It seems so long ago. Another era. Another time. The economy was in crisis. The U.S. was immersed in two foreign wars. Activism was at a crossroads. The public was crying out for change. The year was 2009. In answer to those struggles, I wrote the essay, “Right Moral and Good,” which was emailed to the new president, Barack Obama in time for his inauguration. The Free Press published this essay again in 2016 as a harbinger of Donald Trump’s pending presidency.

Here we are in 2021 and another new president. A global pandemic has the economy in crisis. The U.S. is immersed in a violent domestic culture war. Activism still finds itself at a legal crossroads. Calls for change radiate from disparate realms. “Right Moral and Good” seems as relevant now as it was a dozen years ago.

The “Right, Moral and Good” graphic augments the essay and gives it visual context. Hopefully, both will make their way to the highest offices in the land and those who work there on our behalf.

“Be very still, and listen,” Paul DeMain told us. In the act of offering tobacco to the fire, he encouraged us to offer up that which we no longer wished to carry in our bodies, in our lives and in our souls. “But be careful what you ask to throw away, because the grandfathers will decide how that will happen in their own way.”

We were five minutes late for the start of the Full Moon Ceremony at the Line 3 resistance camp  in Pallisade, Minn. Fifteen masked and COVID-tested climate activists, we had driven 1600 miles from Maine and Massachusetts. If we hadn’t taken that time-consuming three point turn up I-94 toward Milwaukee we would have gotten there right on time.

But time zones and consumption patterns change, the border between ceremony and sunset is fluid, and the pattern of moonrise on macadam is malleable in the cold North Woods. In the offing, we were welcomed into the growing circle at the pipeline resistance camp with an offering of sweet smoke brushed over our heads and bodies from a brazier of burning sage, calming our jangled nerves and helping us plant our feet firmly again on solid, indeed frozen, ground.

U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown has taken over the Ohio Democratic Party (ODP), putting his protégé Elizabeth Walters in charge with the blessing of a handful of union donors.

On one hand, this could be good because Sherrod is the only Ohio Democrat who knows how to win statewide partisan elections.

It is less good when you consider that he lacked the coattails to pull any of the other statewide non-judicial candidates over the finish line in 2018.

On the other hand, the powerful labor donors have not been able to help Democrats regain control of the governorship and other statewide administrative offices and win more state legislative races.

It is less bad when you consider that Democrats have gained three Ohio Supreme Court justices in the last two elections and are on the verge of gaining a majority for the first time in a long time if they can turn one more seat in 2022.

David Pepper beat out a Sherrod-backed candidate for the ODP chair job six years ago. He compiled a record of mostly failures in statewide and legislative races, but won some key judicial races.

The democracy of United States of America barely survived the disgraced ex-President, who made a very serious effort at performing a coup in order to stay in power. Even today, Republicans are afraid to cross him, and he has an army of deluded MAGA supporters who believe themselves to be patriotic. When attacking the nations Capitol, they don't all carry Confederate Flags. Some of the MAGA Patriots instead carried USA flags to then be used as weapons against the Capitol police.

Everyone in America should have known This Man would not to quietly into the night, but few expected outright treason.

We are eventually going to find out just how far President Donald J. Treason would go to destroy our governing structure in order to retain power. Treasonous Trump's authoritarian tendencies went spiraling out of control during the time between his election defeat and the inauguration of Joe Biden. Another 4 years of his tyrannical rule would have ended America as we know it. Instead, our democracy is deeply wounded.

Unless consciously resisted, one of Donald Trump’s lasting triumphs will be the establishment of such a low bar that mediocre standards will prevail for his successor. Of course, providing a clear contrast to the atrocious Trump presidency is irrefutably necessary -- but it’s hardly sufficient.

To give high marks merely for excelling in comparison to right-wing Republicans is to cheer high jumps over very low standards. And the opening months of President Biden’s term are an especially bad time to grade him on a curve, as top appointees take charge and policy directions are set.

With corporate forces fully mobilized and armies of their lobbyists deployed to constantly push the new administration, the need for activating grassroots counterpressure from the left should be obvious. Yet an all-too-common progressive refrain now is along the lines of “Step back and give Biden a chance!”