Arlington, VA—The Arlington Tesla Takedown line brought a little of everything for this year’s ‘resistmas’ wish-list. They brought children’s books, cookies, music, signs, and resistance spirit sprinkled with joy. They discussed their vision of the just society they wanted to see rebuilt as they had done so many times since they first began their Tesla protests in February.
The children’s story books were about all-inclusive themes, including topics on bullying, iconic women athletes like Serena Williams, historic resistance pioneers like Rosa Parks, stories about diversity and ethnicity, LGBTQIA stories, and books about reading itself. There was also The Cat In The Hat (Dr. Seuss), and Dogman and Cat Kid (Dave Pilkey). The books stood for, in effect, many social norms the Trump regime has tried to steamroll.
The Tesla Takedown crew gave out home baked ice-covered “Liberal Snowflake” cookies. Better than store-bought, there were gluten free and regular cookies too. As always, there was a sweet playlist of merry holiday music, dancing, and protest fun and cheer.
Even the seemingly Trump-supporter humbugs down-thumbing the resistmas line couldn’t dash the merriment there. There were more drivers honking in support and giving thumbs up, drowning out the few Trump naysayers passing by. By honking, passers by were saying, we get it, we’re with you, keep showing up. It may be the only sign of direct resistance the 1000s that pass by see from one weekend to the next.
Someone handed out jingle bells strung on pipe cleaners which were easier on the ears than whistles. Several artists cut larger than life decorations and hung them on rope. They swung in the wind like pendulums.
Others gift-wrapped a dozen signs listing the components of democracy and actions necessary to sustain it. Like marble columns, they’ve stood through the weather of time, until now. Equal justice under the law, equality, due process, no kings, protect immigrants and protect trans rights, equality for people of color, reproductive freedom, read banned books, and tax the rich were a few of the signs. “Black Lives Matter” and “All I Want for Christmas is Democracy” were giant-sized and stood out.
These gifts-wrapped signs spoke for themselves of the elements a healthy and functional republic naturally gifts its citizens. Though the elements are not capable of being wrapped in the physical world, they are of incalculable value. Many citizens are coming to realize just how valuable they are as they are taken from them.
Everyone on the line has by now come to know these gifts as if they were old friends. They are the old friends drawing the crew back to the line every week. But like old friends they can be lost if not cherished and frequently visited. And so the nation is painfully growing to understand these signs are foundational but not set in stone.
The signs placed there are also the aspects of a civilization continuing to mature and advance towards truth and equality; one that is not perfect and may never be, yet still attempting to reach that goal through refinement, reform, and redefinition. These aspects can be extinguished if a civilization is at constant war with itself as is now the case in the United States.
The signs are also the gifts that U.S. citizens have worked for the last 250 years still trying to achieve or continuing to uphold. Some of these gifts have existed since the country’s beginning. The “due process” clause in the fifth and fourteenth Amendments of the Constitution, the concept of “no kings” in a democracy, and “equal justice under the law” which is inscribed on the Supreme Court building, are considered its bedrock. Some are quite young relative to the country’s founding, only having been achieved in recent decades. The right to reproductive healthcare and the unabridged right to vote, equal access to the voting booth and voting rights for African Americans and minorities are relatively young. All of them are now being diluted or stripped away altogether.
Days before Christmas, after months of escalating anti-democratic trumpism, the Tesla Takedown line displayed these signs gift-wrapped in pretty paper, warning that the continued burning to the ground of what is left of democratic institutions would be hard to reclaim. But as any gift, they could be attained again, if the people worked hard enough for them.
The sign “Due Process For All” was put out among the others. It implies equality, respect for, and obedience to the law. It means freedom from abuse of law enforcement agencies such as Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) which authority has been abused by the unjust persecution, kidnappings, concentration camp detainment of, and disappearance-deportation of migrants and immigrants. The Department of Justice is another part of government being abused and weaponized to prosecute Trump’s opponents under bogus charges. The basic tenet of due process must be honored even by the powerful in order for democracy to work. But this is no longer the case in the United States.
Two signs set up read, “Protect Trans Rights” and “Protect Immigrant rights” and are actually inherent warnings to everyone else. Why is this so? As Martin Luther King Jr said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” This truth has been ignored by Trump’s policies since he first assumed the presidency in 2017.
The Trans community is the victim of improper discharges from the military simply for existing within its ranks, is being denied access to healthcare, and is being blocked from access to civil society, bathrooms and sports competitions. The methods of these injustices could very well be applied to any particular group in different circumstances if such groups do not conform to the arbitrary definition of what trumpism is.
The mistreatment of immigrants, migrants, and the most recent threat to revoke naturalized citizenship are among Trump’s worst polices. Hundreds of thousands have been summarily kidnapped, disappeared without due process, placed in concentration camps on U.S. soil, and deported. This has continued in spite of U.S. District Court decisions countering it.
The “Read Banned Books” sign prompts truth through knowledge. Do listen to what the State says and compare it to what other sources say. Clearing the fog from what the state claims reveals the hidden truth. The state will attempt to hide the truth as the Trump regime has tried to black-list Jimmy Kimmel, erase the CBS broadcast of a 60 Minutes segment about the CECOT detention facility in El Salvador, and sue major media companies like the BBC, NewYork Times, and others for publishing stories it did not approve.
Then there were two signs reading the same message that stood out in origin from all the others, predating all of them by millennia. The sign “Love Thy Neighbor” was actually hand written by two activists unaware that each other had intended to display the same message. Its roots are sown in biblical scripture, as well as the Koran and it is thousands of years old. It is in many of the Bible’s books; Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John have this passage written word for word.
The commandment ‘Love thy neighbor as thy would thyself,’ transcended all the other messages because it is in essence the root of just about everything binding society together. It naturally leads societies to cooperate, respect other persons unlike them, and reciprocate with human decency and dignity.
But despite the Trump regime touting itself as one based in Christian values, this biblical passage is unrequited by its entire chain of authority. Its actions reflect its real intentions. They are not aligned to respect, much less love their neighbors. It does not honor racial or ethnic diversity. It does not respect sovereign borders, and it bullies any individual or institution that does not agree with it.
What the Trump regime lacks in originality, it makes up by its own ignominy. Everyday, it looses more of its grip on reality as it digresses from the principles binding society together. With that it is losing the trust and esteem of the nation. Even its own MAGA base is beginning to abandon its leader, because they are seeing the truth behind the curtain.
Trump himself seems to lose more and more connection to reality and finds he’s sliding further down in the polls with each month, just like Tesla sales continue dropping.
The best gift we can give each other is to always love our neighbors and support them through their struggles especially while this regime is still in power. For it will not be in power forever and our neighbors will remember us for it. Our neighbors will likely be there to return us the favor when we need it.
To love thy neighbor is an act of resistance when an authoritarian regime comes into power because it diminishes its effectiveness.
Martin Luther King Jr said “In rhe end we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” This holiday we would do well to remember that.
