of the entire Republican party.

That is what we are dealing with! AKA, espionage!!

You can be much more effective if you are clear-eyed and calm, rather than being freaked out. By calming down, you will be better able to practice the patience and skillful means necessary to help change this situation. By calming down, you can better channel your anger and fear into positive skillful action. Change doesn't happen overnight - unfortunately. If we want change, we must create the causes and conditions to bring about change.

I understand your negative emotions. Right after Trump won the election, I had thoughts for weeks about eating my pistol, because I'm a senior with heart disease, who depends on medicare and social security income. But I am beyond that now, because I was able to calm down and get a grip.

I heard John Lewis' MLK-day speech, and it really inspired me. I still sometimes shed a few tears when I recall it. You must have faith that "the arc of the universe bends towards justice." I promise you that the current Republican kleptocracy will not last forever, because nothing lasts forever. The questions are: what change can we bring about and how soon will we see the results of our efforts. There will be setbacks and obstacles along the way. But we must create the causes and conditions for the changes that we want in the future. There are millions of people in this country diligently working in an organized way to turn this nightmare around. We are not powerless. Get involved with your local county or city Dem club or join your local indivisible group and work to create the causes and conditions for change. Work to elect (or run yourself) local city, county, and state elected officials. Get involved with your kid's PTA or your church group. But find something that is important to you and get involved. Stand up! Speak out! Make waves!

Listen to John Lewis MLK day speech, and see if it lifts your spirits too

but it's a matter of how long it takes to get there. It gets there a lot quicker if you have an Obama in office.

Optimism needs to be tempered with realism. tRump and his fellow criminals are not going away any time soon. The damage they have already inflicted on the country by stoking racism and bigotry alone will take decades to undo. And that's before they pass any of their regressive and malicious legislation, which will take a generation to undo.

We had one shot at a meaningful victory for justice, and that was on Nov 8. That shot was stolen from us. We are now in it for the duration, and that duration probably extends beyond your and my lifespans.

No it won't be easy. Given that I'm 70 yrs and have heart disease, I already have 1 foot in the grave. I may not even last to next month, much less the next election. But it really doesn't matter to me, because as a Buddhist I'm open to the possibility of reincarnation. My mission in this life time is to help my progressive friends calm down, so as to better practice patience and skillful means.

Republicans have been working for decades (since Reagan) to create the perfect kleptocracy. If we have a decades-long struggle to effect change, so be it. How many decades did it take to make some big chinks in Jim Crow? A couple of Buddhist perfections that we practice are patience and enthusiastic perseverance. I'm far from perfecting these qualities, that's why they are called practices. We keep practicing to get better and better at it. You have to do what you think best. I hope that you can find some way or someone to inspire you and lift your spirits.

of afterlifes or reincarnation. You're welcome to believe in them, and I'm within my rights to call them wishful bullshit. Make believe is not a source of hope for me.

As such, I realize that we biological creatures have one shot at life, and this is it. I'm 62, but in relatively great health. Doesn't mean I don't take my prescribed meds, I do. Perhaps I feel a greater sense of urgency that do you because I don't believe in divine justice or second chances after death. This life is all we've got.

For those of us with more yesterdays than tomorrow's in our lives, it's hard to remain calm when you realize that your time to do anything significant is waning, and that there will not be a round two to continue the fight after this life is over.