A Note and Some Pics and Music from Across the Pond

I’m spending the week with my sister Mimi and extended family in idyllic Stonesfield, England, a small village not far from Oxford. She has a beautiful country home, complete with chickens! (Joyce Vance, I’m channeling you.)

Traveling with a baby is a challenge, even with Maggie along to help with all things Riley. This is Maggie’s first time out of the country, and after hearing people speaking with Scottish accents at London Heathrow, she already wants to move here.

I’m planning to do a bit of writing this week, but today I’m focused on family, getting over jet lag, and taking in the beautiful scenery here. It’s a long way from our chaotic politics back home, and sometimes a bit of distance can provide much needed clarity.

Strongmen

Speaking of some needed clarity, I’ve been doing some deeper dives, including “Strongmen” by Prof. Ruth Ben-Ghiat. It’s essential reading for our times. She’s a critical voice in the battle against modern autocracy and fascism. Something she posted the other day kept me thinking:

“Authoritarianism is the conversion of rule of law into rule by the lawless.”

Ben-Ghiat was adding to an observation by former candidate for Florida attorney general, Daniel Uhlfelder, who knows a thing about Matt Gaetz.

Trump’s pick for Attorney General, Matt Gaetz, has been unable to practice law in Florida three times over the past five years due to failure to pay dues and failure to affirm compliance with trust account rules.

This unseriousness and disregard for the norms is something to keep in mind with all of the president-elect’s unqualified, and even criminal, nominees like Gaetz. He embodies this overarching goal of undermining the rule of law and turning it into something else entirely. Authoritarians gain power by destroying the very guardrails and norms that support democracy, and in the ensuing chaos, to affirm falsely that they alone can fix things.

We don’t have to stand idly and helpless by. There are still members of the GOP for which, apparently, the nomination of Gaetz (and Kennedy, Gabbard and Hegseth) is a move too far, a step too close to the cliff. This provides a rare opportunity, even for those who live in red states, to take direct action.

Call your Senators. No, really. Do it.

The GOP is wondering collectively whether to obey in advance or to push back so that they have some role other than as 53-member rubber stamp. They need to hear from their constituents. We need four GOP senators to find their backbones.

Jessica Craven of the Chop Wood, Carry Water newsletter provided a script you can use / revise when contacting your senator about Gaetz. Consider it a Monday moment of therapy! Find your senators’ numbers here.

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Hi, I'm a constituent calling from _____. My name is ______.

I’m calling in strong opposition to Matt Gaetz’s confirmation as Attorney General. Gaetz has zero qualifications for being the highest law enforcement official in the land. He has never been a government attorney. He has never been a judge. He is also under investigation by the House Ethics Committee in connection with a sex-trafficking scandal. And their report, which needs to be released, is apparently damning. This would be a joke if it weren’t so serious. I expect the Senator to vote no. Will he/she?

[If your Senator is a Democrat add:]

Also, Democrats need to confirm every single judge they can in the next 67 days before Trump is sworn in. We have lots of vacancies and they need to be filled now. This is urgent. Everything else needs to take second place. Will the Democrats use every single minute to confirm judges and also get any agency appointments done that they can? Thanks.

Programming notes

I will have shorter pieces this week, if I can manage to squeeze them in. I often wear multiple hats, and later this week I will be in London attending the workshop performances of our new musical Indigo. We’re bringing this story before the British professional theatre set, where we hope it will resonate and maybe even find a home on its way to Broadway.

Indigo is a show about the unique challenges and joys of a family, centering a non-speaking teenage girl with autism and her grandmother with early onset dementia. It’s about how to communicate across boundaries and support each other as family. The music by composer Scott Evan Davis is achingly beautiful. Here’s an sample of his work: a song now in our show called “If the World Only Knew” which has become something of an international anthem for the autism community. It certainly won me over when I first heard it.

Indigo captivates and catches the heart. I’m so proud to have helped create and produce this show about the kind of love and understanding we need so much more of. I hope you hear more about it in the near future!

From jolly England,

Jay