Almost everyday now, like a steady drumbeat, something once unthinkable happens in America—a lone gunman opens fire with high-powered weaponry.

Lives, sacred human lives, are lost or shattered in an instant. Yes, this does happen now in other countries, too—but with nowhere near the insane regularity of of the United States.

It has become—along with homeless, opioid addiction, and mass incarceration—just another ugly American endemic crisis. Inhumane and yet tacitly tolerated. How can this possibly be? The answer is simple: because it rarely impacts the lives of the wealthy who effectively run our political system.

So, don’t just shake your head when you read about the next Orlando, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Charleston—or East Lansing, El Paso (again!), Coldwater, Columbus, New Orleans, and Memphis, all of which happened in the last week, leaving 15 dead and dozens injured—do something about it by becoming more active in progressive politics and supporting the cause of building a better, saner America.

Become a sustaining member of PDA so that we can keep on advancing the progressive movement and, in the words of Barbara Jordan, making an America “as great as its promise.”

In solidarity,