New design: We The People

Politics in the United States has become a real mess. Those in power take advantage of the chance to be full-on fascists. Congresspeople of their party aren’t willing to stand up to them. And most of those in the other party do little except write strongly-worded statements about it. It feels like the voters are truly getting the proverbial fuzzy end of the lollipop.

Elections aren’t doing jack squat for folks in the country. So many of the members of the Democratic Party showing that they’re Republican Lite just makes it worse. It’s no wonder that there’s a movement afoot to ignore political parties and vote for candidates that show that they’re willing to work for We The People, not the big money campaign donors, and definitely not the oligarchs.

That movement, and comments from Early American historian Joanne B. Freeman, have inspired me to create a new design. It’s a great way to show that you will vote for We The People, not people in a particular political party, and I created versions that will work on light or dark backgrounds.

Preview of the We The People bumper Sticker. The logos for the Democratic and Republican parties are on opposite ends of the sticker, with the international symbol for NO over each. In the middle are the words "Vote for We The people in 2026 & 2928"And if you have a car or truck with a bumper, have we got a sticker for you.

It’s not just about being Progressive

I know that there are some great progressives in Congress, but let’s not make being progressive the litmus test for who we vote for. Instead, let’s look at where their money is coming from. If you support the civilians in Palestine, you can use TrackAIPAC.com to see if a candidate is taking money from people who don’t recognize the right of Palestinian civilians to exist.

Also, look at how long someone has been in Congress. If they’ve been in Congress since before the aircraft flew into the World Trade Center, it may be time to let them go write their books and play with their grandkids. Thank them for their service, but let some younger folks with fresh perspectives represent you.

Whose country? Our country.

Our elections have been rigged, and they have been rigged for decades. So let’s get together and vote for folks that won’t take donations from any big money PACs or donors. Let’s tell the pols it’s time to represent the folks who are just trying to make a better life for their families than they had.

Shop the We The People products in the My Two Lives online shop.

The Right sure does hate us trans folks

(Content Warning: US federal politics are discussed in this article.)

I try not to post political articles here as a rule. But this evening I got an email from Erin in the Morning Substack that makes me break that rule. The so-called “Freedom Caucus” is threatening to shut down the federal government unless several anti-trans policies are included in legislation to keep the government open.

If the “Freedom Caucus” has a coat of arms it probably includes the phrase “Libertas mihi sed non tibi.” That’s Latin for “Freedom for me but not for thee.” They want to take us back to the days when the people who made the rules were all (supposedly) white folks who didn’t take any crap from anyone who wasn’t in total agreement with them.

Last week, I mentioned that I was finally getting the gear I need to make demos of some of my songs. I’m getting my recording system set up after getting my audio interface yesterday. My song Somewhere Someone Cares will be the first song to get recorded, and I’m also working on recording another song. I wrote a song years ago that got put on the side after I fell out of love with the lyrics. But the music for the song wouldn’t get out of my head, so I need to write some new lyrics for it. I have the chorus already, and this latest move from the ultra-religious right is making me want to get the song finished and out in the world. I think you’ll see what I mean from the lyrics.

The Right is trying to chase us away
The Gays and Lezzies, the Transes and Enbies
They’re saying that we don’t belong
But what they don’t know is we’ve been here forever
They say that we are grooming their kids
But they confuse us with some politicians and church folks
No matter what they do or say
The queers are here to stay.

While Somewhere Someone Cares is a nice blues/progressive rock song, this one is a flat-out rocker. I think it could do nicely as an anthem for the LGBTQ+ community.

If you want your elected officials to stand up for the trans and queer folk against the “Freedom Caucus,” please contact them and let them know. Don’t assume someone else will do it, because they may assume you will.

Read Erin Reed’s Republicans Issue New Government Shutdown Threat Over Trans People on Erin in the Morning.

Should Congress be penalized for possibly closing a part of our government?

Should we penalize Congress if DHS has to shut down because there's no budget?Unless you’ve been off spending a very cold and snowy winter and avoiding all news about what’s going on where we’re cold and sick of snow you’ve probably heard that unless something happens very soon a very important part of the U.S. Government, the Department of Homeland Security could be forced to close at the end of the day Friday. This comes because while most of the government got a budget for the current fiscal year, The Powers That Be up on Capital Hill have decided to fight one of the president’s actions on undocumented immigrants. While I won’t pick sides (there’s enough mud to go around) I find myself wondering if perhaps we need a way to penalize our elected officials for wanting to force federal employees to work while the rest of DHS has to turn off their lights and lock their doors. more “Should Congress be penalized for possibly closing a part of our government?”