BY SHARON MARTIN

The president-elect is gearing up to battle China. He agrees with the Russian president that we need more and bigger nukes. He wants to ban both the good folk and the extremists from certain countries or who practice certain faiths because he can’t tell the difference between them. He is selling the offices of the President of the United States, and he intends to make a killing on it.

Here at home, he wants to change Medicare from a system that works for the insured to one that works for insurance companies. Public education will be for the losers; everyone else gets Trump University.

Is anyone else waking up in the middle of the night wondering what can be done to save us? What can one person do?

• Patriots stand up for the oppressed. When someone in your neighborhood is badgered and afraid, do what you can to protect him or her from the bullies.
• Be part of a community. There is safety in numbers.
• Vote in every election, whether it’s for school board members, city councilors, or the governor.
• Before you vote, know where the candidates stand on all the issues.
• Ignore the hot buttons; those are ribbons they are flying to distract you from the real issues – education, equal rights, poverty, injustice, public safety.
• Demand publicly funded elections. Billionaires shouldn’t own legislators or the governor.
• Stand up against theocracy. There is no state religion in a free country. Freedom to worship as we choose is a fundamental right.
• Demand a fair tax system. Sure, they have quietly made it almost impossible to raise new revenue in Oklahoma. How do we fund essential services? What are some solutions that don’t take the last dime from the poor while creating a billionaire class?
• Demand living wages for workers. If taxpayers supplement low-wage workers with food stamps and other assistance, their employers are the moochers. Call them out on this.
• Fund public education. It takes money to properly educate all citizens. It costs even more if we don’t.
• Companies locate their businesses in states with a high standard of living. That includes access to healthcare.
• March against private prisons and contracts that guarantee prison occupancy rates.
• Fund drug treatment. It doesn’t work for everyone, but it works for many. Imagine that we help addicts return to civic life and family duties instead of putting them in prison.
• Write letters. Make phone calls. March. Volunteer. Be visible.

This is just a start. Let elected officials know you’ll be working for them if they work for the people and that you’ll be working against them if they don’t.

– Sharon Martin lives in Oilton, OK and is a regular contributor to The Oklahoma Observer