The nearest Senate voices to what you are calling for are our octogenarian spirit leader from Vermont, my own state’s Senator Warren, and the much younger Chris Murphy from Connecticut and Andy Kim from NJ. In the House we have The Squad, Jamie Raskin, Maxwell Frost, Jasmine Crockett,
I have never, ever trusted Amy Klobuchar. She has always struck me as a politician in the centrist, David fucking Axelrod “art of the possible” mode, not the let’s stand for what is right mode. She lacks integrity, IMO. As does Chuck Schumer and other centrist Democrats who want to keep their seats, not work for their constituents.. I vacillate between throwing out our current Democratic leadership and replacing them with people like AOC, Elizabeth Warren, and Jamie Crockett, vs. creating a third anti-fascist party that has one mission and one mission, only: To oust Nazism in America once and for all. The very idea that current Democrats have not yet gotten the memo that non-Trump voters want them to obstruct Trump at every possible turn is so mind-blowing to me. I liken them to the orchestra on the Titanic, continuing to play music for the masses while the ship goes down. Our job is not to placate Trump’s followers. It’s to root out white supremacy and treason.
Regarding your how do we fight them notes, I do think there is power in work stoppage (literal general strikes, and not on the weekends just because it’s more convenient for us). The gears must grind to a halt. The flow of taxes to the federal government has to stop, too. And blue state governors have to start threatening to leave the Union. Without us, there is no money for the fascists to operate. Because even the billionaires don’t have that much money.
Diversity is our strength. Diversity is our strength.
I agree with you, we need each to work on their own approach.
Nibble the GOP to death like ducks, from a hundred, a thousand, a million different directions. They won't know which way to turn. In the end, they really have only one playbook (yell and threaten, yell and threaten), and after a while, it just won't work anymore.
Tackle them at the school board, in the library council, at town meeting, on street corners. Write letters to editors (write op-eds, too), put up signs, rent billboards, gather your five best friends and go to the politicians' offices, show up, show up, and keep showing up until their eyes roll, and keep hammering away at their cupidity.
Research who gives them money and expose their corruption.
Run for office, town council, neighborhood watch, anything, get involved in something!!
Diversity is our strength!!
Oh, and help shelter those the GOP attack to the best of your ability. Financially support local outreach organizations for the poor, pre-school programs for kids, legal protections for LGBTQ (including T!), PFLAG, the Trevor Project, etc. Support ACLU. Support unions (join or start a union at your place of work).
Great piece. Yes, start with the easiest thing that is NOT doing NOTHING!
I think I'm going to start by writing my state's junior US Senator, who is up for re-election in 2026, and tell him that if he doesn't oppose EVERYTHING the fascists are doing right now, then I will support ANY other Dem who primaries him. I will primary him MYSELF if necessary. You want to attract support? Then show some fucking guts.
PS: I like that you used the word "monomaniacal." I think the last time I saw it in print was in a piece describing George Harrison's approach to guitar playing.
I actually like this idea: similar to the NRA ratings for 2A friendliness, we should rate current Democratic leadership on their anti-fascist, anti-white supremacist stances.
I think we deluge the DNC with emails, postcards, and phone calls to implement this system. And if they won’t do it, then I suggest we contact David Hogg’s “Leaders We Deserve” who might be open to this idea.
Not sure I get what you’re asking. Look up the DNC contact info online? Start writing, calling, and emailing. Get your friends and family to do the same.
Speaking as a Boomer, we need more AOCs and David Hoggs. It’s time to cede control to the next generations, to realize that our paradigm is anachronistic and that we are not nearly as relevant and effective as we may think we are.
Amy was my senator for years, so sad, she’s like old Chuck now, what we want is to FIGHT against the Magats (MAGA - Republicans) from this day forward until Death, OK no more sweet politeness - that’s been burned down.
Klobuchar has disappointed for a very long while, now. Democrats are just as beholden to corporate interests as the rest of them. She had no trouble whatsoever with a Canadian energy firm running a sludge oil pipeline through tribal lands and *under* the Mississippi headwaters area out to some depot on Lake Superior. Pipelines always leak, and as far as I can tell, politicians will always bend over for the money, D or R, makes no difference.
There has to be a third party arise from those abandoning this fatally broken system that is so easily gamed, bought and paid for. These politicians have become addicted to the lobbying cash and 'payments in kind' like 'free' trips on the corporate jet for the fam holiday in Vale (think Paul Ryan et al). They no longer see themselves as public servants but as our masters and rulers, the Lords over the Little People in flyover country.
They need to be very seriously and forcefully disabused of this attitude.
Public service should be viewed as a duty and an honour, not winning the free health care and ridiculous–bennies–for–life lottery, followed by a cushy sinecure on some corporate board or other—the system has been corrupt for a long time now, and it's only going to get worse, as these people get to vote on their own pay, benefits etc and have absolutely no interest in any legislation on term limits, lobbying (de facto bribery, honestly) and campaign contributions.
I hate to dredge up an Animal Farm reference, but really—you can't tell them apart anymore.
The nearest Senate voices to what you are calling for are our octogenarian spirit leader from Vermont, my own state’s Senator Warren, and the much younger Chris Murphy from Connecticut and Andy Kim from NJ. In the House we have The Squad, Jamie Raskin, Maxwell Frost, Jasmine Crockett,
I have never, ever trusted Amy Klobuchar. She has always struck me as a politician in the centrist, David fucking Axelrod “art of the possible” mode, not the let’s stand for what is right mode. She lacks integrity, IMO. As does Chuck Schumer and other centrist Democrats who want to keep their seats, not work for their constituents.. I vacillate between throwing out our current Democratic leadership and replacing them with people like AOC, Elizabeth Warren, and Jamie Crockett, vs. creating a third anti-fascist party that has one mission and one mission, only: To oust Nazism in America once and for all. The very idea that current Democrats have not yet gotten the memo that non-Trump voters want them to obstruct Trump at every possible turn is so mind-blowing to me. I liken them to the orchestra on the Titanic, continuing to play music for the masses while the ship goes down. Our job is not to placate Trump’s followers. It’s to root out white supremacy and treason.
Regarding your how do we fight them notes, I do think there is power in work stoppage (literal general strikes, and not on the weekends just because it’s more convenient for us). The gears must grind to a halt. The flow of taxes to the federal government has to stop, too. And blue state governors have to start threatening to leave the Union. Without us, there is no money for the fascists to operate. Because even the billionaires don’t have that much money.
Diversity is our strength. Diversity is our strength.
I agree with you, we need each to work on their own approach.
Nibble the GOP to death like ducks, from a hundred, a thousand, a million different directions. They won't know which way to turn. In the end, they really have only one playbook (yell and threaten, yell and threaten), and after a while, it just won't work anymore.
Tackle them at the school board, in the library council, at town meeting, on street corners. Write letters to editors (write op-eds, too), put up signs, rent billboards, gather your five best friends and go to the politicians' offices, show up, show up, and keep showing up until their eyes roll, and keep hammering away at their cupidity.
Research who gives them money and expose their corruption.
Run for office, town council, neighborhood watch, anything, get involved in something!!
Diversity is our strength!!
Oh, and help shelter those the GOP attack to the best of your ability. Financially support local outreach organizations for the poor, pre-school programs for kids, legal protections for LGBTQ (including T!), PFLAG, the Trevor Project, etc. Support ACLU. Support unions (join or start a union at your place of work).
Agitate, don't vegetate!
Our diversity is our strength!
Great piece. Yes, start with the easiest thing that is NOT doing NOTHING!
I think I'm going to start by writing my state's junior US Senator, who is up for re-election in 2026, and tell him that if he doesn't oppose EVERYTHING the fascists are doing right now, then I will support ANY other Dem who primaries him. I will primary him MYSELF if necessary. You want to attract support? Then show some fucking guts.
PS: I like that you used the word "monomaniacal." I think the last time I saw it in print was in a piece describing George Harrison's approach to guitar playing.
We should rate the dems for their effectiveness these days. They are really not doing well.
I actually like this idea: similar to the NRA ratings for 2A friendliness, we should rate current Democratic leadership on their anti-fascist, anti-white supremacist stances.
How do we do this? I don't really have any experience.
I think we deluge the DNC with emails, postcards, and phone calls to implement this system. And if they won’t do it, then I suggest we contact David Hogg’s “Leaders We Deserve” who might be open to this idea.
And how do we deluge? I apologize for my naïveté.
Not sure I get what you’re asking. Look up the DNC contact info online? Start writing, calling, and emailing. Get your friends and family to do the same.
That’s what I was asking. Thanks.
Speaking as a Boomer, we need more AOCs and David Hoggs. It’s time to cede control to the next generations, to realize that our paradigm is anachronistic and that we are not nearly as relevant and effective as we may think we are.
Amy was my senator for years, so sad, she’s like old Chuck now, what we want is to FIGHT against the Magats (MAGA - Republicans) from this day forward until Death, OK no more sweet politeness - that’s been burned down.
Klobuchar has disappointed for a very long while, now. Democrats are just as beholden to corporate interests as the rest of them. She had no trouble whatsoever with a Canadian energy firm running a sludge oil pipeline through tribal lands and *under* the Mississippi headwaters area out to some depot on Lake Superior. Pipelines always leak, and as far as I can tell, politicians will always bend over for the money, D or R, makes no difference.
There has to be a third party arise from those abandoning this fatally broken system that is so easily gamed, bought and paid for. These politicians have become addicted to the lobbying cash and 'payments in kind' like 'free' trips on the corporate jet for the fam holiday in Vale (think Paul Ryan et al). They no longer see themselves as public servants but as our masters and rulers, the Lords over the Little People in flyover country.
They need to be very seriously and forcefully disabused of this attitude.
Public service should be viewed as a duty and an honour, not winning the free health care and ridiculous–bennies–for–life lottery, followed by a cushy sinecure on some corporate board or other—the system has been corrupt for a long time now, and it's only going to get worse, as these people get to vote on their own pay, benefits etc and have absolutely no interest in any legislation on term limits, lobbying (de facto bribery, honestly) and campaign contributions.
I hate to dredge up an Animal Farm reference, but really—you can't tell them apart anymore.