For a record breaking 25 hours and 4 minutes, Senator Booker filibustered the US Senate with a speech designed to "cause good trouble". He not only beat the previous filibuster length record, by Strom Thurmond, a racist determined to stop civil rights in this country, he did so under much more grueling conditions. He was not allowed a bathroom break, unlike Thurmond. He was not allowed to sit down, again unlike Thurmond, and while he was allowed to take questions so he could rest his voice for a few minutes, he was still required to stay where he was.
For those of you hiding under a cabbage leaf, or something else keeping you from noticing what's happening in this country, Booker took this action to help stop the destruction, by our nominal President and his unelected pet attack dog Musk, of everything good about this country, starting with our constitution and branching out into healthcare, Alzheimer's research, veteran's jobs, healthcare, social security, Medicaid, our ability to fight measles, or TB, or even to educate our children, and totally destroy the rule of law. I could go on as the list is seemingly endless, but Booker's 25 hours plus did a pretty good job of covering it. Unlike previous filibusters, Booker didn't do silly things like read from a huge phone book (do we still even have those?) just to continue making noise. He made his time count!
As an American, I am proud of Senator Booker. I wish others in Congress had the courage do do something similar. I hope more have the courage to make their votes count toward saving our Democracy.
And I hope a lot more of us have the ounce of courage it takes to join the many demonstrations scheduled for this Saturday all around the country, making our voices heard loud and long, signs held high announcing our beliefs, our fears of what tRump/Musk are doing to this country, antagonizing our allies, kowtowing to Putin's wishes, isolating us from the world. We don't have to stand for 25+ hours. We can let our signs talk for us so our voices hold out. We can bring chairs and sit, bring food and beverages to drink, blankets and heavy coats to keep us warm. We can take bathroom breaks. We can chat with friends we carpooled with, or meet new ones.
Most of all we can show up and be counted!
And once we're back home we can call our congress people and let them know what we think as well, even if they're too chicken to come to a town hall, explain their actions, or answer our questions. Let them know we see them!!!
And keep calling.
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