The sun also rises

| 9:09 am EDT October 8, 2018
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Over the weekend I wrote that it was midnight in America. Some have pointed out that this was, shall we say, less sunny of me than usual. Here’s the thing, though: I’m not optimistic by nature. I never have been. The world is a troubled place to begin with, and these are dark times in particular. If my analysis seems more optimistic than what you might be hearing elsewhere, that’s because I’m not willing to tell you that twenty things are on fire when only ten are on fire. Now I’m going to tell you something that might, once again, cause me to be accused of being overly optimistic.

The thing about the clock striking midnight is that while it’s dark, and it’s not a signal that the sun is coming up any time soon, it does represent a new day. Trump and his fiendishly corrupt Republican Party, and their supporters who simply want to burn it all down out of spite, found a new way to stick it to America by putting one of the biggest pieces of crap in the country on the Supreme Court. But you know what? Every action brings a reaction, and we’re already seeing it.

We all thought Susan Rice, after the abuse she took, was done with politics. But now she’s talking about running for Senate, just to oust a certain fake-moderate Republican who helped put Kavanaugh over the top. And if you know anything about the demographics of the music industry, you know why Taylor Swift has never taken a political stand in her life. She’s a pop star with roots in country music, which is the most politically conservative musical genre. She lives in the red state of Tennessee. She would have a lot to lose by coming out swinging in favor of the Democrats. Last night she did it anyway.

These aren’t the kinds of moves that are going to single handedly fix what’s gone so terribly wrong with the American dream. But they’re a start. Regardless of the impact that these moves end up having, they’re proof that the Kavanaugh tragedy has awakened a sleeping giant. People are taking stands that we – and perhaps they – never thought they’d take. There’s still a long way to go, and it may get darker before it gets lighter. But it’s no longer quite midnight in America. If anything, it’s 12:01.