This week was a rollercoaster of emotions for not just America, but the world. I tried to tune out coverage of Friday's parade celebrating some guy getting a temp position down in D.C. Why so much celebration over a 4 year position? Well, we know why. I will recall I was avoiding television and media on a Friday in January of 2017, but I will happily always recall where I was on Tuesday, January 20, 2009. Such a difference of emotions.
A similar swing of heart and heartache occurred not in an 8-year span, but within hours as DC was transformed from a bigly republican celebration to a massive showing of support for women everywhere.
We saw a few Trump protests on January 20th, but what we wanted to really see was the power behind the Women's March. No matter where you were in the world, you did not have too far to look. An event highly publicized as a march on Washington, became a march in major cities across the globe.
Below, we have compiled some of the striking images and videos of the two days, more from the women's march. For more amazing pictures of the glopbal Women's March, head over to NYTimes.com. There were too many to share here and that is a good thing!
Before you jump down and see the power of the Women's March, here are some thoughts. During the whole Women's March coverage, I kept saying to myself, this is what PRIDE should be. It's just my opinion, but Pride should be a world event on the same day. It should be more about politics, acceptance, love, progression, respect, and not "I need to look good in a speedo for the float so I better lay off the water and food for days and just eat shaved lettuce."
We should choose a day / weekend, may it be an anniversary weekend of Stonewall, Pulse, or another designated time where we all join together and show our voice. Maybe an original day or scheduled like Mother's Day or Father's Day. Will it be as large as the Women's March? I do not know. Do we have enough to march for? Oh yes. We know we do have many equalities that are out of our reach. We should learn from this march and plan a movement of our own. It will be a long four years before that temp job ends, and even after that, there will most likely be more to fight for. Maybe we can not only enjoy these pictures below, but also be inspired to do more for our own fight.
Austin Anti Trump Rally.
On Saturday morning, Tiffany MacIsaac, owner of Washington’s Buttercream Bakeshop, stepped forward to say she had been the one to create the much-talked-about cake.
She said that the order came in while she was out of town and that the client had brought in a photo of the cake from Obama’s inauguration, asking her to re-create it.
“They came to us a couple of weeks ago, which is pretty last minute, and said ‘We have a photo that we would like to replicate,’ ” MacIsaac told The Washington Post by phone. Her bakery tried to encourage the client to use the photo as “inspiration,” as they do with many others, she said.
“They said, ‘Nope, they want this exact cake. It’s perfect.’ And we said, ‘Great,’ ” MacIsaac said. Neither she nor her spokeswoman revealed who placed the order. The Salute to Our Armed Services Ball was one of three official presidential inaugural balls held Friday and open by invitation only to members of the military, veterans, first responders and their families. – washingtonpost.com
Downtown Los Angeles Women's March
America Ferrera at "Women's March" In Washington DC (FULL SPEECH)
Scarlett Johansson Speech
Madonna
Elizabeth Warren in Boston
h/t: marieclaire.com
In the short term, these
In the short term, these marches were a success. It was very cathartic for us Liberals to voice our distaste at what politics has become. We do need to let this administration and government know that it has no mandate to run rough shod over the American People with its elitist agenda especially since a majority of voters voted against it (to the tune of 3 million votes).
Sadly though,in the long term, the movement behind these marches will fail. First and foremost: What is the goal of these marches? It's all well and good to protest, but there has to be a point behind these protests other than "We just lost so let's get angry." This works in the short term, but fails in the long. Anger can only get you so far and if you don't have some kind of action plan or goal, you just become a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing.
Secondly, the organizers of these marches are not reaching out to conservatives, moderates, and moderate Liberals. They refused to allow Pro-Life women's groups to march with them. Do the organizers not realize that many Pro-Lifers also support many of their goals too (i.e. equal pay for equal work; control over their own bodies; opposition to sexual harassment; better opportunities for women professionally, etc.)? Pro-Lifers just believe abortion is a bridge too far. However, the protest organizers were proud of the fact that they rejected Pro-Life organizations. It's like they are more concerned with doctrinal purity than protecting and expanding the rights of women which cannot be successfully done without the help of those who do not agree with Liberals 100% of the time. Remember, the Civil Rights Act could not get passed in the 60's without the support of Republicans.
Lastly, there is all this talk of "resistance." But resistance to what exactly? So far, no military dictatorship has been declared. In my opinion, Trump is so incompetent that I don't think he has the brains to pull one off. It looks like Liberals are forming a "Resistance" to something that does not exist outside their imagination. Not only does this spit on the graves and memories of those who fought and died in Resistances against actual totalitarian regimes, but this tips our hand to Mr. Trump. He doesn't even have to do anything really. All he has to do is sit back and let us get ourselves.
Although I applaud my fellow Liberals for exercising their rights under the Constitution, I do not think this will go anywhere beyond the Liberal Bubble. For the sake of our country, I do hope I am wrong.