"It is not upon you to finish the work, but neither are you free to desist from it."

             County Executive Ike Leggett (left) and Congressman John Sarbanes (right)

Yesterday I attended the annual Maryland District 14 Democratic Club Holiday Party at Catherine & Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett’s home.   The context: Clinton won Montgomery County with 75% of the vote; Trump received 19%; statewide, the margin was 60%-34%.  President Obama’s national approval ratings have been over 50% for most of the year, and the most recent poll (Gallup) shows him at 58% approval; and the nationwide popular vote shows Clinton beating Trump 48%-46%. 

But, as we all know, this did not translate to election results that would continue the Obama Legacy.  Instead, we now have in incoming Republican power structure that not only threatens to wipe out that Legacy, but to undo the progress not only of the Great Society, but of the New Deal, as well.  Everything that the federal government has done in the last 83 years to keep Capitalism from going off the rails and to move toward a fairer society is in jeopardy.

So the mood at the Leggetts was not what we thought it would be prior to November 8.  There was much discussion about where we go from here, nationally.  We all know that the next years are going to be difficult, and that we will have much work to do to win the next elections and then to rebuild from the carnage which now seems likely.

Ike spoke to the assembled crowd, as did Congressman John Sarbanes, whose congressional district encompasses much of D. 14.  Here, I will do my best to relate some of what they said.

As a matter of background, I have been a bit depressed, knowing that so much of what I hold dear is now on the Republican chopping block. The thought of having to rebuild at an age at which I would have hoped to be able to sit back and enjoy the view of the America I treasure is upsetting. 

But Ike’s remarks really put it into perspective, making my personal pain seem relatively small.  He spoke of meeting with elderly African Americans in our community – people in their 80s and 90s – who experienced the impact of legal segregation and state and societal discrimination from the time they were born, but then worked to change the country and saw things change radically for the better.  People who, in their last years, saw progress on the five yard line with the country ready to enter the end zone – the sports metaphor equivalent to the Promised Land.  And now they see that they (we) have been pushed back to the other end of the field.  They may not live to see us regain the ground.  So it is incumbent on the rest of us to keep up the struggles. 

I did not experience the pain of the people Ike spoke about.  America has always been very good to me.  Ike’s words inspired me for the work ahead.

Then Congressman John Sarbanes spoke.  He is the son for our former Senator Paul Sarbanes, and his district has included our neighborhood from the time it was created after the last Census.  My impression of him has always been positive.  I am more impressed now.  The most important thing he talked about was how Democratic members of Congress are not going to let the Republicans off the hook.  They will be the Opposition Party.  They will push to the public consciousness the outrages that are coming. And, he told us, the Congressional Democrats are organizing to do that.   It appears that Sarbanes will be a leader in that effort. 

I wish him well.  I wish all of us well. We have a responsibility to both past and future generations to work to get America back on the right track.  Earlier in the day, I attended a meeting with the District 18 Maryland General Assembly delegation at Temple Emanuel (my synagogue), hosted by Jews United for Justice.  On the written agenda, JUFJ included the following familiar, but very pertinent passage:

“Rabbi Tarfon said, ‘It is not upon you to finish the work, but neither are you free to desist from it.’”