January 5, 2022: Victory in 2022!

Posted on January 05, 2022 at 12:00 AM

Don’t hang back from political action for goals that need political action now! If you succeed, you’ll have a Victory High making your 2022 and our 2022 a good year!

As we approach the anniversary of rioters breaking into our Capital on January 6, 2021, it becomes clear how much worse the mob violence was than we could have imagined. Only now, with the release of information gathered by the Select Committee, can we understand that this was not a mob that just got out of control, but a planned attempt to overthrow democracy in the United States and institute a dictatorship. And, this is still a major threat.

To defeat this threat, we should begin by thinking about exactly what democracy is. When our government is elected by “we the people,” it means that each of us as individuals has power and authority. As individuals, we do not have power if the government is just an individual (a dictator) telling us what to do.

We use our power to raise taxes for goals that we as a people choose. Personally, I pay no attention to billionaires launching their space capsules for a fun ride. But I will always remember the thrill of the first landing on the Moon because that was my individual victory as part of a democratic nation. The stronger our democracy is, the stronger I am as an individual. In the almost unimaginable circumstances that Trump assumes office again, I would be weakened and that is not because of my party affiliation. Trump followers are just as weakened when they do whatever he tells them to do. The democracy imperative is also a moral imperative. Seeing a human spirit in everyone is to open our eyes to ethical behavior, and ethical behavior will strengthen us. 

— Elizabeth Clark, Chair, Human Rights and Democracy Task Force