How to Rebound

            March Madness is still underway, so I suppose it’s okay if my March blog post is being published in April. I must have college basketball on my mind, because when I thought of the title for this blog post, I couldn’t help thinking about the double meaning of rebounding. So you’ll pardon me if I indulge in a sports metaphor. Obviously, one meaning has to do with how Democrats can recover from last year’s kick in the pants, but rebounding after missed shots is also an important part of basketball.

Full disclosure: I was always a mediocre basketball player, but I do know a thing or two about the game. Effective rebounding requires anticipation and aggressiveness to position yourself between your opponent and the basket, so they can’t even get close to the ball. In other words, see what’s coming, and don’t let them push you around. We’ve been hit with an onslaught designed to overwhelm us, but we are not intimidated. We are facing a monstrous right-wing disinformation machine, but we are not silenced. We are speaking out, and we are protesting, and we are getting attention. We are putting ourselves between the MAGA machine and the voters, and they will know our team is still in the game.

After you’ve rebounded the ball, the next thing is to find an outlet and get moving on offense. What I mean is that it isn’t enough to simply oppose the Mump administration. We also have to know what we are for and work to make it happen. We need a positive agenda, and we need to push it. What are our issues, and what can we do about them? I’ll tell you mine and encourage you to join me in working on them. If you have other top concerns, work on those.

·      Housing. Everywhere housing prices have gone up to the point where decent housing is unaffordable for too many people. That reflects a shortage of housing (not including McMansions) and a rental market dominated by corporate slumlords. Our state legislators and city officials are seeing the need and looking for answers. We need to push them and support them, and make sure that the best ideas get implemented. Where there are practical solutions that could make a difference, let’s light a fire under our city and county officials.

·      Climate change. To my mind, this is the great existential crisis of our time, and even if it weren’t politically expedient, I feel a moral imperative to address it. However, most people do understand that climate change is real and that human actions have caused it. Moreover, there are also many practical ways to limit it. The state has set a goal to become carbon neutral by 2040, and we need to do what we can to meet it. The key is for people to see ways to actually save money as individuals and as communities by becoming more energy efficient and getting away from fossil fuels.

·      Immigration. I’ve already been working to inform our New American neighbors about the practical steps they can take to be prepared in case Trump follows through on his threats of mass deportation. The next step I would like to see is the creation of a rapid response group that is ready to help in the event that any of our neighbors do get picked up. Such a team could be better prepared than their own families to intervene before things go too far.

So let’s keep up the fight, and like I say, if you want to get involved on any of these issues, let me know.

Paul Harris