Dear members,

It was another nail-biter of a week in Washington, and we are still waiting for the fat lady to sing. Will Dems finally get both the hard and soft infrastructure bills passed? Will we pull off the crucial victories needed to keep the key state of Virginia blue? Will we then have the necessary political will to alter the filibuster so that we can pass crucial voting rights legislation? Here at IndiMarin, we are keeping hope alive on all counts! But...it's not over till it's over, and the process continues to be nerve wracking to say the least.

In the meantime, we found comfort in this timely and inspiring NYT opinion piece, "What We Did the Last Time We Broke America," by Dr. Jon Grinspan, curator at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. In the opening paragraph, Grinspan asks, as many of us have been asking ourselves these last five years, "What happened to normal politics?" He adds, "I’ve spent the past five years commuting between two centuries, trying to find out...Again and again, 21st-century Americans wonder at a democracy that looks nothing like the one they grew up with."

Then, here's the comforting part:

"We’re not the first generation to worry about the death of our democracy. Grappling with this demanding system of government is, well, normal. It’s partly because we’re following the unusually calmed 20th century that we don’t feel up to the task today. Our deep history shows that reform is possible, that previous generations identified flaws in their politics and made deliberate changes to correct them. We’re not just helplessly hurtling toward inevitable civil war; we can be actors in this story. The first step is acknowledging the dangers inherent in democracy. To move forward, we should look backward and see that we’re struggling not with a collapse but with a relapse."

So, keep the faith. We can and will be actors in this story. Tune in tomorrow for The Home Stretch (Part 2) - Reflect, Recognize, Rest (yay!) and Resolve. *** Spoiler Alert: Save the dates of Sunday, 11/7 at 4 PM and Sunday, 12/5 at 5 PM for two special year-end events for our wonderful IndiMarin community. More tomorrow!

~ The IndiMarin Steering Committee - Justine, Laurie, Betty, Betsy, Susan S, Joy, Nanda, Susan M

"I know a lot of people are tired of politics right now. What is required is sustained effort. ... We can't afford to be tired." ~ Barack Obama, October 23, 2021

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