From: Denny Kubal
Nashville
Why would two Brown County senior citizens drive 1,300 miles and spend hundreds of dollars on food and lodging just to carry a sign for two miles while marching through the streets of Washington, D.C.?
We were not unique. We were two of the hundreds of thousands of concerned citizens who happily sacrificed time and money to participate in the Women’s March on Washington on Jan. 21.
Some people in the media and elsewhere have wrongly maligned our motives as a simple bitterness from an electoral defeat. We were not mourning our past. We were energizing ourselves to fight for a better future.
When Donald Trump was elected president, we were ashamed and afraid for our country. Our first reaction was to leave and retire somewhere outside of the U.S. We researched Costa Rica and talked to some folks about making the move. It then occurred to us that such a move would abandon the country we love. We realized that if the loyal opposition left, it would empower the president, who could push through his destructive plan for our country without opposition. We both pledged to stay and oppose him peacefully in any way we could, despite cost and inconvenience.
Living in Brown County and fighting the Trump agenda seemed like a worthless endeavor. What good could two people do against the president in a state that so heavily favored his candidacy? We decided to go to Washington and make our voices heard. When we arrived, we found 500,000 voices speaking loudly and forcefully against his presidency. We came back energized. We found many at the march who had never joined a protest or been politically active before, and many who encouraged us to continue the opposition by organizing in our own community.
If you, too, feel angry and frustrated with the president and his agenda, get involved. Join a local opposition group, write your congressman, join the next protest. There is power in numbers, and your voice matters. You can make a difference. At present the president is dismantling Obamacare with no replacement in place for millions. Plans are being made to decrease funding for Medicaid and Medicare. Try calling Todd Young and Joe Donnelly, Indiana’s U.S. senators, and let them know you oppose these changes.
President Dwight D Eisenhower said, “Here in America we are descended in blood and in spirit from revolutionists and rebels — men and women who dare to dissent from accepted doctrine. As their heirs, may we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion.”
