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After 28 years of service in Arlington County’s local government, first on the School Board and then the County Board, I have stepped into a new role and life chapter: Private Citizen. My career has equipped me with extensive experience, valuable connections, and an unwavering passion for fostering good local government in Arlington and in the D.C., Maryland and Virginia (DMV) region, an area I call home.

November 21st Blog: Holiday Resistance

Dear Friends:

We are entering the holiday season and hopefully everyone will have time for friends, family and a little recharging.

I’ll quote one of my Rush Hour Resistance team:

Friends and neighbors (and anyone else you'd care to share this with)! This holiday, we have an opportunity to pressure the commerce pillars that support authoritarianism.

By boycotting the big boxes (stores) and shopping local, Thanksgiving through cyber Monday, we can send a clear message that our votes, our labor, and our money is our power.

Nevertheless ….the Resistance must continue. I highly recommend a change of pace for Black Friday: “We Ain’t Buying It,” organized by Indivisible. This movement is “focused on companies that are capitulating to the Trump administration and going along with their harmful, authoritarian policies.

Shop local: Mom and pops. Gift cards to local restaurants. Aldi not Safeway. Tattered Cover not Amazon. Cherrydale hardware not Home Depot. You get it.

Internet search alternatives to big box stores or pro Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and you'll see tons of ideas. And then, maybe, we can keep the pressure up as this boycott becomes a habit.

-- Greg Gunther

I know Amazon gets most of its revenue from web services and it is limited what we can accomplish, but it is a start. I’m hopeful there will be enough of a dip in expected sales those days that it will be noticed. It’s just a reminder of how much power regular people have. Too often, we all forget that.

This Saturday, the 22nd, will be a Remove the Regime rally from 12 noon to 4:00 pm at the Lincoln Memorial, which got a very nice shout out from Rachel Maddow this week. This is not a national day of protest, but just focused on DC. I expect a large crowd. The Resistance is definitely continuing to grow as cracks appear in the MAGA coalition.

My Bridge Team is still discussing our winter and holiday hours. Generally we are there from 3:30-5:00 weekdays, but a number of folks are perfecting lit banners that we may try on some evenings. If you’d like to join us, feel free to email me to confirm the times we’ll be there. Likely we will not be out in temperatures below 45 degrees. We’ve learned that our bridge is a bit of a wind tunnel which makes temperatures feel a lot colder. But, I have a very determined and persistent team, so we could be out in pretty cold weather.

Finally, I know last week gave us whiplash going from the high of an extraordinary election where Democrats ran the table to the low of 8 Democrats “caving” in the Senate and passage of the budget reconciliation. Although I understand the fury and disappointment, I am not willing to pile on with criticism. I’m not at all sure that it was the wrong call to stop the shutdown. We were in a lose-lose situation.

There were millions of American “hostages" and the MAGA thugs made clear they were willing to “shoot the hostages” rather than give in. A lot was revealed to the public as the shutdown played out, and that reveal did not help MAGA. Democrats may have lost the battle, but perhaps might win the war. Also, I’ve known Senator Kaine for most of my career. He’s a good man and a smart man. I trust his judgement. It is important to recognize that Kaine did help negotiate important concessions from Republicans during the reconciliation process, see his explanation here.

This discussion by Heather Cox Richardson covers it all quite well. I especially like her metaphor of this moment being like the break of billiard balls when all go careening around the table. Where everything will land is not clear, but many things that have been stuck are now in motion. Embed link:

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving. There is still a lot to be grateful for in this remarkable country of ours.

As always, I hope you find this blog helpful and appreciate feedback.