we’d live through Reagan, but we did.”

Too many people did not survive the presidency of George W. Bush. Ronald Reagan laughed as thousands of gay men died of AIDS. Already there are people who have been casualties of the current administration ― and Republicans in congress and the one in the Oval Office are determined to make sure millions more suffer in their relentless pursuit of power. We cannot let that happen.


snip//


But this fight won’t be about shock and awe. It’s going to be a long, tiring, demoralizing slog, and those of us who aren’t in the crosshairs this particular week have to fight for those of us who are. Maybe that means calling your congressional representatives, or showing up at their offices. Maybe it means going to marches and demonstrations with a pithy sign. Perhaps it means you run for local, statewide, or even national office. It might even be something as simple as giving money to a cause or person who needs it.


But it must always, always mean standing together against the growing tyranny of this administration. We can’t let the bastards grind us down. We have to grind them down first, with our calls, our visits, our protests. We have to outlast them.


Read More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/dont-let-the-bastards-grind-you-down_us_59095e17e4b05279d4edc109?section=us_women

This is the most important line in the OP.

"It’s going to be a long, tiring, demoralizing slog, and those of us who aren’t in the crosshairs this particular week have to fight for those of us who are."

Do not look the other way just because it is not about you, because tomorrow it may well be. We need to help each other fight our battles because it is the only way we have a chance of surviving. Please everyone we must do this together.

[Bleacher Creature]

1. Thanks. As always, you provide a voice of reason.

I'm a fully-employed middle aged white, so I'm not in the cross-hairs yet, but it breaks my heart to see such savagery aimed at my fellow citizens.

I honestly don't know how they could be raised in a way to create such hatred and resentment.

[mopinko]

2. the resistance is not going away.

this time.

[mcar]

3. We have to keep fighting

Good message. Thanks she.

[kentuck]

4. Illegitimi non carborundum

Illegitimi non carborundum is a mock-Latin aphorism meaning "Don't let the bastards grind you down".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegitimi_non_carborundum

[R B Garr]

5. Thanks! I was just coming to post that.

My stepdad told me that years ago just like that Latin phrase, and it has really stuck with me.

[kentuck]

8. :-)

[sheshe2]

11. Thanks

[Bernardo de La Paz]

6. Resist, Persist, Triumph. We resist, we persist, we win victories. . . nt

[Bernardo de La Paz]

7. We might lose battles, but we will win the war. . . . nt

[BarbD]

9. Well said!

Yes, we can. Yes, we will, because we must.

[sheshe2]

12. Welcome to DU, Barb.

And yes we MUST!

[calimary]

13. Welcome to DU, BarbD!

That last part is really important:

"It’s going to be a long, tiring, demoralizing slog, and those of us who aren’t in the crosshairs this particular week have to fight for those of us who are."
Do not look the other way just because it is not about you, because tomorrow it may well be. We need to help each other fight our battles because it is the only way we have a chance of surviving. Please everyone we must do this together.

Yesterday there was THIS thread, too, quoting a really marvelous young man:
Joe Kennedy III
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029021830
QUOTE:
It is among the most basic human truths: Every one of us, some day, will be brought to our knees. By a diagnosis we didn't expect, a phone call we can't imagine, or a loss we cannot endure.
That common humanity inspires our mercy. It fortifies our compassion. It drives us to look out for the sick, the elderly, the poor, and the most vulnerable among us.
Yesterday's bill -- yesterday's devastating bill -- does the opposite.
The bill is more than premiums and tax cuts. It is a cold and calculated world view: One that scapegoats the struggling, and sees fault in suffering. One dead set on dividing us based on who we love, where we come from, the direction of our faith and the size of our fortunes.
We see it in their tax plan, their budget cuts, their immigration policy, their civil rights assaults -- and yesterday, in their cruel health care plan.
We must reject it.
We must decide, instead, to take care of each other -- because, but for the grace of God, we will all one day wake up in need of a little mercy.
This nation's character has never been defined by the power we give the already strong -- but by the strength we give the weak.
Joe Kennedy III

I think he's the one I heard being interviewed a few weeks ago on this very topic, and as he put it "this is how we take care of one another." That just spoke not just volumes but entire libraries to me.

YES. And this is the way we should start speaking about it, I think. I don't see any more perfect way to try to start bringing us back together as a nation and send the divisiveness out to the proverbial dumpster. It's WE. US. OURS. Not so much I, me, mine. It's about the collective. And I think we DO need to take care of one another. Nobody's entitled to their own planet. We're all together on this one single little planet. Stephen Hawking recently said we now have about 100 years to find a new one.

[bathroommonkey76]

10. The writer of this article must be a U2 fan.

Don't believe what you hear
Don't believe what you see
If you just close your eyes
You can feel the enemy
When I first met you girl
You had fire in your soul
What happened your face of melting in snow?
Now it looks like this
And you can swallow
Or you can spit
You can throw it up
Or choke on it
And you can dream
So dream out loud
You know that your time is coming 'round
So don't let the bastards grind you down

No, nothing makes sense
Nothing seems to fit
I know you'd hit out
If you only knew who to hit
And I'd join the movement
If there was one I could believe in
Yeah I'd break bread and wine
If there was a church I could receive in
'Cause I need it now

To take the cup
To fill it up
To drink it slow
I can't let you go
I must be an acrobat
To talk like this
And act like that
And you can dream
So dream out loud
And don't let the bastards grind you down

Oh, it hurts baby
What are we going to do? Now it's all been said
No new ideas in the house and every book has been read

And I must be an acrobat
To talk like this
And act like that
And you can dream
So dream out loud
And you can find
Your own way out
And you can build
And I can will
And you can call
I can't wait until
You can stash
And you can seize
In dreams begin
Responsibilities
And I can love
And I can love
And I know that the tide is turning 'round
So don't let the bastards grind you down

[EX500rider]

14. Don't let the bastards get you down...

&list=FLKmbj3XF1ryOYtieVrQey4g&index=16

[moreland01]

15. Thank You

I started a chapter of Represent Us here in my town. Sometimes I get very tired and demoralized about the brick walls that are built up in front of us making progress. Thanks for the motivational words. And please keep posting. Just when I think everyone is falling back to their old habits of que sera sera, I read stuff like this and it keeps me going.

[sheshe2]

18. Hey, moreland...

Good on you for starting a chapter of Represent Us.
We have some hard work ahead of us.

[Initech]

16. We have some truly sadistic assholes in charge.

But the people who vote for them won't care, because... Jesus.

[Hekate]

17. Kicking this

[ehrnst]

19. Damn glad that women do endurance as a specialty. (nt)

[Afromania]

20. yup

K&R