Apr 6, 2023·edited Apr 6, 2023Liked by Robert Reich
This is not about Democrats, Republicans and Independents. The real issue here is insanity and fascism versus democracy. If there is ever a good time to be woke, this is it.
I am disturbed that independents would even consider DeSantis, whether or not Trump is out of jail and running for office. DeSantis is just as excited to install himself as the autocrat ruling our nation as Trump. DeSantis is a bit smarter, maybe, but at least as cruel, indifferent to people's suffering, and as racist, misogynistic, xenophobic, homo/transphobic and lacking in a moral compass as Trump or moreso. DeSantis is somewhat younger, usually talks in the non-accented Midwestern English so beloved by a lot of people. However, he is also a user just like his Trump mentor, and like the don, knows how to get people to act against their inclination and hurt people who don't deserve it. I am anxious to learn what it is that pulls independents toward DeSantis. Are they just telling themselves "well, at least it isn't Trump?" That does not bode well for our democracy because it means a whole chunk of those independents really want an autocrat, just the right autocrat. Clearly Biden has his problems, but he at least does seem to be working for the American people. He is, however, leaning a little too far right now, I guess trying to court the "independents." I want to tell him to just stop it. Democrats need someone who actually does care that kids are dying by guns, that our planet is suffering and must convert to renewable energy fast, and believes in the Constitution. Biden does stand for all of these. No one whom Republicans would nominate believes all three, if any of it, no matter what their mouth says.
Trump represents getting sucked into the death spiral of democracy. But the #RepubloFascism he has started will outlast his presence on the political stage, unless we manage to do three things:
1- Establish that 70% of America is wise to his lies and that most folks know that manipulation was the goal all along.
2- Rally America around the notion of reaffirming a fair, transparent, and verifiable voting process that can be depended upon. This involves public, not private funding for all campaigns, ending all gerrymandering, and taking away each state’s ability to tilt the vote towards their state congressional bodies’ desires.
3- Make honor in politics the litmus test for everyone that takes a podium. Every example of hypocrisy should be worn like an anvil hanging from their necks. And everyone that has chosen personal gain over professional integrity should be voted out at the next opportunity.
This is how we have to imagine our nation going forward. If we fall short, we are giving into American entropy.
Bear this in mind, too: if a case challenging Wisconsin’s Gerrymandered legislative and Congressional districts is put before the state’s Supreme Court as newly constituted with Judge Janet Protasiewicz on the panel, and the new majority overturns the previous court’s upholding of that Gerrymander, the districts will be redrawn, most likely to ensure, as much as possible, that each will contain nearly equal numbers of registered Democrats and Republicans, leaving it up to the Independents to decide who will be elected to represent them — which is as it should be.
Elections actually decided by which candidates make the more convincing and truthful arguments — can Wisconsin stand such a radical prospect?
Independents determine every election. Independents are mostly conservative voters that don't want to join the Repub Party for obvious reasons. They don't like the Democratic Party because they don't like the liberal leaning the party has on some issues. So, there they are, left without a group to align with. I've always felt it necessary to work within a group in order to affect change and get things done. I'm also a person who likes to be loyal to a group, and Democrats have generally suited me well. That doesn't mean I always have to vote straight party line although I always have. I can't see myself ever voting for a Repub.
It's far too early to tell what the political landscape will look like until we get closer to '24. From my contact with conservatives, it doesn't appear that they are losing their devotion to trump. They seem to be holding fast. As the other shoes begin to fall here in Georgia and at the federal level, we may see a crack develop in the trump loyal. My crystal ball is telling me very little. trump appears to be weakening. His energy level is at an all time low. DeSantis hasn't even announced yet. It looks like the time for him to announce is close at hand if he plans on running. I don't see how trump can run a successful campaign against both Biden and DeSantis. He has plenty of money, but can he muster the energy necessary to win two campaigns? He's not a young man. On the other hand, if DeSantis runs, he will turn off many Repubs in the fight just like how Sanders' supporters refused to vote for Hillary. This could turn into an election of the weakest candidates this country has seen in a long time. It's just too early to tell.
I became unaffiliated many years ago. I personally think all Americans should register as Independent and then vote with your best judgment for the person who you believe will have the best intentions for the Country and the people.
Thank you for the information. I am surprised at the number of unaffiliated voters and shocked at the amount of money spent on elections. The Wisconsin Supreme Court election just used up 68 million dollars. Do that many people still watch TV commercials? We fast forward through them. When my hand isn't fast enough on the remote trigger, I notice MSNBC's commercials are targeted toward drug sales to hypochondriacs or car commercials (who can afford a new car)? What a waste of money. Why can't we have publicly funded elections like some other countries do? Looking forward to your class tomorrow morning.
Check out the %'s! 40% are independent, the two parties are 30% each! Except in Congress, which continues to MIS-represent the electorate. Something's amiss in our 'party' system, which looks more and more like fraternities at a rich kids' school, looking inward rather than dealing with the issues of the public at large.
DeSantis less loathsome than tRump ?Hardly. Both are truly disgusting to this independent, but very liberal, voter. Even though it indicates there is only one political party in the country, and the other is nothing but a cult, let them run tRump again. He will lose resoundingly. DeSantis is a dangerous fascist too, and supposedly smarter than tRump (not like that takes much). A DeSantis presidency would also be disastrous for the country and continue the policies of rolling back long established social rights and failure to address actual important issues like healthcare and maintenance of existing infrastructure, never mind initiatives for new infrastructure which has been neglected under both parties leadership. We need a government concerned with the people’s business, the people’s welfare. Not one that spends their time infighting and policing themselves with gotcha stunts.
While we focus on national politics, GOP legislatures in states like Texas, Tennessee and Idaho are trying to ban an American citizens right to cross state lines among other things. Trump is not our biggest problem!!
I was not excited about Biden. Basically I voted against the despicable Trump. However, Biden has brought sanity and stability to governance for which his administration has been little press coverage. The legislation has been moderate but significant. The Fed rather than Biden is to blame for bank failure. At almost 91, I could predict that raising interest rates was a terrible idea. I hope sanity prevails!
Well, finally, Rump is shooting himself in the foot, as are all the rest of the Trump GOPers. The group outside of Mar-a-Lago was slim. Trump found himself in hostile territory in New York. The jerk that got beat in Wisconsin was a good example. He had to drench himself in false righteousness. I'm glad the younger set is largely not falling for this. The GOP is sounding very much like the Southern Democrats who supported slavery. They couldn't imagine a different world and were sure they were right. Change is a-comin', folks. And none too soon.
Excellent analysis of the shifting demographics of America's voters. Indeed we do need a 3rd party eventually to replace the corrupt and seditious activities of today's GOP insurrectionists. We can just call it the American party, with no platforms except to follow the fairly elected mandates of the American people and to outlaw gerrymandering and judicial court stacking, especially SCOTUS which needs expanded to 13 justices to accurately represent the 13 federal appellate districts.
Until then vote 🗳 blue 🗳 💙 Until the GOP is a distant bad memory. Even ol Abe Lincoln would agree 👍
If the Republican choice turned out to be Trump or DeSantis, that would hardly be a choice since both of them are despicable individuals and politicians. Both are cruel, amoral despots, temperamentally and strategically. I have no particular fondness for Joe Biden, especially since he has approved destruction of a part of the Alaskan wilderness to please the fossil fuel industry and accommodate insatiable consumer wants over precious and dwindling places of the Earth and the creatures who are being decimated and abused every which way by our selfish, careless species. If we continue down this path there will soon be nothing but condominiums, golf courses, shopping malls, poisons and garbage on land, in the oceans, rivers, streams - every once lovely, clean place now bleak, depleted, miserable: the human contribution to planetary existence.
And let us not forget the countless billions of birds, fishes, mammals and insects condemned to incarcerated Hell merely to satisfy our grotesque appetite for the taste of animal pain and body parts. From the standpoint of this planet, our entire species is "Trump." He is a symptom and an exemplar of ourselves and the multiple diseases, moral, mental, and physical, that we are spreading everywhere with no end in sight. - Karen Davis, PhD, President, United Poultry Concerns
It was always necessary to woo the independents, now even more so. I was more concerned about Desantis being the Republican nominee than I was about Trump, whose resurrection is a green light to a liberal agenda by the DNC. Let's see if HRC, Axelrod, Brazil, and Clyburn blow it again.
This is not about Democrats, Republicans and Independents. The real issue here is insanity and fascism versus democracy. If there is ever a good time to be woke, this is it.
I am disturbed that independents would even consider DeSantis, whether or not Trump is out of jail and running for office. DeSantis is just as excited to install himself as the autocrat ruling our nation as Trump. DeSantis is a bit smarter, maybe, but at least as cruel, indifferent to people's suffering, and as racist, misogynistic, xenophobic, homo/transphobic and lacking in a moral compass as Trump or moreso. DeSantis is somewhat younger, usually talks in the non-accented Midwestern English so beloved by a lot of people. However, he is also a user just like his Trump mentor, and like the don, knows how to get people to act against their inclination and hurt people who don't deserve it. I am anxious to learn what it is that pulls independents toward DeSantis. Are they just telling themselves "well, at least it isn't Trump?" That does not bode well for our democracy because it means a whole chunk of those independents really want an autocrat, just the right autocrat. Clearly Biden has his problems, but he at least does seem to be working for the American people. He is, however, leaning a little too far right now, I guess trying to court the "independents." I want to tell him to just stop it. Democrats need someone who actually does care that kids are dying by guns, that our planet is suffering and must convert to renewable energy fast, and believes in the Constitution. Biden does stand for all of these. No one whom Republicans would nominate believes all three, if any of it, no matter what their mouth says.
Trump represents getting sucked into the death spiral of democracy. But the #RepubloFascism he has started will outlast his presence on the political stage, unless we manage to do three things:
1- Establish that 70% of America is wise to his lies and that most folks know that manipulation was the goal all along.
2- Rally America around the notion of reaffirming a fair, transparent, and verifiable voting process that can be depended upon. This involves public, not private funding for all campaigns, ending all gerrymandering, and taking away each state’s ability to tilt the vote towards their state congressional bodies’ desires.
3- Make honor in politics the litmus test for everyone that takes a podium. Every example of hypocrisy should be worn like an anvil hanging from their necks. And everyone that has chosen personal gain over professional integrity should be voted out at the next opportunity.
This is how we have to imagine our nation going forward. If we fall short, we are giving into American entropy.
Bear this in mind, too: if a case challenging Wisconsin’s Gerrymandered legislative and Congressional districts is put before the state’s Supreme Court as newly constituted with Judge Janet Protasiewicz on the panel, and the new majority overturns the previous court’s upholding of that Gerrymander, the districts will be redrawn, most likely to ensure, as much as possible, that each will contain nearly equal numbers of registered Democrats and Republicans, leaving it up to the Independents to decide who will be elected to represent them — which is as it should be.
Elections actually decided by which candidates make the more convincing and truthful arguments — can Wisconsin stand such a radical prospect?
Independents determine every election. Independents are mostly conservative voters that don't want to join the Repub Party for obvious reasons. They don't like the Democratic Party because they don't like the liberal leaning the party has on some issues. So, there they are, left without a group to align with. I've always felt it necessary to work within a group in order to affect change and get things done. I'm also a person who likes to be loyal to a group, and Democrats have generally suited me well. That doesn't mean I always have to vote straight party line although I always have. I can't see myself ever voting for a Repub.
It's far too early to tell what the political landscape will look like until we get closer to '24. From my contact with conservatives, it doesn't appear that they are losing their devotion to trump. They seem to be holding fast. As the other shoes begin to fall here in Georgia and at the federal level, we may see a crack develop in the trump loyal. My crystal ball is telling me very little. trump appears to be weakening. His energy level is at an all time low. DeSantis hasn't even announced yet. It looks like the time for him to announce is close at hand if he plans on running. I don't see how trump can run a successful campaign against both Biden and DeSantis. He has plenty of money, but can he muster the energy necessary to win two campaigns? He's not a young man. On the other hand, if DeSantis runs, he will turn off many Repubs in the fight just like how Sanders' supporters refused to vote for Hillary. This could turn into an election of the weakest candidates this country has seen in a long time. It's just too early to tell.
I became unaffiliated many years ago. I personally think all Americans should register as Independent and then vote with your best judgment for the person who you believe will have the best intentions for the Country and the people.
Thank you for the information. I am surprised at the number of unaffiliated voters and shocked at the amount of money spent on elections. The Wisconsin Supreme Court election just used up 68 million dollars. Do that many people still watch TV commercials? We fast forward through them. When my hand isn't fast enough on the remote trigger, I notice MSNBC's commercials are targeted toward drug sales to hypochondriacs or car commercials (who can afford a new car)? What a waste of money. Why can't we have publicly funded elections like some other countries do? Looking forward to your class tomorrow morning.
Check out the %'s! 40% are independent, the two parties are 30% each! Except in Congress, which continues to MIS-represent the electorate. Something's amiss in our 'party' system, which looks more and more like fraternities at a rich kids' school, looking inward rather than dealing with the issues of the public at large.
DeSantis less loathsome than tRump ?Hardly. Both are truly disgusting to this independent, but very liberal, voter. Even though it indicates there is only one political party in the country, and the other is nothing but a cult, let them run tRump again. He will lose resoundingly. DeSantis is a dangerous fascist too, and supposedly smarter than tRump (not like that takes much). A DeSantis presidency would also be disastrous for the country and continue the policies of rolling back long established social rights and failure to address actual important issues like healthcare and maintenance of existing infrastructure, never mind initiatives for new infrastructure which has been neglected under both parties leadership. We need a government concerned with the people’s business, the people’s welfare. Not one that spends their time infighting and policing themselves with gotcha stunts.
While we focus on national politics, GOP legislatures in states like Texas, Tennessee and Idaho are trying to ban an American citizens right to cross state lines among other things. Trump is not our biggest problem!!
I was not excited about Biden. Basically I voted against the despicable Trump. However, Biden has brought sanity and stability to governance for which his administration has been little press coverage. The legislation has been moderate but significant. The Fed rather than Biden is to blame for bank failure. At almost 91, I could predict that raising interest rates was a terrible idea. I hope sanity prevails!
Thanks for the important information on independent voters, Dr. Reich.
I would have switched to independent years ago, but I live in New York State, which continues as a closed primary state.
And since many contests in NY are basically decided during primaries, I want my vote to count, so I'm registered as a Democrat out of necessity.
So, while NYS is considered a deep blue state, there are still antidemocratic voting procedures that need serious reappraisal and correction.
I'm also looking forward to your course.
Well, finally, Rump is shooting himself in the foot, as are all the rest of the Trump GOPers. The group outside of Mar-a-Lago was slim. Trump found himself in hostile territory in New York. The jerk that got beat in Wisconsin was a good example. He had to drench himself in false righteousness. I'm glad the younger set is largely not falling for this. The GOP is sounding very much like the Southern Democrats who supported slavery. They couldn't imagine a different world and were sure they were right. Change is a-comin', folks. And none too soon.
Excellent analysis of the shifting demographics of America's voters. Indeed we do need a 3rd party eventually to replace the corrupt and seditious activities of today's GOP insurrectionists. We can just call it the American party, with no platforms except to follow the fairly elected mandates of the American people and to outlaw gerrymandering and judicial court stacking, especially SCOTUS which needs expanded to 13 justices to accurately represent the 13 federal appellate districts.
Until then vote 🗳 blue 🗳 💙 Until the GOP is a distant bad memory. Even ol Abe Lincoln would agree 👍
If the Republican choice turned out to be Trump or DeSantis, that would hardly be a choice since both of them are despicable individuals and politicians. Both are cruel, amoral despots, temperamentally and strategically. I have no particular fondness for Joe Biden, especially since he has approved destruction of a part of the Alaskan wilderness to please the fossil fuel industry and accommodate insatiable consumer wants over precious and dwindling places of the Earth and the creatures who are being decimated and abused every which way by our selfish, careless species. If we continue down this path there will soon be nothing but condominiums, golf courses, shopping malls, poisons and garbage on land, in the oceans, rivers, streams - every once lovely, clean place now bleak, depleted, miserable: the human contribution to planetary existence.
And let us not forget the countless billions of birds, fishes, mammals and insects condemned to incarcerated Hell merely to satisfy our grotesque appetite for the taste of animal pain and body parts. From the standpoint of this planet, our entire species is "Trump." He is a symptom and an exemplar of ourselves and the multiple diseases, moral, mental, and physical, that we are spreading everywhere with no end in sight. - Karen Davis, PhD, President, United Poultry Concerns
It was always necessary to woo the independents, now even more so. I was more concerned about Desantis being the Republican nominee than I was about Trump, whose resurrection is a green light to a liberal agenda by the DNC. Let's see if HRC, Axelrod, Brazil, and Clyburn blow it again.