In the end, I stayed home, wore my hat all day, and was constantly flitting from the TV to Facebook to the computer, round and round, sucking in as much info as I could and posting more political posts on Facebook in one day than I did all last year.While watching the coverage on TV, I marched in place for an hour, just to feel a part of it.
Why did it matter to me so much?
Well, my irritation with Mr. Trump started with that Access Hollywood tape. Like so many other women, it dredged up from my past old memories that I'd dealt with and didn't think I'd need to address again. HOW DARE HE? How dare any man talk like that about women? How dare they do things like that to women? How dare he invade my dreams at night and cause restless nights of sleep? How in the world could this be OK in a president? Hadn't we dealt with such actions in presidents in our recent history? How dare WE consider electing a man with a history of this repulsive behavior?
So, there was that.
But the kicker was learning that Mr. Trump made a habit of not paying people for the work as laid out in the contracts he made with them.
I haven't worked outside the home in a while. I've been lucky that I was able to stay home and raise my daughters. I did work part time for a while. Gratefully, my husband's job is such that his salary is enough to meet our needs, and neither of us spend a lot of money on excesses. We're homebodies and enjoy simple pleasures. We've always lived within our means.
But when I DID work, it bothered me so much that, in one job, I had more education than the three bosses over me, but made just over minimum wage. There was not a lot of room for upper mobility in that job. I did advance quickly and, indeed, even earned "Employee of the Year" faster than any other employee in that department.
So I know what it's like to not be paid what I was worth, something many women deal with. BUT AT LEAST I WAS PAID FOR ALL THE WORK I PUT IN!
I can't imagine doing my work, fulfilling my part of a deal, and then getting paid only a fraction of what was promised.
I can't imagine the folks who voted for him believe Mr Trump will follow through any more as a president than he did as an employer. I do not believe he will fulfill his social contract.
The most accurate predictor of future behavior is recent past behavior.
There are many other reasons I think he is a poor choice to lead our nation. But if I had to pick, these are my top two reasons.
From the beginning of the idea of this march, I didn't see it as an anti-Trump protest. I saw it as being against many of the ideas he purports. I saw it as a way to say, "We're watching. We're not going to allow you (Mr. President, Congress) to change laws that are helping the disenfranchised and poor without insisting that you hear our voices. We refuse to go backwards. We refuse to pretend we can live an insular life and not be a part -- indeed a leader -- in a global economy."
As a country, we are so blessed. There are ways to help those in need here at home without cutting out the rest of the world. We can help the world rise up together. I truly believe it. It's one of the reasons I make a loan through Kiva nearly every week. Those that have help those that have not.
So, today I joined the hundreds of thousands of women and feminists all over the world. I marched with them. My heart remains with them. My words support them.
We will do more than march.
We will act.
We will hold to accountability.
We will uphold our end of the democratic process.
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