So here we are. Biden is settled in, Trump is out and under legal attack, most of his worst policies have been overturned, huge numbers of people are being vaccinated against COVID-19, and stimulus checks are in the mail. Time to kick back and enjoy victory, right?

No!

The freedom song "Because All Men Are Brothers" contains this affirmative lyric: "Until all tyrants perish our work shall not be done."

I keep that song in the front of my head to remind me not to relax. It's all too easy to look at our progress so far and think we're out of danger. Not so. Think about the 43 state legislatures that are working hard to pass racist bills that will severely hinder access to voting for people of color. Think about Congress, where people loyal to Trump still have influence. Think about Trump himself, who could still rally his cult if he wished. The struggle continues.

We have not rid ourselves of the tyrant Trump. He is still free, and because he enjoys the freedoms he longs to take away from everyone else, he can still speak his mind, spreading hate and spewing lies.

Our work is to support in any way we can those who are trying to get Trump out of the way in the long term and to prevent him from holding office ever again. We should be talking to our communities and to anyone who might listen about the importance of keeping our guard up. If we're lucky we might change some minds.

In the short term we have to be telling our senators to use every bit of their influence to get the For The People Act 2021 passed in the Senate. Without passage of that bill into law the next election will see so many minority voters denied access to the polls that we'll think we've traveled in time to the 1930s.

I recently received a sticker in the mail from Planned Parenthood with the message "We Won't Go Back." That should be the byword for everyone who doesn't want to see this country dragged backward, because that's where Congressional Republicans would take us if they could.

Make no mistake. The Republican Party has a reactionary racist heart deeply rooted in Jim Crow. It is a cruel accident of history that Lincoln's party had the same name used by contemporary Republicans. They blaspheme every time they mention him.

That said, and keeping in mind the caveats above, we are seeing light. President Biden hit the ground running, with an aggressive reform program. Many of Trump's more odious policies and programs have been countered or repealed, 107 million Americans have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine thanks to an administration that can not only make plans but can implement them, the American Rescue Plan Act is starting to provide some much-needed relief, and the number of new COVID-19 cases is declining precipitously.

On another front, Trump is facing a slew of civil and criminal suits. The furthest advanced, alleging election interference, is in Fulton County, Georgia, where the district attorney has impaneled a grand jury to look at the case. I have to wonder if there's any competent lawyer in the country who will defend him. 

“Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.” 

That maxim is as true now as it was when the abolitionist Wendell Phillips first spoke it 169 years ago. Democracy is a high-maintenance entity. It requires constant oversight lest evildoers attempt to cripple or hijack it as Donald Trump attempted several times.

We must be watchful and vigilant. The Framers gave us the Constitution to protect us against tyrants. We must be true to that legacy. We must speak and act boldly, fearing no one who would despoil our birthright.

                "Let every voice be thunder, let every heart beat strong.
                        Until all tyrants perish our work shall not be done."¹

 

--- Diogenes, 3/16/2021    

 

¹ Tom Glazer, "Because All Men Are Brothers," c. 1948.