After Charlottesville

Charlottesville may very turn to be the tipping point for the man Martin O'Malley called "that racist, immigrant-bashing carnival barker, Donald J. Trump."  The melee in that Virginia town over the removal of a Robert E. Lee statue that led to the death of anti-Trump protester Heather Heyer won't convince many of the people who voted for Trump in November 2016 to change their minds about him - in fact, it may make them more fervently for him - but it could finally put some teeth and muscle into the so-called "resistance."  It may very well energize those of us who can't bear to have Trump in the White House or the Republicans in charge of Congress and two-thirds of the states and make us even more determined to reverse a tide that is currently drowning us.  The energy is already showing up places like Lexington, Kentucky, where Mayor Jim Gray - who unsuccessfully challenged Rand Paul for his Senate seat in 2016 - made a move to get all of the city's Confederate monuments taken down immediately.  

Never mind the Democrats and their better deal.  This goes beyond party.  If the party of Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy isn't up to the task of stopping Trump, we're going to have to go it alone.  If we can use what's left of the Democratic Party as a vehicle for taking our country back from the Breitbart crowd, that's fine.  But we're going to have to be prepared to find another outlet if that doesn't work out.  

So call a convention.  Get a new movement started.  Get behind someone who wants to run for office that you believe in.  Run for office yourself, if you're so inclined.  But just remember, taking down statues of Lee and Jackson (Andrew or Stonewall?  you make the call) and renaming parks and streets is the easy part.  Health care, equality, criminal justice reform, and so many other concerns are at stake here.  Speak out on a blog.  Organize.  Do something!       

And quickly, before World War III breaks out in Korea. :-(