“We have two choices: Give up or move forward. It’s not even close. We have a Republic to keep, and we are not quitters. We’re in this together.” Joyce Vance, Civil Discourse, 11/27/24

Right now, it might feel like Donald Trump broke the rule of law. But, stop and consider for a moment: this is how Trump wants you to feel. This is how all of the people around him, the ones who envision their surge to take over government in January, want you to feel. They want you to feel defeated. They want you to feel like Project 2025 is inevitable. They want you to give up, stay at home, and slowly subside into miserably drinking wine.

That is not who we are. Democrats may have lost the last election, but that’s not the same thing as losing the Republic. Far from it. And Donald Trump has not broken the rule of law. He has tortured it and stretched it out of shape insofar as it applies to him. But he has not broken it, and he has not broke

…I am still a very proud American. I love this country. I love the Constitution and the rule of law. I’m grateful to live in a place where, unlike the Eastern European cities my great-grandparents escaped from, people are not hunted down and killed because of their religion. I’m grateful to live in a country where, despite the failings at the founding, we have progressed to include Black people and women as voters, and where we continue to aspire to be more inclusive and open, including action at the state and local level when a president threatens to go the other way. Our progress is not always linear, but it is still important and a sign that our country is worth fighting for, which I intend to do. Not in the January 6, attack-the-Capitol sense of the word, but intelligently and persistently, using the tools American democracy gives us to their best use.

We still have a First Amendment right to assemble, to petition our government, and to free speech and a free press. They are ours to insist upon or lose. I intend to insist.

We have a right to vote. Preparing for the upcoming midterm elections, where MAGA may try to make it difficult to vote, is essential. That means both encouraging good candidates to consider running starting now and making sure essential parts of the electorate who feel defeated by what has happened find their way to get back up again. We can’t afford to let anyone give up.

…The way to get through this? My personal North Star is Ben Franklin, who when asked about the form of government our new nation would have responded, “a Republic, if you can keep it.” I intend to keep it. That’s the work for the next four years. Can we do it? It requires resilience. We can’t quit because we lost an election.

This is, in large measure, about us and not about Donald Trump. Yes, we will have to pay attention to understand what he is doing and assess how dangerous it is, but we don’t have to give him control. We need to focus on why the Republic matters: so we can do the things we care about and spend time with the people we love, address climate change, secure the environment, improve infrastructure and wages—a path Joe Biden started us on—and, as outdated and silly as it may sound right now, live the American Dream. Isn’t that why we’re all here, so we can have good lives and so our children and grandchildren can have good lives—not so Donald Trump and his cronies can profit at our expense?

The cavalry isn’t coming. It’s just us. And I’m thankful we’re together for it. It’s no surprise that people are exhausted. It’s no surprise that they feel like they’ve given their all and been betrayed by a country that reelected the convicted felon. But history teaches us that progress is not linear and that people who want to have a democracy, who understand that it’s worth fighting for, have to stay the course even at their lowest point.

We have two choices: Give up or move forward.

It’s not even close. We have a Republic to keep, and we are not quitters.

We’re in this together,

Joyce

Read Vance’s entire letter at: https://joycevance.substack.com/p/not-broken?utm_source=substack&publication_id=607357&post_id=152124670&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&utm_campaign=email-share&triggerShare=true&isFreemail=true&r=2xyae&triedRedirect=true