Stand Up to the Bullies. Even the TIny Ones

There's an epidemic of bullying going on these days, from congressional repugs to fat repug governors to evil freakazoid governors to at least one person in your life.

Bullying at the national, state and personal levels has exploded over the past decade, mostly because the victims of bullying have stopped fighting it.

It's just too much trouble: the bullies never stop, they never learn, they never give up. Fighting bullies is hard, lonely, thankless work.

But that's exactly why it's critical to keep fighting them, even when fighting them appears to accomplish nothing.

I have a bully in my life right now. The practical effect on my life is minor: no physical injury, no financial loss, no threat to friends or family or pets. Which is why even close friends advise me to let it go. To tolerate the bullying. To "rise above it."

Unfortunately, there is no such thing as "rising above" bullying. The instant you stop fighting a bully with every fiber of your being, the bully drags you down to his or her own subterranean level.

Every time you choose to ignore rather than fight even the smallest, weakest bully in your life, you make it easier for every other bully in the world from the tiniest to the largest, most vicious and destructive to continue to wreak havoc everywhere it goes.

So I will spend an inordinate amount of time and effort fighting back against my pathetic little bully, enduring pity and derision from everyone around, because everything you do to delay, or annoy, or slow down any bully takes power away from all bullies.

Especially motherfuckers like Mitch McConnell.