Terrifyingly optimistic. Today is my first day of working as election clerk for the next four days in a vote center in LA County. I'm looking forward to, hopefully, many voters coming in but uneasy about how they'll vote....even as I help them in that most fundamental of rights.
I hear you!! Today is my first day in as a lead clerk in the Calistoga vote center. (Napa county) And, I too am apprehensive and uneasy. Hope no one tries to disrupt the voting!!!
I don't know who will be No 1 in 2022, but sometimes the whole is greater than the sum of its component parts and WE can do it!!! I post this on media and Republican sites. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJWvvmSrOVw You can do it also. Highly effective.
IMHO Trump is doing us a favor by saying he is contemplating running in 2022. His negatives are huge!!!!
We aren't very ambulatory so we are calling and texting to get out registered Democrats..
I'm completely dumbfounded that Biden reappointed Republican, Jerome Powell to the Fed, despite progressive lawmakers being adamantly opposed to his reappointment (and for good reason).
Powell is committing class- warfare type assaults on American workers as a result of his rate hikes, the largest hike coming just before the midterms (curious timing, I think).
Instead of temporarily taxing the price-gouging and windfall profits of corporate America, a democratic administration is pursuing the easier, lazier path, American workers' wages.
If this isn't outright class warfare, I don't know what is.
Yes! As they raised interest rates another 75 basis points this week I had a mental image of a big old hammer coming down on those who can least afford it, while Bezos takes a vacation in space and Musk buys Mars.
Hello Deborah. Don't waste your dumbfoundedness. Biden is nothing but a corporate dem who counts on the likes of Powell, Manchimera, Pelosi and Schumer to do the dirty work. His faux-progressive pronouncements e.g., he's a pro-worker union guy and he's gonna be the living embodiment of FDR re: social safety-net policy are just political posturing that were not really meant to go anywhere. Case in point: Progressives are gonna be blamed for losing (if in fact we do lose: Michael Moore's optimism notwithstanding). The fact that the dems couldn't figure out a way to link women's health protection rights to the economy until a week before the election is telling in and of itself.
Omg, I've been furious about Powell since Biden came into office. Progressive Dems, Warren loudly, begged him to replace Powell. Powell is a Republican and he is going to sabotage the economy to help the GOP win....how hard is this to understand. Congress knows what the corporations are doing to the country, lots of people do, just not enough. The corporate Democrats are why I left the party years ago. They put plenty of nails in this coffin!
If folks want to try to prove a Progressive can win, they'd better help Bernie turn out the WI vote for Barnes, over traitorous Johnson. Sadly, I am not optimistic that any Democratic candidates (not just WI) have the ability to find a winning campaign theme, and I think Meidas Touch and other outside parties may be more effective
This election is very different because no one wants either one of these two political opponents to win. Between their ages and the obvious time restrictions placed upon each of them with regard to the lengths of their respective terms, if elected, we would be looking at men in their 80s by the time they finish their 4 years in the White House. We need someone fresher and obviously younger, but who? A current member of the Senate would be an interesting choice, Jeffries is a good man. As it is our next general election would be to put a VP in a position to become the President if for some reason the elected individual couldn't fulfill their duties. That fact is terrifying to most voters. We have no clue as to who Trump would choose to be his VP but Biden has Harris in position to take over in the event he couldn't fulfill his assigned obligations. Trump's pick would be a horror story, due to the man's taste in vacuous people with negative personalities. People don't like the unknown, they want the feeling of certainty that they would get by supporting a candidate who is much younger.
Several things mentioned in snippets during today's klatch, and I'll just highlight two: 1) "We're entering into a new age." and 2) Joe McCarthy and Republicans' loss in the midterms of 1954.
Regarding the second point, the word "decency" was one that sunk McCarthy -- and for all my life, I felt I could count on the basic decency of the vast majority of my fellow Americans. That is no longer true, and I would argue the erosion of decency has been taking place with our tacit silence for a long time now.
And so we're entering a new age -- and whether it's this election or the one in 2024 -- decent Americans find it just awful having to live from election to election as each new shoe drops. People point to "messaging," but the level of the messaging has to be at the philosophical or spiritual level. Trumpism has done this from the dark side without anyone really articulating it. We've been taking policy knives to a cultural and philosophical gunfight.
These are the times that try souls. I'm worried about the results coming this week, but also have faith that the best of most of us will be brought out.
Thomas, as you say, "We've been taking policy knives to a cultural and philosophical gunfight."
You highlight a most important point.
The standards of ethics, morality, decency and spirituality have all deceased in past decades and paying attention to them is more important than any policy initiatives. More important and devastating even than the economic, environmental and social conditions we pass to future generations will be the cultural wasteland that is being created now.
Both major political parties should take note and learn from this lesson.
Thank you for your reply., Michael It is gratifying to know we can communicate on this theme.
Policy IS important, but it has to be tied to that underlying cultural-philosophical layer or else it's just straw in the wind -- which is what I think causes a lot of the worry and frustration, and sense of hopelessness. That is not going to go away until it's addressed -- and that is the REAL messaging that is so lacking.
I would like to play off the term "cultural wasteland" -- one that speaks volumes -- and say that so many if not most of us lack "a code" to live by. We have no "coming of age" ritual or ceremony to affirm our commitment to the Constitution and democratic processes.
I so much agree with your comments on decency. I remember, fondly, a time when the majority of Americans were decent, people who believed in law, in civic duty. That decency began to deteriorate with the "Me First" 80's.
I was born at the end of the roaring 20s. I lived through the Great Depression. I was an adolescent when WWII started. I was lucky to be in premed and was not drafted. I was called to active duty as a physician in the Korean War, but never left the United States.
What I am saying is that times have always been terrifying and it seems to be much more terrifying in the past. I remember Huey Long.
Like it or not, ever since the Tower of Babel, we have been fighting. I wonder when we will start talking to each other again and hopefully following the 2nd great commandment Meanwhile, I am a short timer and hope you have a place at the table and are not on the menu. Good luck my friends. it is your party. Make of it what you will. Frank
Thanks for sharing. I’m right behind you. It occurred to me that our generation- at least some of us- tried our best. Life will always be a struggle and we will always disagree.But we need to talk to each other. I don’t think the generation coming up wants to fight. Look at the Russian men fleeing.. they don’t want to fight. The Ukrainian men are fighting for their lives. They did not start this and seem to heave an edge.
It’s mostly the next generation now. I hope woke talk to one another.
I live in a very red area in Texas. Apparently they plan to restore the one-party government of the pre civil war era. In some ways they have already done so. Justice has been corrupt here for a while. Some of us are apparently above the law. (Not a new phenomenon. Affluenza, anyone? Paxton under indictment for how long?) The right wing media helps maintain the fictions, narrative, attitudes and most of all, the anger.
I am on the phone all the time with Texas voters. My take is that republicans are happy to have the spin so they can jump on the racialized misogynistic hysteria and pretend there is reason and logic and narrative to the viciousness. They are not victims of the hype, but willing perpetrators.
I wish I agreed with you, Daniel. I think they know exactly what they're doing. A republican voter on a phone bank this afternoon explained to me that he is a republican because he spent 2 years in Vietnam and 30 years as a cop.
These guys get benefits. I never speak to Magats about Trump. I find out what benefits they and their family have at stake. Show them this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJWvvmSrOVw
BTW I AM concentrating on getting out the Democratic vote and haven't been calling Republicans.
"When the people rise in masses in behalf of the Union,and the liberties of their country,truly may it be said,"the gates of hell shall not prevail against them ."
So please explain your point of commenting on this forum, other than to be disruptive? If you have a point to make (policy, narrative), we are all open here and more than willing to have an honest discussion. Are you?
@Frank Lee. Did you know that the Proud Boys, Kevin McCarthy and Mitch McConnel were filmed in the basement of a pizza parlor baking and eating children! Yes! It's true. None other than Tucker Carlson said so!!!
The biggest enemy of this country is toxic disinformation.
In his 2011 essay "The Big Elusive Idea" Neal Gabler wrote "...if information was once grist for ideas, over the last decade it has become competition for them. We are like the farmer who has too much wheat to make flour. We are inundated with so much information that we wouldn’t have time to process it even if we wanted to, and most of us don’t want to." Eleven years later, information has been laced with lies.
The delivery of toxic disinformation is relentless because of the wealthy few behind it - either for their own financial gain or for the destruction of this country.
I marvel that the highest federal tax rate in the 1950s was over 90%. Imagine what we as a country could do - for the planet, for everyone - if we had fair tax rates and responsible tax payment.
This election will assess the health of American citizens' information-gathering and information-evaluating capabilities. Have the monied, self-serving few won out? Is Orwell's Ministry of Truth here?
Sooo well said Jeanne M.! And, in the 1954 mid-term debacle there was no social media inundating people with lies. Now half the country would not hear Welch asking McCarthy "At long last, have you left no sense of decency?" because they would all be watching Newsmax. And the 1% no longer feel any obligation to contribute to the welfare of the country - they just want to control it.
Did you hear about the high school football team that lost the game, then refused to accept the results, saying the game was rigged, even though they had no evidence it was? Did you hear those sore losers stormed the field and staged a violent protest? Of course you didn’t, because that never happened. But what would happen if student athletes refused to accept the results? What would happen if they engaged in violent protests when they lost? Cold such sporting events continue to exist under such conditions?
Fortunately, every day in America thousands of young athletes wo lose do not do that. They may not like it—but they accept the results, using what they learn in defeat to become stronger competitors for future games. They do it despite an adult world where 70% of those in one political party declare, without any supporting evidence, that the 2020 election was rigged, and one in ten Americans say that violence against the government right now is justified.
What example are we setting for our children when those campaigning for or holding office spout lies and falsehoods to maintain and gain power? What example are we setting when elected officials who’ve taken an oath to preserve, protect, and defend our Constitution stand before microphones, or sit on daises, and repeat these lies, with no evidence to support them? What example are we setting when those who know these are lies remain silent, and do not speak out against them?
How can we expect our children to be truthful, and to accept the results when they lose, if adults around them do not model how to do that? How can this nation we love thrive, or even survive, under the weight of such lies?
Calling out violent acts without condemning the lies that spawned them is not enough— it is not acceptable. Our time on this Earth is limited, but the dishonor of putting power and party before one’s country is forever. It is Eternal.
I ask all Americans, whether they are Republicans, Democrats, or Unaffiliated—or whatever your political stripe is— to stand up and call out these lies. And I remind all; the midterms are November 8. What will you do in 2022 to stand up for truth, for democracy, and for our Constitution, and to be a positive role model for our children?
I am quite worried, but am using my wallet to fund various Democratic candidates for Senate and Governor, and the DCCC. I live in Illinois, where I believe Tammy Duckworth and J. B. Pritzker will win, so I have concentrated on funding other Democrats throughout the Midwest, but also in Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, New Hampshire, Florida and North Carolina.
According to Cornell Belcher, speaking last night on MSNBC, Republicans have been flooding the zone with biased polls that use turnout models from 2010 and 2014, instead of 2018 and 2020. THEIR GOAL IS TO CREATE A RED WAVE NARRATIVE IN THE DAYS LEADING TO THE ELECTION IN AN ATTEMPT TO SUPPRESS DEMOCRATIC VOTER TURNOUT. DO NOT BE FOOLED. GO VOTE FOR DEMOCRATS AND ENCOURAGE OTHERS TO DO SO AS WELL!
We can discuss consequences of victory or loss and tactical responses after the fact. But the overall strategy cannot be based in despondence. It must be based on the idea that PROGRESSIVES, OR EVEN MODERATE DEMOCRATS, CAN STILL WIN IN 2024 AND BEYOND. The 2024 election will be the one that makes or breaks liberal, multiracial and multicultural democracy in the United States. WE CANNOT LOSE HOPE OR TIME IN PREPARING FOR THAT ELECTION NO MATTER THE OUTCOME OF THIS ONE.
Also, the other part of the GOP "polling" showing them winning, is that even before the election they will have totally "proven" via scientific polling means, that the GOP has won the election and the only way they didn't is because the Dems "stole" the election. They are ALL set to run with this narrative for any elections the GOP loses. CHEATING by Dems!!!
For a few words of hope for the coming elections, read the November 4, 2022 "Letter from an American" by Heather Cox Richardson, a history professor and commentator on politics. Four of the battleground states are trending blue.
This situation is NOT a Trump problem. The problem started back in the 1950's when the a minority group, the very rich, decided they were being over taxed. They have played the long game to undermine democracy. I highly recommend "Democracy In Chains" by Nancy MacLean as a reference. Another is "the Brothers" by Stephen Kinzer on US's terrible foriegn policy blunders done to support American business interests.
Misogyny , racism, xenophobia, exploitation of the poor, maintaining lower levels of education for the majority of citizens, maintaining inequity has always served to maintain cheap,or free labor in this country. Exploitation of these by big business , and Wall Street for profits that no one needs has become the ugly American identity. The incongruent message of progressives and the reality of the deterioration of our laws and norms in factor of the rich has made most a little crazy and definitely distrustful of all branches of our government including journalism. I hope I am wrong, but I don’t see s trajectory can change. experiment toward equality and equity is dead in this country.
Yes, my answer is Worried. I am an eternal (mostly) optimist, but with the political scene such as it is worries even me. To be ruled by our politicians and not the people is a nightmare and the looks of it, it might just happen. Why or how could this happen in the largest democracy in the world? I am a democrat and will always believe the people will rise up and take control of America. We have a spirit that cannot be put out by a republic run country. There..there is my optimism.
Mr. Nelson -- America of course is NOT "the largest democracy in the world." That distinction belongs to India, an admittedly imperfect democracy, one on its way to becoming a Hindu theocracy. Of course America is on its way to becoming a Christian theocracy, with the current election about to give renewed power to the theocrats--if all the polls are to be believed. But hope is not a strategy, nor is prayer. But I desperately hope to find out in about 72 hours that America has NOT embraced autocracy.
I keep pretty close tabs on the Democracy in Europe movement -- DiEM25. Democracy is on the ropes over there too. Keep your eye on the UK's new PM, who, as Chancellor of the Exchequer (their Jerome Powell) wanted to further privatize the national health system and institute increased austerity measures. And, like the finance ministers of Italy and Greece, is former Goldman Sachs.
Back in 2003, five years before the financial meltdown of the housing markets and Wall Street, Paul Krugman wrote a book he titled: The Great Unraveling. This is what we are living through. If we don't start learning to hang together as democrats -- small D intended -- we shall surely be hung out separately.
On a point of information, the Chancellor is the UK finance minister, more akin to the role of Secretary of the Treasury in the US, while the Fed Chairman role is equivalent to the Governor of the Bank of England and central bank leaders elsewhere.
I think you should have included “Hopeful” in your list of feelings about the midterms. That’s where I am.
However, one thing I haven’t seen brought up anywhere is the fact that our government, for years, with President after President, has interfered with and really crushed democracies in other countries in pursuit of what were seen as our national interests. We’ve fomented coups in many places, many times, rarely admitting it, overturning democratically elected leaders who wanted to take care of their people—better jobs, wages, schooling, childcare, healthcare, justice, equality—and replaced them with our chosen despots who will foster profiteering above all else and benefit a few rich people in their own countries, plus our corporations which will exploit their people’s labor and land. Gang violence has become widespread. The coups have resulted in the deaths of many innocent people. These countries have been seriously messed up. The US is criminal and very anti-democratic. I worry that recently elected leftist leaders in Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, for instance, are in grave danger of our interference. The US should keep its dirty hands off.
Why, therefore, do we worry about our own democracy? We haven’t acted as if any other country was entitled to it.
I, too, resent what our country has done so wrong headedly, in so many parts of the world. I've been stewing for decades over Patrice Lamumba. Yet I still love the US, and hoped the arc would continue to bend toward justice and perfection, rather than the anarchy and fascism I see on the horizon.
Terrified is an understatement, "panic-stricken" might be more accurate. I never thought I would see anything like this in my lifetime. I'm losing my cautious optimism that sanity will prevail on Tuesday with no plan on how to move forward while remaining true to myself, healthy and optimistic.
Idea for getting out the vote. Call all your left leaning friends and relatives NO MATTER WHERE THEY LIVE and get them to commit to vote. When they commit ask them to call all their left leaning friends and relatives NO MATTER WERE THEY LIVE and get them to vote and then suggest they call thier ... . This can create an exponetial stealth wave across the nation and it does not cost anything!
Terrifyingly optimistic. Today is my first day of working as election clerk for the next four days in a vote center in LA County. I'm looking forward to, hopefully, many voters coming in but uneasy about how they'll vote....even as I help them in that most fundamental of rights.
I hear you!! Today is my first day in as a lead clerk in the Calistoga vote center. (Napa county) And, I too am apprehensive and uneasy. Hope no one tries to disrupt the voting!!!
¡Buena suerte! And, as Tiny Tim would say, "God bless us everyone."
Kudos to you also, Thomas
It'll be a long day but also very rewarding; don't worry!
I certainly hope so, Rishi,
You see? "I told you so!"
= )
Kudos Beth, you are needed, and stepped up
I'm worried. But we can win. Still time.
Turn out. Ground game. Number of people who voted is high.
A I said previously, the number one influencer in 2020 was Taylor Swift. Here is her site. https://www.instagram.com/p/BopoXpYnCes/?hl=en
I don't know who will be No 1 in 2022, but sometimes the whole is greater than the sum of its component parts and WE can do it!!! I post this on media and Republican sites. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJWvvmSrOVw You can do it also. Highly effective.
IMHO Trump is doing us a favor by saying he is contemplating running in 2022. His negatives are huge!!!!
We aren't very ambulatory so we are calling and texting to get out registered Democrats..
Daniel, you are the Best! Optimistic and you keep working at it. THANK YOU....
Yes! I count on others to balance my pessimism!
I like your enthusiasm. Yes We Can!
I'm completely dumbfounded that Biden reappointed Republican, Jerome Powell to the Fed, despite progressive lawmakers being adamantly opposed to his reappointment (and for good reason).
Powell is committing class- warfare type assaults on American workers as a result of his rate hikes, the largest hike coming just before the midterms (curious timing, I think).
Instead of temporarily taxing the price-gouging and windfall profits of corporate America, a democratic administration is pursuing the easier, lazier path, American workers' wages.
If this isn't outright class warfare, I don't know what is.
Time to attack. Republicans are the enemy.
They are traitors to the country. Period.
Yes! As they raised interest rates another 75 basis points this week I had a mental image of a big old hammer coming down on those who can least afford it, while Bezos takes a vacation in space and Musk buys Mars.
This might explain why, Deborah.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/11/23/fed-chair-republican-biden/
I agree, he is operating on a false vision of how an economy works.
Hello Deborah. Don't waste your dumbfoundedness. Biden is nothing but a corporate dem who counts on the likes of Powell, Manchimera, Pelosi and Schumer to do the dirty work. His faux-progressive pronouncements e.g., he's a pro-worker union guy and he's gonna be the living embodiment of FDR re: social safety-net policy are just political posturing that were not really meant to go anywhere. Case in point: Progressives are gonna be blamed for losing (if in fact we do lose: Michael Moore's optimism notwithstanding). The fact that the dems couldn't figure out a way to link women's health protection rights to the economy until a week before the election is telling in and of itself.
Omg, I've been furious about Powell since Biden came into office. Progressive Dems, Warren loudly, begged him to replace Powell. Powell is a Republican and he is going to sabotage the economy to help the GOP win....how hard is this to understand. Congress knows what the corporations are doing to the country, lots of people do, just not enough. The corporate Democrats are why I left the party years ago. They put plenty of nails in this coffin!
If folks want to try to prove a Progressive can win, they'd better help Bernie turn out the WI vote for Barnes, over traitorous Johnson. Sadly, I am not optimistic that any Democratic candidates (not just WI) have the ability to find a winning campaign theme, and I think Meidas Touch and other outside parties may be more effective
A DailyKOS article points out United We Dream also has powerful ads for AZ, FL et al.:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/11/3/2133319/-Immigrant-youth-led-ad-isn-t-letting-Blake-Masters-get-away-with-trying-to-erase-his-extreme-record?detail=emaildkre&pm_source=DKRE&pm_medium=email
https://unitedwedreamaction.org/
This election is very different because no one wants either one of these two political opponents to win. Between their ages and the obvious time restrictions placed upon each of them with regard to the lengths of their respective terms, if elected, we would be looking at men in their 80s by the time they finish their 4 years in the White House. We need someone fresher and obviously younger, but who? A current member of the Senate would be an interesting choice, Jeffries is a good man. As it is our next general election would be to put a VP in a position to become the President if for some reason the elected individual couldn't fulfill their duties. That fact is terrifying to most voters. We have no clue as to who Trump would choose to be his VP but Biden has Harris in position to take over in the event he couldn't fulfill his assigned obligations. Trump's pick would be a horror story, due to the man's taste in vacuous people with negative personalities. People don't like the unknown, they want the feeling of certainty that they would get by supporting a candidate who is much younger.
Several things mentioned in snippets during today's klatch, and I'll just highlight two: 1) "We're entering into a new age." and 2) Joe McCarthy and Republicans' loss in the midterms of 1954.
Regarding the second point, the word "decency" was one that sunk McCarthy -- and for all my life, I felt I could count on the basic decency of the vast majority of my fellow Americans. That is no longer true, and I would argue the erosion of decency has been taking place with our tacit silence for a long time now.
And so we're entering a new age -- and whether it's this election or the one in 2024 -- decent Americans find it just awful having to live from election to election as each new shoe drops. People point to "messaging," but the level of the messaging has to be at the philosophical or spiritual level. Trumpism has done this from the dark side without anyone really articulating it. We've been taking policy knives to a cultural and philosophical gunfight.
These are the times that try souls. I'm worried about the results coming this week, but also have faith that the best of most of us will be brought out.
Thomas, as you say, "We've been taking policy knives to a cultural and philosophical gunfight."
You highlight a most important point.
The standards of ethics, morality, decency and spirituality have all deceased in past decades and paying attention to them is more important than any policy initiatives. More important and devastating even than the economic, environmental and social conditions we pass to future generations will be the cultural wasteland that is being created now.
Both major political parties should take note and learn from this lesson.
Thank you for your reply., Michael It is gratifying to know we can communicate on this theme.
Policy IS important, but it has to be tied to that underlying cultural-philosophical layer or else it's just straw in the wind -- which is what I think causes a lot of the worry and frustration, and sense of hopelessness. That is not going to go away until it's addressed -- and that is the REAL messaging that is so lacking.
I would like to play off the term "cultural wasteland" -- one that speaks volumes -- and say that so many if not most of us lack "a code" to live by. We have no "coming of age" ritual or ceremony to affirm our commitment to the Constitution and democratic processes.
Great thoughts and advice.
I so much agree with your comments on decency. I remember, fondly, a time when the majority of Americans were decent, people who believed in law, in civic duty. That decency began to deteriorate with the "Me First" 80's.
I was born at the end of the roaring 20s. I lived through the Great Depression. I was an adolescent when WWII started. I was lucky to be in premed and was not drafted. I was called to active duty as a physician in the Korean War, but never left the United States.
What I am saying is that times have always been terrifying and it seems to be much more terrifying in the past. I remember Huey Long.
Like it or not, ever since the Tower of Babel, we have been fighting. I wonder when we will start talking to each other again and hopefully following the 2nd great commandment Meanwhile, I am a short timer and hope you have a place at the table and are not on the menu. Good luck my friends. it is your party. Make of it what you will. Frank
If the GOP win a majority in any branch, I'll be on the menu.
I’m ordering the democratic menu!
yes and you will get the mushroom treatment.
Sorry, I'm vegan. Do you have anything else?
The mushroom treatment?
May God grant you His choicest graces always!
Thanks for sharing. I’m right behind you. It occurred to me that our generation- at least some of us- tried our best. Life will always be a struggle and we will always disagree.But we need to talk to each other. I don’t think the generation coming up wants to fight. Look at the Russian men fleeing.. they don’t want to fight. The Ukrainian men are fighting for their lives. They did not start this and seem to heave an edge.
It’s mostly the next generation now. I hope woke talk to one another.
Knowing what the republicans will do if they win who in their right mind would vote for them?
I live in a very red area in Texas. Apparently they plan to restore the one-party government of the pre civil war era. In some ways they have already done so. Justice has been corrupt here for a while. Some of us are apparently above the law. (Not a new phenomenon. Affluenza, anyone? Paxton under indictment for how long?) The right wing media helps maintain the fictions, narrative, attitudes and most of all, the anger.
I am on the phone all the time with Texas voters. My take is that republicans are happy to have the spin so they can jump on the racialized misogynistic hysteria and pretend there is reason and logic and narrative to the viciousness. They are not victims of the hype, but willing perpetrators.
I agree. Fox, OANN & newsmax, and the ‘good old boys’ don’t want to lose power. (Like the pre civil war south)
They know not what they are doing. https://www.texastribune.org/2022/11/04/dan-crenshaw-election-deniers/?fbclid=IwAR2rkTMQktx7fLjwPhlXuoAxpdnxKZrk67lp3zxn9CQsDln6L757xe-KdPU
I wish I agreed with you, Daniel. I think they know exactly what they're doing. A republican voter on a phone bank this afternoon explained to me that he is a republican because he spent 2 years in Vietnam and 30 years as a cop.
These guys get benefits. I never speak to Magats about Trump. I find out what benefits they and their family have at stake. Show them this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJWvvmSrOVw
BTW I AM concentrating on getting out the Democratic vote and haven't been calling Republicans.
My feelings too!
Probably anyone in their right mind.
More success than any president since LBJ. https://joebiden.com/accomplishments/#
Yep. And still a low approval rating, paradoxically.
Bad press.
All of us with moral minds and patriotic hearts will vote for Democrats.
"When the people rise in masses in behalf of the Union,and the liberties of their country,truly may it be said,"the gates of hell shall not prevail against them ."
President Abraham Lincoln Feb.11,1861
''. ' '
@Frank Lee. Just falsehoods. Moderates are not "jumping the Democrat ship" and you can't make that true just by spreading it around.
So please explain your point of commenting on this forum, other than to be disruptive? If you have a point to make (policy, narrative), we are all open here and more than willing to have an honest discussion. Are you?
@Frank Lee. Did you know that the Proud Boys, Kevin McCarthy and Mitch McConnel were filmed in the basement of a pizza parlor baking and eating children! Yes! It's true. None other than Tucker Carlson said so!!!
Too funny!! I am laughing so hard!! Thank you Benjamin!!
@Pam. I love saying crazy stuff to crazy trolls!
The biggest enemy of this country is toxic disinformation.
In his 2011 essay "The Big Elusive Idea" Neal Gabler wrote "...if information was once grist for ideas, over the last decade it has become competition for them. We are like the farmer who has too much wheat to make flour. We are inundated with so much information that we wouldn’t have time to process it even if we wanted to, and most of us don’t want to." Eleven years later, information has been laced with lies.
The delivery of toxic disinformation is relentless because of the wealthy few behind it - either for their own financial gain or for the destruction of this country.
I marvel that the highest federal tax rate in the 1950s was over 90%. Imagine what we as a country could do - for the planet, for everyone - if we had fair tax rates and responsible tax payment.
This election will assess the health of American citizens' information-gathering and information-evaluating capabilities. Have the monied, self-serving few won out? Is Orwell's Ministry of Truth here?
Sooo well said Jeanne M.! And, in the 1954 mid-term debacle there was no social media inundating people with lies. Now half the country would not hear Welch asking McCarthy "At long last, have you left no sense of decency?" because they would all be watching Newsmax. And the 1% no longer feel any obligation to contribute to the welfare of the country - they just want to control it.
Well said Leslie E.
What will you do?
Did you hear about the high school football team that lost the game, then refused to accept the results, saying the game was rigged, even though they had no evidence it was? Did you hear those sore losers stormed the field and staged a violent protest? Of course you didn’t, because that never happened. But what would happen if student athletes refused to accept the results? What would happen if they engaged in violent protests when they lost? Cold such sporting events continue to exist under such conditions?
Fortunately, every day in America thousands of young athletes wo lose do not do that. They may not like it—but they accept the results, using what they learn in defeat to become stronger competitors for future games. They do it despite an adult world where 70% of those in one political party declare, without any supporting evidence, that the 2020 election was rigged, and one in ten Americans say that violence against the government right now is justified.
What example are we setting for our children when those campaigning for or holding office spout lies and falsehoods to maintain and gain power? What example are we setting when elected officials who’ve taken an oath to preserve, protect, and defend our Constitution stand before microphones, or sit on daises, and repeat these lies, with no evidence to support them? What example are we setting when those who know these are lies remain silent, and do not speak out against them?
How can we expect our children to be truthful, and to accept the results when they lose, if adults around them do not model how to do that? How can this nation we love thrive, or even survive, under the weight of such lies?
Calling out violent acts without condemning the lies that spawned them is not enough— it is not acceptable. Our time on this Earth is limited, but the dishonor of putting power and party before one’s country is forever. It is Eternal.
I ask all Americans, whether they are Republicans, Democrats, or Unaffiliated—or whatever your political stripe is— to stand up and call out these lies. And I remind all; the midterms are November 8. What will you do in 2022 to stand up for truth, for democracy, and for our Constitution, and to be a positive role model for our children?
You ain't seen Texas high school football nohow. Cheating is on the syllabus in public school.
I am quite worried, but am using my wallet to fund various Democratic candidates for Senate and Governor, and the DCCC. I live in Illinois, where I believe Tammy Duckworth and J. B. Pritzker will win, so I have concentrated on funding other Democrats throughout the Midwest, but also in Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, New Hampshire, Florida and North Carolina.
According to Cornell Belcher, speaking last night on MSNBC, Republicans have been flooding the zone with biased polls that use turnout models from 2010 and 2014, instead of 2018 and 2020. THEIR GOAL IS TO CREATE A RED WAVE NARRATIVE IN THE DAYS LEADING TO THE ELECTION IN AN ATTEMPT TO SUPPRESS DEMOCRATIC VOTER TURNOUT. DO NOT BE FOOLED. GO VOTE FOR DEMOCRATS AND ENCOURAGE OTHERS TO DO SO AS WELL!
We can discuss consequences of victory or loss and tactical responses after the fact. But the overall strategy cannot be based in despondence. It must be based on the idea that PROGRESSIVES, OR EVEN MODERATE DEMOCRATS, CAN STILL WIN IN 2024 AND BEYOND. The 2024 election will be the one that makes or breaks liberal, multiracial and multicultural democracy in the United States. WE CANNOT LOSE HOPE OR TIME IN PREPARING FOR THAT ELECTION NO MATTER THE OUTCOME OF THIS ONE.
Also, the other part of the GOP "polling" showing them winning, is that even before the election they will have totally "proven" via scientific polling means, that the GOP has won the election and the only way they didn't is because the Dems "stole" the election. They are ALL set to run with this narrative for any elections the GOP loses. CHEATING by Dems!!!
Thank you for voicing a positive outlook and call to action.
The like button doesn't work. You're right!
God love you for what you are doing,you are more appreciated than you know.
For a few words of hope for the coming elections, read the November 4, 2022 "Letter from an American" by Heather Cox Richardson, a history professor and commentator on politics. Four of the battleground states are trending blue.
This situation is NOT a Trump problem. The problem started back in the 1950's when the a minority group, the very rich, decided they were being over taxed. They have played the long game to undermine democracy. I highly recommend "Democracy In Chains" by Nancy MacLean as a reference. Another is "the Brothers" by Stephen Kinzer on US's terrible foriegn policy blunders done to support American business interests.
Misogyny , racism, xenophobia, exploitation of the poor, maintaining lower levels of education for the majority of citizens, maintaining inequity has always served to maintain cheap,or free labor in this country. Exploitation of these by big business , and Wall Street for profits that no one needs has become the ugly American identity. The incongruent message of progressives and the reality of the deterioration of our laws and norms in factor of the rich has made most a little crazy and definitely distrustful of all branches of our government including journalism. I hope I am wrong, but I don’t see s trajectory can change. experiment toward equality and equity is dead in this country.
Yes, my answer is Worried. I am an eternal (mostly) optimist, but with the political scene such as it is worries even me. To be ruled by our politicians and not the people is a nightmare and the looks of it, it might just happen. Why or how could this happen in the largest democracy in the world? I am a democrat and will always believe the people will rise up and take control of America. We have a spirit that cannot be put out by a republic run country. There..there is my optimism.
Mr. Nelson -- America of course is NOT "the largest democracy in the world." That distinction belongs to India, an admittedly imperfect democracy, one on its way to becoming a Hindu theocracy. Of course America is on its way to becoming a Christian theocracy, with the current election about to give renewed power to the theocrats--if all the polls are to be believed. But hope is not a strategy, nor is prayer. But I desperately hope to find out in about 72 hours that America has NOT embraced autocracy.
You are absolutely right! By God's amazing grace we will get past this and get better and better.
I keep pretty close tabs on the Democracy in Europe movement -- DiEM25. Democracy is on the ropes over there too. Keep your eye on the UK's new PM, who, as Chancellor of the Exchequer (their Jerome Powell) wanted to further privatize the national health system and institute increased austerity measures. And, like the finance ministers of Italy and Greece, is former Goldman Sachs.
Back in 2003, five years before the financial meltdown of the housing markets and Wall Street, Paul Krugman wrote a book he titled: The Great Unraveling. This is what we are living through. If we don't start learning to hang together as democrats -- small D intended -- we shall surely be hung out separately.
On a point of information, the Chancellor is the UK finance minister, more akin to the role of Secretary of the Treasury in the US, while the Fed Chairman role is equivalent to the Governor of the Bank of England and central bank leaders elsewhere.
The like button doesn't work. Thank you.
I think you should have included “Hopeful” in your list of feelings about the midterms. That’s where I am.
However, one thing I haven’t seen brought up anywhere is the fact that our government, for years, with President after President, has interfered with and really crushed democracies in other countries in pursuit of what were seen as our national interests. We’ve fomented coups in many places, many times, rarely admitting it, overturning democratically elected leaders who wanted to take care of their people—better jobs, wages, schooling, childcare, healthcare, justice, equality—and replaced them with our chosen despots who will foster profiteering above all else and benefit a few rich people in their own countries, plus our corporations which will exploit their people’s labor and land. Gang violence has become widespread. The coups have resulted in the deaths of many innocent people. These countries have been seriously messed up. The US is criminal and very anti-democratic. I worry that recently elected leftist leaders in Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, for instance, are in grave danger of our interference. The US should keep its dirty hands off.
Why, therefore, do we worry about our own democracy? We haven’t acted as if any other country was entitled to it.
I, too, resent what our country has done so wrong headedly, in so many parts of the world. I've been stewing for decades over Patrice Lamumba. Yet I still love the US, and hoped the arc would continue to bend toward justice and perfection, rather than the anarchy and fascism I see on the horizon.
Terrified is an understatement, "panic-stricken" might be more accurate. I never thought I would see anything like this in my lifetime. I'm losing my cautious optimism that sanity will prevail on Tuesday with no plan on how to move forward while remaining true to myself, healthy and optimistic.
Idea for getting out the vote. Call all your left leaning friends and relatives NO MATTER WHERE THEY LIVE and get them to commit to vote. When they commit ask them to call all their left leaning friends and relatives NO MATTER WERE THEY LIVE and get them to vote and then suggest they call thier ... . This can create an exponetial stealth wave across the nation and it does not cost anything!