Make Trouble: Standing Up, Speaking Out, and Finding Courage to Lead

Cecile Richards died on Inauguration Day. 

In November, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She had been an activist (at least) since junior high when she told her public school teacher that she didn't want to say a prayer at the start of class. She made trouble. 

Richards was a labor activist (her husband continued to be), political campaigner, worked in Nancy Pelosi's office and was the president of Planned Parenthood. Her daughters followed in her footsteps (her son became a chemist though also has an activist side), one being Kamala Harris' campaign communications director (2020). 

I noted in my obituary entry about reading and listening in to some Cecile Richards material. Her autobiography (read the young adult version, which is available for various books) is also a good thing to check out.

The book contains some activist strategies. A chapter on her mom's run for governor offers some lessons. First, you can't win unless you compete. 

Second, politics is ideally a "contest of wills between folks who are satisfied with how things are and those who are passionate about what could be better."  You also have to expect some defeats. Richards was a one-term governor. George W. Bush won that time.  

About starting organizations. First, be practical, and set achievable goals. Second, you have to be willing to ask and obtain financial support. 

Third, when you start your own organization, you own the successes and failures. Fourth, master the organization rules of the road, including using a small room (so it looks crowded!), let everyone speak, do the basics including having a role for everyone and a next step, and overall have fun!

The final chapter was a lesson for campaigns and life. Family life is a team support. Pick your battles. Get comfortable making others uncomfortable. Use your talents to make trouble your own way. Life, like politics, is ideally not a spectator sport.  

We need some of her energy in these times. We need organizers. Why didn't we have pussy-themed mass protests this time around? The need for fighting is ever more important. Since she wrote this book, people lost the constitutional right to choose. Or, as we should think of it, it is being denied. Jim Crow America denied rights that people had.*  

The book was written in 2018, ending with the beginning of the first Trump Administration. We are at this again. As she noted in the chapter about fighting to defend Planned Parenthood in those days:

The fights we're facing -- for affordable health care, equal rights, bodily freedom, and more -- are never fully won. But the lasting legacy of this moment will be the generations of women it has inspired and energized.

Her husband (Kirk) and children (Daniel, Hannah, Lily) surely are still out there fighting in their particular ways. As Lincoln told us at Gettysburg, it is us the living who must honor those who gave their all. 

Paul Krugman offers some good advice:

I’m going ... offer three words of advice to Democratic politicians and MAGA opponents in general: oppose, oppose, oppose. And make noise. A lot of noise. Don’t make conciliatory gestures in the belief that Trump has a mandate to do what he’s doing; don’t stay quiet on the outrages being committed every day while waiting for grocery prices to rise. I can’t promise that taking a tough line will succeed, but going easy on Trump is guaranteed to fail.

Unanimous vote for Marco Rubio. No. Trump has no business being outside of a prison cell. Every day he is in power is a travesty. We cannot normalize things like this in a debating society. A strong Trump critic talked about the right of a president to pick their team.

No. We should not legitimize him. I understand some Democrats will pick their battles. But, there are degrees even there. Anyways, darn Cecile Richards looked tall. And, that haircut looks darn practical.

Rest in peace. The rest of us must fight.  

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* Some people are cynical/realists about rights. They talk about "nonsense on stilts" when people talk about natural rights or rights that are not enforced. 

I am not naive about reality. Nonetheless, our nation was founded on a sensible principle that some things are "right" even if they are not enforced. Rape is not "right" just because a local thug in power does it.

The Trump Administration is robbing trans people of their rights in the most disgusting way possible. They are calling people in the military who are trans immoral liars. They are wrong. Trans people have rights. We need to ensure they are protected.