Fasting to Defeat Trump

I have done three water-only fasts of 25 days or longer in my lifetime. The first was for 40 days in the summer of 1972 for an end to the war in Vietnam. The second was for 42 days in the fall of 1992 in opposition to the planned government celebrations of the 500th anniversary of Columbus arriving in what is now the Americas. The third was for 25 days in 2007 on the very big issue of the climate emergency.

I have decided to do a fourth one, a 30-day, water-only fast to defeat Trump going from October 3 to November 3. For those 30 days I will consume only water, vitamin C, potassium and salt. I’ll be doing it in my house in northern New Jersey.

I’m doing this because I think that Trump’s re-election represents a huge threat to the world’s already-disrupted ecosystems, people of color and low-income people, our struggling democracy and just about everything else that is important to decent people. I feel the need to do all I can to help generate the massive voter turnout essential to ensure that he and many of his Republican accomplices are defeated.

I was first exposed to the idea of fasting through my study of the life of Mohandus Gandhi. He once said, “fasting is the sincerest form of prayer,” and through past fasts I have come to understand about prayer, and about what he meant.

To me, prayer is not about asking some spiritual entity for something. Prayer, I have come to believe, is about focusing all of one’s heart, mind and soul on something important, fully present, focused and open to enlightenment…