Last week was hard. The conservative majority on the highest Wisconsin state court ruled that their citizens would be forced to risk death in a pandemic in order to vote. This, in spite of an injunction by the WI Governor to delay the primary and have citizens vote by mail.

And then, after the Wisconsin primary, Bernie Sanders suspended his campaign.

Then it was widely reported that the US Postal Service is on the verge of economic collapse. And Tr*mp–who voted to bail out private industries where he likely has personal financial interests–refused to bail out the post office.

This has huge implications for our ability to maintain our democracy in a pandemic. And there was widespread speculation that Tr*mp could use the combination of the coronavirus emergency and the collapse of the Post Office as a tactic to delay or suspend the elections indefinitely. So basically, we were facing the possibility of a dictatorship. We are IN NO WAY safe from that. But people have started to fight back. Simply. Effectively. People are simply…buying stamps. So easy, even in the pandemic. We can do it from home.

A mentor of mine said that we are facing three major emergencies right now:

REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz – RC2VJF9AIZI6

-COVID

-the election

-the climate emergency

-(& someone else added) ongoing economic collapse

These are huge challenges. This is a time of profound danger. But also a time when people are developing more clarity about how our economic and political system is set up, whom it benefits, and why big changes like #MedicareForAll and the #GreenNewDeal would actually in everybody’s interest.

It was such a relief to see that there was something I could do to help #SaveTheUSPS. I personally bought 11 booklets of Sesame Street “Forever” stamps. I don’t use them that often, but I never tire of looking at those muppet characters.

I wish 11 booklets of stamps could get us out of the climate crisis. it won’t. But what will save us is the people standing together, working together, and using all our resources to get through these crises to create a society that works for the people, not for the corporations and the ultra-wealthy.