Why I stayed home from the No Kings rallies again.

Congrats to the millions of Americans who turned out yesterday for No Kings rallies across America. I saw one estimate (but have not confirmed it) that 1 in 50 Americans showed up for one of the approximately 2,700 rallies held in towns big and small around the country.

Once again, I didn't go. Here's why.

Here in Santa Fe, there are two places for political protests and rallies: the State Capitol, also known as the Roundhouse, and the historic plaza downtown. The No Kings rallies and marches typically start at one and march to the other one, or else they start at the Roundhouse and make a circuit to the plaza and back. 

The problem for me is that I work at the Roundhouse. My employer is the Legislative Council Service. We are nonpartisan. We are told when we're hired that our clients are all the legislators, regardless of their political party. We're allowed to have political opinions, of course, but we're supposed to keep them out of the workplace.

Hopefully you see my dilemma. If I participate in a political rally at the Roundhouse, even outside the building on a weekend, it could cause a problem for me at work. 

This isn't the first time I've been in this situation. It may be hard to believe today, when media outlets are routinely assumed to be on one side or the other. But when I was starting out in journalism, reporters were supposed to be unbiased -- or as unbiased as it's possible for a human being to be. After all, we were supposed to cover both sides of every issue, and to be fair to both sides. Can't do that if you're taking a public stance on those issues.

Anyway, there are lots of other people who wish they could be rallying but, for one reason or another, can't be there. Luckily for us, there are other ways to be involved -- and one of them is doing what I'm doing right now: showing support on my blog and on social media.

Alert hearth/myth readers know my political proclivities by now. Y'all know I'm there with you in spirit, if not in person. 

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We know we're getting to them when they start to claim that people marching in inflatable unicorn costumes are terrorists and that yesterday's gatherings were "hate America rallies". We had some relief yesterday as they stayed mostly silent while the marches were going on, although Trump himself posted an AI-generated video of him piloting a fighter jet and dumping poop on rallygoers. But as some commenters have said, an image of Trump taking a dump on America is actually on point.

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These moments of supportive blogginess have been brought to you, as a public service, by Lynne Cantwell. Keep the pressure on! It's working!