We are still here

"We are still here"

I am resuming this blog as we are in a time more dangerous than any we have seen in a long time, perhaps going back to Nixon's enemies list, or even earlier to the McCarthy era. Less than half of the nation has spoken in this election but is it from deliberate thoughtful decision-making based on fact, or is it merely born of fear and anger, as a reaction rather than a choice? We cannot merely reject the outcome; we must hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. There is no intelligent denial of the demagoguery of the campaign of the president-elect. But as was oft repeated in the campaign, borrowed from the First Lady, "when they go low, we go high".

We are now in an era where ignorance and falsehood are being accepted and celebrated. As Daniel Patrick Moynihan has said, "Everyone is entitled to their opinion. We are not entitled to make up our facts". We have elected a president who was PROVEN to lie on the campaign trail 70% and more of the time. Was it all from his true beliefs or as a media celebrity, has he merely learned to manipulate the emotions of his audience in pursuit of his personal goals? He is already back-pedaling on some of his statements realizing the ridiculousness of these as actual policy.

Dan Rather said on CNN's Reliable Sources that we don't have a "unified field" that explains what happened in this election. But in fact we do. Mao said, "religion is the opiate of the people". This election evoked that message clearly. Not specifically about 'religion' per se, but the fact that religion is largely based on the idea that we expect some higher power to make things better for us, rather than recognizing that we must make things better for ourselves.

While this is often attributed to a biblical saying in fact the thought is expressed much earlier. In his Philoctetes (c.409 BC), Sophocles wrote, "No good e'er comes of leisure purposeless; And heaven ne’er helps the men who will not act."And in the Hippolytus (428BC) of Euripides appears the speech, "Try first thyself, and after call in God; for to the worker God himself lends aid."

We must remain eternally vigilant. For those who are religious, in 1817, John Philpot Curran said, "The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt", or more famously, (incorrectly) to Thomas Paine, often cited as 'eternal vigilance is the price of liberty', who actually said, "Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."

But it is action not merely words that ultimately matter. We are already seeing an increase in bullying, racial and gender violence and intimidation, and as Social Workers we must act to address these issues for those we serve. But as Social Workers we are also agents of social change, and we have an ethical obligation to address the larger policy issues. We cannot sit and wallow in our sorrow and remain on the sidelines in the public sphere. It is time to roll up our sleeves and remind America as Bill Maher said as he closed his show Friday, "we are still here".

I have cried my share this week with this election and with the silencing of the voice of Leonard Cohen, so listen to this for inspiration, https://youtu.be/BG-_ZDrypec, and as she says, "I'm not giving up, and neither should you."

I promise you we are not giving up. We are still here. Join us. Take action. The world belongs to those who show up.