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We’re Never Going to Change
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by James Wallace Harris, 4/15/24 Years ago, I read This Changes Everything
by Naomi Klein. It was a passionate plea to act on climate change because
if we ...
3 days ago
2 comments:
Hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving, WCG.
This has been a rough November for me. The Republicans got both the House and Senate, the cop in Ferguson MO got over, and all the Jody P's of the interwebz are out in full force and full gloat.
To add to my misery, the Huskers SUCK (Wisconsin just scored again).
I'm more punch-drunk than a Palin right now. My spirit is at a low ebb. Calgon, take me away!!
A friend of mine just wrote a blog post on 50 Reasons Why the Human Race Is Too Stupid to Survive. That should cheer you right up, Jeff!
Actually, it might put you over the edge,... unless you're like me, always the devil's advocate. What, did you think progress was going to be easy? :)
OK, let's see. Republicans already had control of the House - despite receiving more than a million fewer votes than their Democratic opponents in 2012 - because they've gerrymandered election districts in state after state.
They took the Senate, as everyone expected, because they had some innate advantages in this election. Now sure, the Democrats gave it to them by not standing for anything. And progressives definitely gave it to them by not voting.
We had the lowest turnout in recent history, and 37% of the people who bothered to do their civic duty were 60 years old or older - far more than in 2012, and more than in any recent election.
All of that is frustrating - maddening, even - but it wasn't unexpected for a midterm election. 2016 is a presidential year, so maybe progressives will bother to get off the couch.
And note that Republicans have had an innate advantage in Senate races for three elections in a row now. (They screwed it up the first two times.) That ends in 2016, when Democrats will have the advantage. Republicans will still have the House, unfortunately, until election districts can be made fair again (again, if progressives can be bothered to vote).
2016 is certainly no gimme, and I'm not wild about Hillary Clinton, but gleeful Republicans are just the kind of people who'll show everyone else how crazy they really are. (Is Jody P gloating? Great. Everyone should listen to him, just to see what we're fighting against.)
Yeah, the Ferguson stuff is depressing, but again, the comments I'm seeing are so viciously racist that they're bound to turn off rational people, don't you think? True, the riots might have the opposite effect. But racism rarely gets any attention until there are riots. (I'm certainly not condoning riots, just noting the value of publicity.)
Re. the Huskers,... eh, get over it. Heh, heh. (Sorry, but I recommend a complete break. I neither know nor care how the Huskers are doing this year, and I feel great about that.)
I'm sorry you're feeling down, Jeff. I certainly understand it. In fact, I share that feeling, though I try not to let it get to me.
But sometimes it does... For example, here's another thing that pisses me off about the Democratic Party. :) Republicans can be motivated by fear. They're fed fear on a regular basis. They're whipped into hysteria. And old, frightened Republicans vote.
But Democrats need to be motivated by enthusiasm, not fear. We're harder to scare, but we're easily depressed. And depressed Democrats stay home.
Barack Obama was elected president - twice - because of enthusiasm, not fear. He's squandered a lot of that, and the Democratic Party as a whole seems determined to smother the rest of it in timidity, fecklessness, and mediocrity.
But Obama can still inspire people. Elizabeth Warren can also inspire people. I'm not so sure about Hillary Clinton, who seems less and less inspiring as time goes on.
Many Democrats don't seem to have learned anything from this recent election. But it's hard to say. 2016 will be a very different experience, one way or another. Republicans may be gloating now, but they tend to be terrified of 2016. That should cheer you up, if nothing else does.
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