One If by land, two if by sea
The British aren’t coming this time, but something else is. It’s dark, and it’s dangerous, and it’s definitely out there.
Hope is still leading the race .. the recent votes in Ohio and Kansas demonstrate it clearly .. but Fear, and Confusion, and Hate are right behind, spreading their wings, and their tentacles. But this isn’t a race between us and MAGA, that’s what we desperately have to realize. This is a race between us and ourselves. Are we going to focus on what’s ahead, on the bright light that is our country’s future? Are we going to seize this pivotal moment in American history, when the very direction of our national soul is at stake? Are we going to become the champions of hope? Is our mission going to be setting this country firmly on the road to a just society? Or are we going to remain obsessed with the dark shape that lies behind, the one that always seems to be gaining on us? Are we going to be lost into endlessly defending?
2024: Chaos, or unity?
The chaos part is easy. “2024” means November 5th, and that means fear. Trump. That one word. And we’re all determined to stand against him. All the way. But is that enough? Is that even the right way to look at it? If we attack him relentlessly, then defeat him again the same way we did in 2020 .. by the same margins .. what changes? What will another 51% victory leave in its wake?
The forces that created Trump will still be there. MAGA and its adherents, and the vast money machine that created them, will still exist. So will the deep tribalism they have managed to create. Their ability to take fear and hate and a coordinated campaign of lies, and turn it into a political machine capable of challenging for control of government, that will still be there as well.
And once we’ve defeated Trump permanently .. and losing a second Presidential election will do just that .. what do we do? Once we are no longer united by fear of Trump, what becomes of us? Do we go back to fighting each other, Progressives versus Moderates, elites versus the heartland? Do we go back to pushing this policy and that while regular Democrats, the lifeblood of our party, go back to feeling alienated and demoralized? Fear of Trump has united us. What will unite us once he’s gone?
words, words, words
“… 80% of people in this country who share the ideals of our founding, who share the idea that all men are created equal, endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among these life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness .. at least 80% of this country shares the same basic values that we do.”
Quick, who said that?
Abraham Lincoln 2. Barack Obama 3. Joe Biden
or 4. Vivek Ramaswamy
Yes! Vivek Ramaswamy, the Trump wannabe did. He said it just the other day, and you shouldn’t be surprised. It’s what’s been going on for decades .. decades .. right in front of our noses, the theft of language. We have, in fact, all but helped them do it.
That quote is accurate, of course, he just mixed up the parties. But to his listeners, he didn’t get it wrong at all, he hit the nail on the head. Why? Because it sounded good. It made them feel good. And that’s what happens when messaging has no purpose beyond gaining power.
Freedom, Justice, and Opportunity are what we stand for as Democrats, what we all feel is in our hearts. But we have never written it down. We have never stood up and declared it in simple, unequivocal English that everyone can understand. And we have never gone on to declare it, over and over again, until every American in this nation has started to believe it. That’s the problem. Our sensing it is not enough. That so many of us assume it isn’t, either. These things, these ideas, have to be made public, and they have to dominate.