This is where I stand. To me, our 45th President, his people taking positions of authority in his Cabinet and administration, and the majority of Republicans in Congress are a real and active threat to me, my way of life, and all the people I love. Some people are saying that we should give Trump a chance, that we should "work together" with him because he won the election and he is "everyone's president." This is my response:

• I will not forget how badly he and so many others treated former President Barack Obama for 8 years...
• I will not "work together" to privatize Medicare, cut Social Security and Medicaid.
• I will not "work together" to build a wall.
• I will not "work together" to persecute Muslims.
• I will not "work together" to shut out refugees from other countries.
• I will not "work together" to lower taxes on the 1% and increase taxes on the middle class and poor.
• I will not "work together" to help Trump use the Presidency to line his pockets and those of his family and cronies.
• I will not "work together" to weaken and demolish environmental protection.
• I will not "work together" to sell American lands, especially National Parks, to companies which then despoil those lands.
• I will not "work together" to enable the killing of whole species of animals just because they are predators, or inconvenient for a few, or because some people want to get their thrills killing them.
• I will not "work together" to remove civil rights from anyone.
• I will not "work together" to alienate countries that have been our allies for as long as I have been alive.
• I will not "work together" to slash funding for education.
• I will not "work together" to take basic assistance from people who are at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder.
• I will not "work together" to get rid of common sense regulations on guns.
• I will not "work together" to eliminate the minimum wage.
• I will not "work together" to support so-called "Right To Work" laws, or undermine, weaken or destroy Unions in any way.
• I will not "work together" to suppress scientific research, be it on climate change, fracking, or any other issue where a majority of scientists agree that Trump and his supporters are wrong on the facts.
• I will not "work together" to criminalize abortion or restrict health care for women.
• I will not "work together" to increase the number of nations that have nuclear weapons.
• I will not "work together" to put even more "big money" into politics.
• I will not "work together" to violate the Geneva Convention.
• I will not "work together" to give the Ku Klux Klan, the Nazi Party and white supremacists a seat at the table, or to normalize their hatred.
• I will not "work together" to deny health care to people who need it.
• I will not "work together" to deny medical coverage to people on the basis of a "pre-existing condition."
• I will not "work together" to increase voter suppression.
• I will not "work together" to normalize tyranny.
• I will not “work together” to eliminate or reduce ethical oversite at any level of government.
• I will not "work together" with anyone who is, or admires, tyrants and dictators.
• I will not support anyone that thinks its OK to put a pipeline to transport oil on Sacred Ground for Native Americans. And, it would run under the Missouri River, which provides drinking water for millions of people. An accident waiting to happen.
• This is my line, and I am drawing it. I will stand for honesty, love, respect for all living beings, and for the beating heart that is the center of Life itself.
• I will use my voice and my hands, to reach out to the uninformed, and to anyone who will stand up for those who have been wrongly demonized, for the sake of benefiting the 1% and those in power, including those who are always wrong on the facts.

LISTEN:
That "winning", "make America great again", "rich" or even "beautiful" is nothing... when others are sacrificed to glorify its existence.  The soul of our nation is being tested right now.  We have to rtesist the carnival huckster at the center of the stage, AND all the puppet masters and behind the stage.  The battle must be fought with those with pitch forks and torches, as well as those who scheme and manipulate the ignorant and the angry to act against their self-interests.

What I am worried about is that they are working against my self-interests, and those of my children and grandchildren, and all those who make this country great.  We must resist with all of our being to save our country from destruction.  If we fail, we burn in the destruction of our own house.

Signed:
Roger Madison