In the late ‘70s, Douglas Adams gave us a Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - a satire that made hilarious work of the end of the world. In the novel, Adams said that even though the Guide is “wholly remarkable,” it is nevertheless wildly successful partly because “it has the words Don't Panic inscribed in large friendly letters on its cover.”
As we enter the last few days of this election season (that feels like it’s been going on forever) we send those two words of wisdom to you — inscribed in large friendly letters — DON’T PANIC!!
It’s okay to worry: no one in their right mind isn’t worried. But panic brings on paralysis, and everyone needs to work as hard as possible to help Get Out The Vote in the swing states (which now include IOWA!! And maybe FLORIDA!! And maybe maybe TEXAS!! NEBRASKA, anyone??) Confide your worries to your friends and loved ones in private, but don’t worry in public. Panic is a contagion and only helps Trump.
Timothy Snyder in his brilliant On Tyranny, lays out twenty rules to help us fight authoritarianism. His number one rule is: Do Not Obey In Advance. The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times capitulated in advance to Trump and failed to endorse Harris. What sad cowards they are. But we in the resistance are not cowards: In all your public-facing statements on social media and out in the real world - hold your head high and say, “We are winning! We haven’t won yet, so we’re going to keep working until the polls close on Tuesday.” That’s the message. And it has the advantage of being true.
CLICK HERE to watch Harris’ campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon’s message to us last week. She implores us to join the campaign and to talk to any persuadable voters we may know. She says, “I promise you we’re going to win this race. But we have to close this out strong and do the work, and we need you, and we are grateful for you.”
The Harris campaign has been nothing short of remarkable under the most stressful conditions imaginable. Don’t you think? Consistently remarkable. Harris’ speech at the Ellipse was magnificent, uplifting, unifying and perfectly executed.
Trump’s closing week has been a nightmare: His hate-fest at Madison Square Garden, his playing dress up garbage collector, his fantasizing about a firing squad for Liz Cheney, his feigning fellatio with his microphone … He is literally nauseating.
Here is a juxtaposition of two photos that poignantly remind us of why we fight and of the drastic differences in the promises the two campaigns are making to America. Both photos are of capitol police officer Daniel Hodges. The photo on top is from January 6; the photo on the bottom is from Harris’s speech at the Ellipse.
So we’re going to keep working until the polls close. And we’re going to close this blog not with a prediction, but with a parable …
In the mid ‘80s, we both worked at McCabe’s Guitar Shop in Santa Monica.
One afternoon, in walked Douglas Adams looking for a left-handed guitar. The store’s owner, Bob Riskin, recognized him immediately and asked Melanie to show him around. (Roy was teaching upstairs.)
McCabe’s didn’t carry left-handed instruments, so Melanie played right-handed guitars for Douglas to hear and compare. The one he liked best was a Martin D 28 (if memory serves) and the order was sent off to the Martin factory in Nazareth, Pennsylvania.
A few months later, a call came in from London. Douglas’s D28 had arrived with a crack in the face and he wanted to talk to Melanie. She told him not to worry - that the guitar was warranted for life. He already knew that, but was still deeply dissatisfied. “But why?” he asked, “Why did my guitar break?” Melanie thought for a moment then said, “Because it was a tree.”
There was a moment of silence, then a roar of laughter. “Right! Right! Right!” he said. “IT WAS A TREE.”
“Right? It was a living organism,” Melanie said. “Martin can run all the tests in the world on that piece of spruce, but no one can really predict if it’s going to break until it’s under all that pressure.” Melanie and Douglas laughed and parted as friends.
So here’s the moral/strained metaphor: The electorate is a living, breathing organism, and it is going to break one way or the other on Tuesday. There are a lot of signs that are very good for us, but the best thing we can do until the polls close, is continue to put pressure on the crack so it breaks our way.
The video at the top of this blog is from Obama’s inaugural in 2009. Let’s keep working and make history again …
Nobody living can ever stop us
As we go walking that freedom highway
Nobody living can ever make us turn back
This land was made for you and me
We are so glad to be in this good fight with you
Roy and Melanie
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