Now what?

So now that you signed up for Indivisible — what is next?

Were you energized and empowered as you recently marched or visited elected officials in their offices?

Are you disheartened because you wrote letters, sent emails and made phone calls and Betsy DeVos was still confirmed as the Secretary of Education? No matter that she is uniquely unqualified and required the vote of the Vice President to get through the Senate.

She is not the first billionaire who was chosen because she has made political donations to the party in power and she will not be the last — that is until we, as a major public presence, can effect changes in the system.

The Senate willingly ignored the fact that her testimony demonstrated a major knowledge gap about our nationwide public school systems, a total lack of curriculum knowledge or any understanding for students with learning difficulties. What does this forecast for education for the next four years? Part of the answer depends on all of us — what will we do about this; will we hold her and the department accountable — will we be the knowledgeable watchdogs and be on her case as often as necessary? If we are in this for the duration this must be part of our strategy.

Certainly we can thank the two courageous women Republicans who spoke out against her — too bad that they could not convince others. So — kudos for Senators Collins and Murkowski. But thanks are also due to the Maryland senators — Cardin and Van Hollen who stood fast and voted no. Please remember to thank them.

So the opposition to this nomination has failed, and the opposition vote for Senator Sessions as Attorney General will likely fail as well as the Democrats do not have the numbers and no Republicans appear to have the courage to depart from the party rules. He, also, is an inappropriate choice for this office. He was among the earliest and most vocal of supporters for candidate Trump who has endorsed many of the policies of the white supremacists in Sessions’s orbit. Although I do not expect that he will be an effective or fair leader in the Department of Justice, we must still demand that he observe the demands from his oath of office to provide justice for all peoples and support and defend the Constitution. Sessions is totally not expected to be an independent and restraining voice against potential excesses from the oval office, despite his demands that recently fired Justice department acting Attorney General Sally Quillian Yates agree to stand up to President Obama should she feel that was merited in certain circumstances. Judge Robarts’ ruling on the refugee and immigrant travel bans and subsequent testimony seems to indicate that she was indeed correct in deciding to not defend this executive order.

Our strength will depend on remaining engaged and making changes in the Congress in the midterm elections next year. We need to change Governors and state legislators as well if we wish to advocate for fairer redistricting for the 2020 Presidential race.

We need to be able to provide actual facts about voting rights and voter rolls and present the truth about the alternative claims regarding millions of fraudulent votes and stand fast against voter restrictions as were attempted and eventually struck down in North Carolina.

So our charge is to really be in this for the long haul, to not be cowed by defeats — as we will have many, and to support each other through difficult days and keep on demanding truth from our officials and answers to their actions.

Together we are strong — and indivisible!

If you are near Maryland’s Legislative District 14, we invite you to join us at our first Indivisible14 meeting on February 20th. The meeting will be held from 7pm-9pm at the Muslim Community Center, 15200 New Hampshire Avenue, Silver Spring, MD 20905. What better way to celebrate president’s day than joining together in resistance to #45?

You can also get involved by visiting our Facebook and Twitter pages, or by emailing us at Indivisibledistrict14@gmail.com.

Looking to do your part? One way to get involved is to read the Indivisible Guide, which is written by former congressional staffers and is loaded with best practices for making Congress listen. Or follow this publication, connect with us on Twitter, join us on Facebook, or check out our shop on Threadless.