Hands Off!

We attended the April 5 Hands Off rally in Washington, D.C. (not yet District of America, as proposed by Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), along with friends Monica, John, and Susan, and somewhere between 60,000 and 100,000 other like-minded, and mostly like-aged, attendees.

Afterwards, Donna and I had a late lunch in a nearby restaurant and started talking to the couple next to us, who asked what the focus of the march was.

“Everything,” I responded. People weren’t protesting a single policy, like gun laws, or treatment of a particular segment, like women’s rights. The D.C. rally, as well as many others across the country that day, reflected the ire of Americans toward the entire spectrum of the current administration’s actions. Banners and placards displayed a litany of grievances, including:

• The gutting, with chainsaw precision, of federal agencies, by an unelected billionaire who stands to benefit enormously
• 
  The self-inflicted global trade war that has caused loss of retirement savings and may lead to higher inflation, recession, and economic uncertainty
• Mass deportations that deny due process
• Stopping mandated funding for veterans, children with special needs, scientific research, and more
• The access of personal data and classified national security information by unauthorized persons
• Potential cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid
• A new American imperialism that appears serious about forcibly annexing Greenland, Canada, and Panama
• 
  
  Russian appeasement
• Presidential overreach with executive orders of dubious legality
• Talk of an unconstitutional third presidential term
• Punishing institutions, states, organizations, and individuals that disagree with the administration or its positions
• The threatening of judges who rule against the administration
• Attacks on long-time allies and the discrediting of NATO

As a teen I participated in protests against the Vietnam War and watched the uprising against Richard Nixon in the early 1970s that eroded his support in Congress and ultimately led to his forced resignation. I’m hopeful that history will repeat.