We’re out there.
In the small-town schools and rural hospitals. On county roads and at the family reunion.
We’ve watched our neighbors presume to speak for us, and our elected representatives pretend we don’t exist. And we’re tired of it.
That’s how we ended up on a bridge across 35W on a recent Friday. Some of us raised pride flags to the wind, some hung the American flag upside down, others held signs for Ukraine or against DOGE. But all of us want a future where we welcome the stranger and are our brothers’ keeper, and a government that works for the people.
The GOP dismisses us as “paid actors” and “outside agitators.” But that’s baloney and they know it. We are neighbors like:
Mary Kay Brautigan, Pine City: We need affordable, accessible health care, but the GOP is taking a sledge hammer to rural hospitals. They can’t survive without Medicaid and neither can our nursing homes or assisted living facilities. We Boomers need more care, not less. Kim Brubaken, Mora: I got into this because of Roe v. Wade, but now I see that’s just a small piece, part of a plan to get rid of the whole middle class and the rights and institutions we rely on. It’s women’s rights now, but then it will be the right to vote and decimating the middle class so that the rich get richer and just leave crumbs for us. Cathy Clune, Pine City: Social Security and veterans benefits — those are the easy answers to what we’re fighting for. I’m not retired yet, but I’ll rely on Social Security when I do, and I’ve been paying in since I was 15. That’s my money, fair and square. But what keeps me up at night is watching them strip our Constitution away. Our rights to free speech and to gather and protest are all threatened. When it comes down to it, it’s about losing our country. And I see how close we are.Nancy Mach, Pine City: I grew up with compromise. They’re totally forgotten now, and that’s sad. So much good government came out of both. Kristen Kromer Waxberg, Rush City: I’m a Stage 4 cancer patient. My disability income covers my insurance and prescriptions with only a little left over. With DOGE stopping the funding that Congress directed, there is little hope of new treatments, but lots of threats to our already scarce resources. But what keeps me in the fight is my 24-year-old daughter. I don’t want her to die in a waiting room, bleeding out from an ectopic pregnancy. She does not deserve to have her liberty snatched away from her.
And there are more of us than you think.
The chaos and hatred of President Trump’s first term pushed us toward each other. In that first term, we would look at the people who taught us to be good Christians and to always set an extra place at the table, and wonder: Where did they go? When we started finding each other in 2020, it was a glimmer of hope.
Until then, we’d kept silent because we thought we were alone — tiny blue dots on a big red map. But as soon as we started speaking up even a little bit, over and over people thanked us and said, “me too.”
When one house on a dead-end road put up a sign that says, “We believe in science…,” other supportive signs sprouted up on that road. When one courageous person spoke, it gave others permission.
Every time we can, we invite folks to join us. We engage with Trumpers who aren’t full-on MAGA. You can tell who they are because you know they’re conservative, but they don’t have the hats and flags. Instead, they look at you like “I’m sorry,” but you can tell from their eyes that they feel too far in.
So we respond with facts. When they fault DEI, we run through the letters. They agree that diversity, equity and inclusion are all good things. So we tell them: “Great, you’re not against DEI.”
When they say they’re not worried about Medicaid because they’re on Medical Assistance, we let them know it’s the same thing. And we invite them to join us, no matter what they believed before.
In 2016, we’d never even considered having to stand on a bridge or a corner. In 2020, we stood with signs on corners, but were scared of the oversized trucks that would spray us with exhaust, and wouldn’t stand up in our own small towns.
That recent Friday, though, was different.
This time, none of us were afraid.
Kim Brubaken, Cathy Clune, Nancy Mach and Kristen Kromer Waxberg contributed.
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