Stories From Women Who Walk by Diane F Wyzga * Podcaster * Communication Problem Solver * Story Strategizer * Founder Engaged Storyism® Method

May 21, 2025 60 Seconds for Wednesdays on Whidbey: Which Will It Be: Democracy or Oligarchy?

Hello to you listening in Saratoga Springs, New York!

Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds (and a bit more) for Wednesdays on Whidbey and your host, Diane Wyzga.

Over 100 years ago Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis wrote, 'We can have a democratic society or we can have the concentration of great wealth in the hands of the few. We cannot have both.” [Louis Brandeis, Supreme Court Justice from 1916-1939]

Here we are again. What to do? We organize and work together. If there’s no one to start it, you start it. Find your Ordinary Persons, talk with them, listen, have compassion for each other’s views, and join together. Step by step your little group of Ordinary Persons can become an Army of Ordinary Persons, maybe even a movement standing up to oppression, greed, injustice. It starts with someone looking around and saying, “I’ve had it! Enough is enough! This stops now!”

The following poem The Low Road by Marge Piercy demonstrates what happens when we organize and work together:

The Low Road, by Marge Piercy

"What can they do

to you? Whatever they want.

They can set you up, they can

bust you, they can break

your fingers, they can

burn your brain with electricity,

blur you with drugs till you

can't walk, can't remember, they can

take your child, wall up

your lover. They can do anything

you don’t stop them

from doing. How can you stop

them? Alone, you can fight,

you can refuse, you can

take what revenge you can

but they roll over you.

But two people fighting

back-to-back can cut through

a mob, a snake-dancing file

can break a cordon, an army

can meet an army.

Two people can keep each other

sane, can give support, conviction,

love, massage, hope, sex.

Three people are a delegation,

a committee, a wedge. With four

you can play bridge and start

an organization. With six

you can rent a whole house,

eat pie for dinner with no

seconds, and hold a fund raising party.

A dozen make a demonstration.

A hundred fill a hall.

A thousand have solidarity and your own newsletter;

ten thousand, power and your own paper;

a hundred thousand, your own media;

ten million, your own country.

It goes on one at a time,

it starts when you care

to act, it starts when you do

it again and they said no,

it starts when you say We

and you know who you mean,

and each day you mean one more."

Click to access The Low Road, by Marge Piercy

Saturday June 14th is No King Day and Flag Day! Get together with some folks, bash the birthday cake fly your flag because our flag is tied to our Constitution and our Constitution is our democracy and in a democracy it is “We the People” - no king.

Thank you for listening!

You're always welcome: "Come for the stories - Stay for the magic!" Speaking of magic, I hope you’ll subscribe, share a 5-star rating and nice review on your social media or podcast channel of choice, bring your friends and rellies, and join us! You will have wonderful company as we continue to walk our lives together. Be sure to stop by my Quarter Moon Story Arts website, check out the Communication Services, arrange a no-obligation Discovery Call, and Opt In to stay current with me as "Wyzga on Words" on Substack.

Stories From Women Who Walk Production Team

Podcaster: Diane F Wyzga & Quarter Moon Story Arts

Music: Mer’s Waltz from Crossing the Waters by Steve Schuch & Night Heron Music

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