Clearing the deck for "9 Weeks"
Making space for the singularity of democracy
I have one great fear: waking up on November 6th with the same feeling I had the morning after the 2016 election … knowing I didn’t do everything I could have to prevent the results. This time, however, American democracy is truly at risk. I can’t sit back and watch.
Like many people, I wept through the four nights of the DNC.
Like millions of us, I felt my spirit soaring, joy returning, hope raising its heavy head.
I heard Hillary remind us of how she cracked the glass ceiling and that what she saw through those cracks was FREEDOM.
I saw the brave spirits of AOC and Jasmine Crockett as they stood up for their constituents and their country.
I nodded and felt my energy rise when Michelle graciously reminded us that this fight is ours and each of us needs to “do something.”
And, I saw the photo above. The grand-niece of Kamala watching her aunt look and sound like the world leader she is and the President of the United States she is going to be be … if we come together and make sure she gets elected. I felt young girls, young people all over the world, seeing their future … their hopes and dreams stretching before them.
Young people are our hopes for righting the world … fighting climate change, resisting autocratic leaders, inventing the tools and processes for making our future better. In my mind, this picture is an inflection moment empowering the youth of the world.
“Singularity” … is that the right word?
How do we describe this moment? Unparalleled? Historic? Unprecedented? Strange?
The word that showed up for me was “singularity.” In cosmology, singularity refers to a black hole, a point of infinite density and gravity within which no object inside can ever escape, not even light. It is being used in technology to refer to the explosion of artificial intelligence. Is it too big a word for this time, this political event?
Perhaps it’s a democratic singularity … a singularity in democracy? Or maybe there’s a different, better word?
Clearing the deck
Two days after the convention, I knew what I had to do and began. I was three weeks out from a fairytale trip to France. Cancelled. I had just laid out a new Substack series based on lessons we’ve learned from COVID for the past four years. Postponed.
Why? I happened to be at a workshop at Esalen on the night Donald Trump was elected. Numb with disbelief, I was also mortified that I hadn’t worked harder for Hillary. I worked a bit harder during the 2020 election, but it wasn’t until January 6th that I realized the lengths that the MAGA followers of Trump were willing to take to crash our system.
Project 2025 put me over the line. After studying it and reading the experts who were studying it, I knew that this was not “just another election.” And, that the intentions of the writers of Project 2025 would mean the end of government for the people, by the people, possibly forever.
Project 2025 is an authoritarian playbook, and,
as Coach Walz says anyone who develops a playbook, plans to use it.
This is a fight for our American democracy and it took President Joe Biden’s selfless action to shift the election dynamic. President Biden, the man we call “Joe,” will be revered long into the future for his service, his brilliance in restoring our economy and his selfless action in passing the leadership baton to Kamala Harris, possibly the most qualified presidential candidate in modern times.
The proud role of Citizen Patriot
For fifty years, Joe Biden has served our country. Millions of men and women have selflessly protected our nation as they served in the military at home and around the world. The majority of us, however, are not called to make such dramatic sacrifices. We are “citizens,” “patriots,” and we serve by raising our families, being good neighbors, following the rules of law, and participating in our constitutionally-designed election processes.
This election calls us to dig a little deeper, do a little more to protect what we have built over the past almost 250 years, and, ideally, help guide our country even closer to the ideals we were founded on: equality, liberty, and justice for all.
For the next 9 weeks, this Substack newsletter is going to focus on amplifying all efforts for saving American democracy. This is a “big-C” CHALLENGE requiring Community, Conversation, Courage, Cooperation, Creativity, Communication. Once we achieve the Change we want (Harris & Walz safely in office) we will all eat Cake (or Carrots, Cauliflower, Celery, or Cabbage if preferred)!
WANTED for amplification: ideas, your stories of the actions you’re taking, democracy-positive posts that moved you … in other words, anything that inspires you … cartoons, stories, ideas, art, memes, songs … anything that will help us save American democracy on November 5, 2024.
Sharing what you find can play a major role in saving our nation. Fill up the comments section or share with your social media of choice. Challenge yourself to have one conversation or one shared inspiration per week. Be an influencer in your own way and place.
I will incorporate as much as possible of what you share in this newsletter which will grow day-by-day on Substack Notes (and Twitter/X), shared week-by-week as a shareable digital collection that you will receive in your email as a subscriber, and eventually result in a book intended to tell the story of how we came together to save American democracy.
Everything in this series is free and shareable by anyone.
If you need to be reminded, inspired, and ignited into action, re-listen to these amazing speeches. This is only a partial list … more in coming posts:
Hillary Clinton — 18 minutes, Former Secretary of State, First Lady, candidate for president
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — 8 minutes, Congresswoman from New York
Jasmine Crockett — 10 minutes, Congresswoman from Texas
Michelle Obama — 23 minutes, First Lady
Angela Alsobrooks — 8 minutes, Maryland nominee for US Senate
What can you do? Raise your voice.
There are a thousand candidates and organizations asking for your donations, so I hope you give as much as you can. However, perhaps even more important than your dollars is your voice, your kindness and your compassion.
Talking to your family, friends, associates and neighbors honestly and openly about what matters to you and what might be concerning to them is how we will continue the joy and hope the DNC launched.
We want to win this election; however, even more important is that we win back our sense of country and community … being neighbors creating the world we all want to live in. For too long, the big-flags-in-big-trucks folks have made us wary … and weary … as if being patriotic was something only “anti-everything” folks did.
It’s time to take back our flag, our values, our future as a role model of democracy.
I am IN and look forward to seeing what we create together over the next 9 WEEKS.
Well said, and the importance of this cannot be overstated! Thank you, Joyce.
Smart move, Joyce. All you have to do is remember the day after the election when Hillary did a concession speech and look at the 2025 Playbook Trump and his many loyal followers have put into plain view for all of us to see. This is not over until President Harris takes the oath of office. The MAGA efforts to thwart every voter's right to vote are horrifying and too much like watching films covering every dictator and totalitarian state, including Stalin, Hitler, Kim Jon-un, Putin, Ortega, Maduro, and too many others.