Morning, Threaders, Threadheads, and all in between.
Must have coffee while it lasts.
Surprised yet?
Part of the finger pointing going on lands on the other. The other was guilty, not me. The question we have been asking ourselves is how can such a successful administration’s deeds have been ignored by the masses? It’s true Biden was up there with FDR. So why did we lose? Would we have lost with Biden on the ticket? And on and on. Walk with me.
One of the “otherizing” factors is to blame it all on misinformation and right wing media, legacy and social. There’s no denial it played a huge part in misguiding the masses and promoting chaos by spreading lies without checks. No doubt. But they couldn’t have eclipsed every single positive thing this administration did. Some were pretty obvious locally: entire cities revitalized by the infrastructure bill, insulin gone much cheaper, more jobs, objective things like that were real.
As I said before, for large portions of those who voted for TFG no matter how wonderful life was it would still be worth it to throw it away in favor of the institution of misogyny and racism as normal. To them that’s what “make America great again” means and no amount of good would change it.
I am concerned about those who STILL did not vote OR voted “in protest”. They cost us this election; TFG got roughly the same votes as before, there was no landslide or millions of new converts.
In remote areas where news are unheard of, all this made no difference. It was in the large urban and suburban areas most of these non voting or protest voting people ruined things for us. Why?
Fox News? Infowars (btw kudos, Onion)? Twitter? For some yes but I believe most of them are not avid consumers of right wing propaganda. We have to stop wondering why so many voted against us and start thinking about why they didn’t vote for us.
In my view it came down to the perception Democrats are tolerating too much that impacts their lives negatively. And it wasn’t just the price of eggs; that’s on the turd’s bandwagon. The perfect example is how this administration was perceived by Jewish and Muslim Americans. It encapsulates this reason in one portion of the electorate but it’s a carbon copy of others. Both these groups accused Democrats of being simultaneously too soft and too hard.
In my view it came down to the perception Democrats are tolerating too much that impacts their lives negatively. And it wasn’t just the price of eggs; that’s on the turd’s bandwagon. The perfect example is how this administration was perceived by Jewish and Muslim Americans. It encapsulates this reason in one portion of the electorate but it’s a carbon copy of others. Both these groups accused Democrats of being simultaneously too soft and too hard.
One side accused Harris of being too weak to handle Netanyahu and the other accused her of being his greatest ally. One side accused her of being cozy with the pro-Hamas crowd and the other accused her of being a baby killer. It turned out they either voted in protest by choosing a third party or going with TFG (still protest) or didn’t vote at all. Now replace the Israeli crisis with the border crisis, or the racial crisis, or even the healthcare crisis we’re in.
It’s not that all these things are not true or that Democrats had almighty power to change them for the better in 4 years. It’s that they spent way too much time lecturing a population that can barely read about the intricacies of how to solve problems while NOT recognizing them. Antisemitism? Oh, yes, very bad but it’s complicated. Islamophobia? Well, that’s a big no no, next? Healthcare? Yes it’s a human right but business is good. Immigration? Ah, we are a country of those!
For all these things and more, up to and including government itself and how they have always found excuses to NOT deal with it when they could and mostly not TALK about it when they should, Democrats have dug themselves into a hole. It can be described as a mix of failing to communicate and not wanting to. By avoiding hard issues like the fact Democracy is not a universal one size fits all system and recognizing how deeply flawed ours is they failed us.
Yes, antisemitism is bad but we’re not Germany. Yes, Islamophobia is a coverup but look at the Muslim ban. Yes, immigration is in crisis but it could be worse. Yes, healthcare is a business but profits boost research. And yes the electoral college is an aberration but our founding fathers were gods. We did live in the greatest country on Earth but not because it was perfect. It was the greatest because it allowed like no other the improvement of its society.
They got accustomed to the status quo and made a little niche for themselves with all the things we should have but just for them. They got addicted to campaign funding and its personal benefits and the assurance of a life of plenty upon retirement. They didn’t feel our pain or our reality and as such not only they were not inclined to deal with it they lost the ability to do so. That’s why for a brief moment Kamala, and especially Tim, gave us hope.
It soon became apparent that, though they were a sight for sore eyes, there was still a reluctance in talking about the real hard issues. They touched some superficially but there was no time to say much and inevitably the old ways slipped in. Other than a few moments of clarity where we could feel they knew what is wrong there was the uncomfortable feeling of appeasement, getting along, Liz Cheney on stage, there’s more that unites us and all that. No.
It wasn’t Fox News or the Russian bots. It was not facing our greatest problems head on. It was the exultation of a flawed country as the best on Earth while avoiding the causes why it can’t be better. The greatness of America is still a promise we need to fulfill. We had it all in reach for almost 250 years. All we needed was to improve it and we failed. We settled for keeping the promise instead of realizing it. We all saw it.
Coulda, shoulda, woulda, right? That’s not it, though. Now we face the possibility that all may be lost soon. We shake our heads as we watch those who told us we were up against fascism now seem to take it in stride as if it wasn’t the case, it isn’t that bad, or there’s nothing to do about it leaving us scratching our heads wondering which is it. It’s none of the above. It was the case, it is even worse than we thought, and we can do something.
When this nightmare is over, and it will be over, we just cannot accept the return to the status quo that brought us here and find solace in going back to doing nothing as a reward for escaping hell. It’s not that the Pelosis and the Schumers of old are evil by design but their way of maintaining what is for fear of losing it when most of us don’t have it stopped being reassuring long ago. We need new blood but with good brains. And the courage to talk about hard truths with facts.
In a word: Justice. We need Justice. It does not please everyone because it’s blind to prejudice. Now we resist the best we can the worst possible outcome but once we win we must keep that spirit of resistance alive and resist the impulse of going back to the ways that got us here. Exactly what we should have done if we managed to win the election. Never go back to that. That’s what I heard in the chant “We’re not going back!” Back to accepting change is impossible.
Change is possible. Denying these fascists an easy establishment is possible. Preserving AND improving our democracy is possible. As long as we open our eyes, embrace facts and know hard choices are the only ones that matter. Please don’t give in to despair but don’t long for days gone by. Wish for days to come we never knew. Fight for dreams to come true not for the right to dream. Fight for the right to make it happen and then do just that: make it happen.
Resist.
