Grasp for Hope

I’m Gordon Chaffin, a community volunteer and advocate who nerds out on infrastructure policy. This is my newsletter with local news and researched opinions.

Back to Basics on Hope as a Verb

I’ve struggled to find meaningful words for all this…for what the most powerful man in the world and the richest man in the world have done to the patriots who serve in the federal government, their halting of policies and programs I believe help people from my block all the way around the world, and their weathering of the truth, logic, and science on which I’ve founded my idealism. “Fuck this” seems both obvious and insufficient, if I’m going to fill your inbox with an additional email.

The only insight I’ve mustered is that it feels like in Harry Potter when Voldemort and his hench-wizards take control of the Ministry of Magic. The bastards take over a flawed institution and bend its bureaucracy to cruel and evil ends. That’s a good metaphor for nationwide pain. Here in the DMV, it’s more specifically like living in occupied territory. One of my strongest political beliefs is that my 700,000 neighbors deserve the right to self-governance. Washington, D.C.’s 50 years of Home Rule have afforded us greater autonomy, interrupted by the 1990s fiscal control board.

With Congressional Democrats passing legislation last Congress for Statehood on the House Floor, I felt momentum toward a Douglass Commonwealth. But in recent months, I have been outraged daily, and any relief feels temporary. I picture a lowly castle worker tip-toeing around in fear they don’t wake the king from slumber and provoke his wrath upon accidental wake-up. It’s hard to make Congressional overreach in D.C.’s budget seem more urgent than other tumultuous news events.

When the facts matter, we should grab for facts. When morality matters, we should grab for justice. When mindfulness matters, we should grab for grace. When peace matters, we should grab for humility. But, when feelings overpower data, pragmatism over ethics, unregulated emotional instability over calm, and the push for peace twisted by the conquerors, we are left only with hope — hope as a verb. Won’t you join me in a practice of hope? Will you follow our surprisingly strong cast of local journalists?

It’s really fucking hard to be hopeful right now. Red flags waving, red lights flashing. Our local economy is supported by so many federal workers. Our transportation system is fatally vulnerable to an incurious war against “inefficiency.” The unique and worldly vibrancy of our people and businesses is threatened by the myopia of “America First.” Oh, and everything is a scam — and this person getting elected despite four years of experience with him at the helm proves that Rousseau’s informed voter theory is crap.

I’m not asking you to be confident, for overprescribed certainty is undoubtedly an ingredient in the psyche of the ghouls who now trash our institutions. Dan Tramp’s second term seems to have transitioned from fecklessness to fealty. The vibes are sinister, everything’s a scam, and it is easier than ever to get drunk on bad news. I fall into despair when I wonder if voters see the news clips on social media about the penny and paper straws, and the takeaway is, “Tramp is a jerk, but he has good ideas.”

But, depression and nihilism are a debilitating cocktail. You’ve got to find your inner pirate and remember you could be the luckiest human alive. So, what should we swing our sword at right now? Let’s level set: facts don't change people's minds, feelings do. How do we make people feel good about their family, their life, their country, and their world? We focus on what we can change. We start local. We focus on the basics. Here are some places to start.

Here in Washington, D.C. — right now — the Mayor and Council are working on the annual budget process. It’s going to be really freaking hard to make the numbers work out without hurting a lot of neighbors and friends — especially if Congress tightens the belt even more. The next few years will suck in a way that threatens our worst-off residents and maybe inspires those able to move their families out of the city. There are public input points for these tough local decisions, and I hope you’ll speak up with me.

It’s too early to rest on this, but we must remember that if you don't make friends with your wounds, you will despise the wounded. In some untreated parts of the hearts of our present masters, there lies deep pain and vacuous abscess. Two men and many of their ranks wishing so deeply to be paid attention to, loved, and to belong, that not even the greatest monarchy in history could satisfy them. Put another way, they hate us cuz they ain’t us.

Advocacy opportunities on D.C. local issues - Week of March 10, 2025

• Complete this Georgia Avenue Revitalization Survey for Ward 4 CM Janeese Lewis George (read more about her effort and apply for Advisory Group)

• Complete this Rhode Island Avenue Reimagined Survey from Ward 5 CM Zachary Parker, focused on safer street designs in Langdon/Woodridge neighborhoods

• By filling out D.C.’s resident survey on land use as they begin the re-write of our Comprehensive Plan, plus other items in GGWash’s “Do Something” roundup of public input points for D.C., MD, and VA residents

Check out this nonprofit supporting our neighbors

DISCLAIMER: All opinions and analyses in this newsletter are those solely of Gordon Chaffin and do not represent his employer or community groups with which he’s affiliated.