November 1 dawned a chilly fall day in Santa Fe, but that did not deter a group of folks from speaking their mind at Speakers' Corner. (Anyway, it warmed up as the event went on) And as usual, a wide range of topics were covered.
Shari started by introducing us to Simon Rosenberg and his guest Garret Graf who writes the Doomsday Scenario blog.
We have talked about and looked to different agencies to save our country. What one person decided was the most important and I agree: we try to elect people of good character who choose their cabinet people of good character, who work with civil servants who take their allegiances to the constitution seriously. And this time we screwed up.
-- Garret Graf
Simon Rosenberg
Daphne talked about Trump's convenient dislike of the filibuster – how it's all so convenient for him. That is, that the institution of democracy is just something for his benefit - a plaything of his, and the courts are a thin veil for the way we're living our days today. So she brought an ask for us all - in Santa Fe, but also all across New Mexico - to become citizens of the communities we live in. And that one thing we know at Indivisible is that if each person does one small thing, it makes a difference.
Then I (Donovan) got a chance to riff off of that, speaking of what it means to become a citizen of a community having moved to Santa Fe just about two years ago. I reflected that the national perspective on immigration changes from age to age, going for or against generally as the economy goes – during a booming economy, we love immigrants to come and power our industry, but during a downturn, we think immigrants are "stealing our jobs" 🙄 Then I read again my "Open Letter from the Zeitgeist of the Country I wish we lived in", which speaks of welcoming immigrants with open arms.
Dave B. spoke briefly of the action later at Home Depot, and expressed some optimism about the future of the country as people generally realize how terrible it is to live under and autocratic regime. He went so far as to thank Donald Trump for his ineptitude and showing his followers that an oligarch regime is not functional and not something we actually want. (We didn't know the outcome of the election on that chilly Saturday, but it seems clear now with the results from November 4 that people are realizing that, and voting to prevent the incompetent autocracy from going any further.)
Dave also exhorts people to get behind the NM Immigrant Safety Act, noting that one of the NM Senators that has previously been against the act is possibly rethinking his position after seeing how the Border Patrol is interacting with people.
Herb came up and reminded us of a clause from the Constitution that relates to the current actions by Mike Johnson:
Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shall, without the Consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other Place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting.
– Article I section 5
and he also remarked on the many ways that Trump is rapidly turning this country into a presidential dictatorship while also showing signs of mental decline and peculiar obsession with architectural details of the destruction and remodeling of the White House.
Jonathan pointed out the regime is characterizing those of us who are attempting to unseat the regime as terrorists, and has thrust a war upon us. Indeed, we do not seek a war, but we find ourselves in one regardless. Having found ourselves in a war, we need to act with the fervor and intensity of defenders of our homeland – not unlike the soldiers in Ukraine fighting to defend their homeland from external forces.
Daphne returned and connected to the economic forces which have driven our expressed optimism that we will get back to a place where we can look beyond the shareholder and we can support people who want to participate in whatever industry or work inspires them, and make a thriving wage doing so. Riffing off Herb's reminder of the unconstitutionality of the House recess, she exhorts everyone to call Mike Johnson and demand that he bring the house back into session. (I'll also note that swearing members in can, and often has been, done during pro forma sessions, so please add the demand that he swear in Adelita Grijalva)
Brent talked about the book How Minds Change, and the challenge of shifting peoples thinking. It can only be done by getting in close and finding shared perspective, and it happens one step at a time – it will require great patience to see this through.
I returned to talk about whether and how we know whether the government has turned against us, and the significance of individual action in shaping history – pushing back against the "Great Man" theory of history. In listing the various ways in which we might know that our government is against us, it seemed to me that it's clear the executive branch is out of control and is no longer for the people.
Daphne also returned to the podium to talk about how we've historically been blessed with a congress that has somewhat effectively represented us. Hence, we've lost the habit of holding our congresspeople to account in doing their job. Hoping that will change is not a strategy; our strategy needs to be more about demanding that accountability.
There were lots of other comments that I've not summarized here. A good day of discussing, venting, gesticulating, and all around getting our thoughts out there. We hope you'll join us some time soon – I heard that November 8 is going to have some singing, too. 🎼
