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Kay Nannet's avatar

I always heard people get more conservative as they age. Well, for me and several of my closest friends, nothing could be less true! Stuck in a red state with extreme gerrymandering, a lot of us are “hot as hell and not going to take it anymore.” We also have money—our money—we’re professionals, we’re smart, and we’ve raised smart, successful adults who vote and relocate when the RED is too deep and extreme. I remain hopeful!

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Bob Morgan's avatar

I think this time is different, but I'm not sure it's different enough or that Democrats have a strategy to overcome our collective inertia.

We've known for a long time that Republicans don't play fair, while Democrats don't know how to play dirty. Republicans have turned projection, obfuscation, and misdirection into artforms. Democrats have turned their own progressivism vs. moderatism into political quicksand.

The work of the J6 committee may be succeeding in exposing what really happened, and in so doing, cleaving some honorable Republicans from the real RINOs (e.g., Trump, McCarthy, Ron Johnson, Jim Jordan, Cruz, Gaetz, MTG). We need to offer the honorables some noseworthy alternatives.

We also need to stay angry at the right things. Nothing that took months or years to develop can be fixed overnight. Fixing complex problems means that there will be unintended consequences and mistakes will be made. We have to be patient and tune out the constant refrain of failure. We have to realize that it's much harder to build than it is to destroy, and what's been built in the past two years on the rubble of the previous four is pretty amazing, given the thin majorities and the Republican obstructionism.

We need to be motivated by that anger, to vote ourselves, and encourage others to vote as well. We need to win overwhelmingly, and restore some sanity so we can save our democracy.

We need to communicate, individually and collectively. And we need our leaders and candidates to change their messaging to instead talk about the issues and stop asking for money. And if they want to do surveys, they need to allow responses without having to donate money. They should be out leading rallies, bringing attention to the issues and offering viable solutions.

p.s. There's a lot to unpack here. Sorry for the stream of consciousness dump, but my anger and motivation is building by the day. Also, it's kinda hard to write a cogent response on an iphone.

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