A LETTER IN A LAND WITHOUT WITNESSES

Dearest Bernie,
I hope this email finds you well and that, well, it actually finds you. I'm writing in response to the horrors of today. No witnesses?! I'm appalled by the absolute, outright, gross misconduct of our American Senators who were somehow within the law to determine that they could perpetuate the very obstruction which earned the president* His second article of impeachment. I write to you, Senator Sanders, because I have and do believe in you. I believe in your message. I believe in US and I believe that it is imperative that we embark upon OUR REVOLUTION.

But what does that look like?


I received your book in the mail recently, and I am thrilled to begin reading it. Here's my thought, though. I believe, with every fiber of my being, as you do, that Republicans have waged a war against the middle- and lower classes of our country--and the less fortunate around the globe. It is not a war of obvious, outright bloodshed, no. It's more insidious than that. It is a poisoning of our financial potential. Of our physical and mental wellbeing. It is a crippling of our buying power and a threat to my family's very survival. And yours.


A little background on myself and my family: I am the wife of a logger and went to school here in Idaho to earn my MA in English after becoming the first in my family on either side to graduate high school. While studying I had two perfect little girls and shortly after leaving graduate school I had a third, our little boy, Canyon. Politically, I've always leaned liberal, though my husband and I have driven each other to criss-cross the fence on several topics (we believe the citizens of our country have a right and a duty to bear arms, if ONLY in case our government becomes so corrupt that we should someday have to defend ourselves against it...we also believe in Medicare for All and the necessity to protect our environment from ourselves).


I've followed politics very closely since I was a freshman in college. I broke ranks with my Democratic party in 2016 because I could not, in good conscience, support the DNC after Hillary somehow won the Democratic nomination. I feel that there is something sinister about her, something untrustworthy...so I voted Independent, but never thought we'd see the day that we were sitting where we are.


Where are we?


We are sitting in a country ruled by a king, whose omnipotence is somehow proven time and time again. Somehow, the propaganda (propagated by false memes, no less!) has elevated the president* to a godlike status, as though, yes, his power is divinely warranted.


We are also living in an era where this tyrant has proven himself able to do whatever he wants. The man who dodged the draft has perfected the art of slaughtering without so much manpower, without so much gunpowder, but with a signature. He raises tariffs across the globe in gambles he hopes will allow for leveraging his power even farther. His economy and his principles have helped drop my family's AGI 30k over the course of the most recent three years. I know you know we are not living in a burgeoning economy, as he and FOX News would have us think.


The ONLY revolution, Senator Sanders, is, as you will agree, a financial, an economic one. I can not in good conscience send my hard-earned tax dollars to a president* who will use them for only his will, rejecting, neglecting, and spitting on the will of roughly 50% of the country. I will not fund his hotel stays that line his own pockets. I believe in paying taxes, not only for our infrastructure and our military, but also for the education of my children and those in my community. How can he unilaterally take our taxes and spend them where he sees fit?


"Oh sorry," he tweets upon his porcelain throne, "those funds you thought would boost our military will now build my precious wall! And cut those education grants! Those who can pay will prevail in private schools, and, truly, it's only they who matter!"


I mean, somewhat less eloquently, but surely that's what he thinks, amiright? I can't. I can only cringe at the thought of some bloody civil war where neighbor turns against neighbor in a show of arms. How could we win that fight? No, we must play by the president's* game. A game of economics.


Once upon a time, our great country was moved to fight for its independence from a king. What was the motto?


"No taxation without representation!"


THIS is our fight! We have forgotten and history is here!


Please tell me, dearest Bernie, how we can slay this dragon. Otherwise, I don't know how to explain to my children that I didn't do everything I could to try to help mine and future generations to succeed. How do I explain the way our institutions of government have come to be made a mockery of? I can't. I won't. Of course, we vote, but as a lone blue voter in a vehemently-red state...we all know that my vote weighs less. When the electorate is implicit in the abuses of power we're seeing, there is no winning through this broken democracy anymore. Today proved that to all of us.


Give me liberty or give me death.


Sincerely,

Your Sound and Furious Citizen