Don't Ever Take Away Our Freedom

Saying No to Musk and Trump

Photo by Fabian Burghardt on Unsplash

We appreciate deeply the many heartfelt condolences from our readers after the passing of Peter Yarrow. In our collective loss, the relevance of many of his songs has become more apparent. Such is the case in the lyrics of “Don’t Ever Take Away Our Freedom,” which seems to have been written for this perilous time. In the version we use in this post, the trio is accompanied by a chorus of enthusiastic kids. When you hear the first verse, you’ll know why we chose a photo of three horses

Across the nation Americans are gathering to say no to Musk and Trump. Tuesday night 1,000 protestors gathered outside the Treasury Department to stand against Musk’s takeover of the U.S. Treasury payment system. On Wednesday thousands of people gathered at state capitols across the nation to voice their opposition to Project 2025 and to the administration’s attack on civil liberties, immigrants, personal privacy, and federal agencies, to name a few. Protests were held in cities from Austin,Texas, to Madison, Wisconsin, and from Sacramento, California, to Montpelier, Vermont. Posters at the various sites displayed such messages as “DOGE isn’t legit”; “Death of fascism”; “Defend democracy”; “No one voted for Elon Musk”; and “Why does Elon have your Social Security info???”

To name all the assaults on freedom is way beyond the scope of Strings, but we do share with you several recent Substack posts that we trust for information and analysis. In her Feb. 5th Letters from an American historian Heather Cox Richardson explains how “Musk’s takeover of the U.S. government to override Congress and dictate what programs he considers worthwhile is a logical outcome of forty years of Republican rhetoric.” In Wednesday's Connections Kristin Du Mez writes that “the pushback is starting” and points readers to Ezra Klein’s video “Don’t Believe Him: He Is Trying to Overwhelm.” In his January 6th Today’s Edition Newsletter attorney Robert Hubble writes, “The resistance to Trump’s slow-rolling coup is achieving lift-off,” and he provides links to pro-democracy grassroots organizations that are working to protect our freedom. Today Diana Butler Bass’s “Facing What We’ve Avoided” is an important read for mainline Protestant denominations and progressive Christians.

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Connections:

The news overwhelms and resistance is exhausting. Diana Butler Bass’s January 8th post in The Cottage deals with the question of that many Americans are asking: “What am I going to do?” She has come up with “Ten Ws” to sustain “hope and resilience in the midst of the current political turmoil and crisis,” which has become the second most-read piece in The Cottage.

Vibrations:

Listen to or better yet sing with PP&M, “Don’t Ever Take Away Our Freedom,” which is on Peter, Paul & Mommy, Too (1993).

Resonance:

What are you doing to take care of yourself in these fraught and frightening times?