All Life Is Local: Get Out! Saturday, April 5 is HANDS OFF DEMOCRACY DAY

by Peggy Robin

Notice anything different about this week's featured event? Yes, you're right: It's the first time an explicitly political event is our chosen event of the week in the Listserv's regular Thursday "Get Out!" column.

Sure, there were plenty of other non-political events to choose from, including Petalpalooza in the Cherry Blossom Festival, or the innovative Warp Grid Project by percussionist Marty Risemberg (free at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage); or a free guided tour of the night sky at the Rock Creek Nature Center & Planetarium. But if you've been following the news of drastic cuts to the arts, to our public parks, and to programs that showcase diversity of cultures, you have to wonder if events like these will even exist when the Trump administration has finished taking its chainsaw to government programs, the arts, medical research, national parks..... Has anything been spared? (Well, yes -- Musk's government contracts -- they seem sacrosanct.).

For the future of events like these -- and much more -- I've chosen the Hands Off Democracy Rally as the event of the week.

HANDS OFF OUR DEMOCRACY will take place on Saturday, April 5 at the Washington Monument. Buses are bringing people from all over, gathering at 11 am. The program of speakers begins at noon.

There are also rallies planned in cities all across America - and around the world.

What are some of the "HANDS OFF" demands?

Hands off the DC government! Let us spend our own taxpayers' money as we, the voters of DC, see fit.
Hands off Congressionally-mandated federal agencies. Let the FDA protect our food and medicines; let NIH continue their life-saving research studies, let the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau go after predatory lending and fraud; let the EPA protect our air and water from polluters; let the Department of Education give students from all backgrounds a shot at higher education....and so much more!
Hands off independent, artistic decision-making by a non-partisan board at the Kennedy Center
Hands off evidence-based prosecutions of corrupt officials. End the firing of those who won't sign off on using the threat of prosecution to coerce certain officials into supporting the administration's explicitly political goals
Hands off our Board of Elections as they seek to increase participation in our democracy. Don't force them to adopt restrictive voting laws designed to suppress the vote or overturn elections when the outcome isn't what Trump wants.

I could list many more such bullet points, but that's enough for now. If any one of these points is important to you, I hope you will come out to the rally and add your voice to the throng.

More information at: https://www.mobilize.us/handsoff/event/764186/