I realize the place of privilege I have by believing that this is the worst time in American history. But the combination of pandemic, war, racism, insurrection, reproductive rights, gerrymandering, and LIES has made me a basket case. Thank you for being here for all of us!
I applaud your articulation of the deep undercurrents at play in this turbulent moment, and I also hear echoes of my own sense that life — not just American life, but life itself — is pressuring us to evolve beyond the narrow parameters within which, should we have continued along the path we were on even before "all this", we would have essentially been living like frogs boiling in slightly cooler water. It seems inevitable to me that humans, individually and collectively, do not typically evolve without intense pressure to do so. Does anything? I am working, these days, on really expanding my capacity to hold all that is going on, to participate fully, without destroying my own nervous system. Acceptance — not in a sense of resigned capitulation, but in the deeper sense of acknowledging that these are, indeed, the circumstances of our lives right now — opens a new space for creativity, energy, and even compassion when I allow it to. No matter how malignant and maleficent the actors, they are (it must be acknowledged) objectively damaged people who are thus able to inflict untold damage upon others. Their pain is dressed up as power, and that power must be opposed, but it is predicated on a very limited reading of the totality of life. I do think, though, that as Democrats — who stand, by and large, for the good things you've named — we also REALLY need to come to terms with the way we, too, are being called to grow and refine our stances. Nuance is not intrinsic to the domain of politics, but it must be introduced.
Your words today are particularly meaningful and helpful at this time of despair. They rather remind me of how your steadying voice had the same effect when you our spokesman on the air years ago. Please help us stay the course.
I wish your words and "steady" calls to action or at least to hope for our country had a better influence on me. But I am 77 and tired. I am sad and disillusioned and angry. I know that in the years I have left on this planet I will not see the future you describe. That is not to say I have climbed into bed and pulled the covers over my head. I just am no longer the optimist I was as a younger activist. I no longer have the strength or will to keep fighting, yet I will do my part in the voting booth. Thank you Dan and Elliot for at least reaching out to us in these scary times. And to our younger, stronger generations, I say, "take heed."
I weep nightly and daily for our country and what it has seemingly become. I weep for the poor and people of color who suffer unjustly and so much. I cry for myself because of what may happen to social security (which I live on in low-income housing). I cry for the continued onslaught of Covid...all because so many mean-spirited and ignorant people in our country refuse to be vaccinated or to wear masks....thus they will continue to spread Covid everywhere they go. I cry because it is difficult to find enough money to pay for the necessities of living here in our country and the increasing number of homeless people just because they lost their homes and jobs and have nowhere else to turn to for food and shelter. I cry for my lack of compassion at times toward those who are causing all of this angst and who are ruining our government system to feed their need for power and money. They would rather do the will of corporations than the will of the people they are supposed to be helping and governing. I feel your despair, Dan, because I feel it most keenly myself. I find myself going to bed early at night so I don't have to ponder anymore on these gruesome topics. But when I get up in the mornings, it is facing me once again. There are a number of seniors in the complex where I live who have committed suicide rather than continue keeping on...and they have killed their beloved pets so that they will not be leaving them behind to suffer after they kill themselves. I weep again for my Dad who survived the horrors of WWII. He was a Republican all of his early life and switched parties to Democratic the month before he died 15 years ago. He wept openly about that switch. He felt betrayed. I feel betrayed. I find myself thinking awful thoughts, hoping that something bad will happen to Trump and all of his followers, including his cloned "lawmakers" in Florida and other Southern states. I feel like we're heading for another civil war. There is even a secession movement taking place in California now. How sick is that??! Enough. This is making me sick.
Take heart dear Dan. I so feel there is a huge positive wave coming just because everyone is becoming so courageous and ready to ‘construct’ in your iwn words.
I was just listening to Preet Bharara podcast on Bill Browder who has been investigating Russia , Putin and oligarchs, and how his friend Navalny is still courageously fighting, even imprisoned, and twice poisoned. And then the Ukrainian people. And then women protesting for their rights.
We’re all a human family and most of us courageous and resilient. No doubt about it. Take heart :)
I think you've hit the nail on the head, again. In so many areas, I feel the root cause of so much of our acrimony is that we've forgotten the separation of church and state... that as a nation, we don't have to abandon our own personal belief preferences to recognize, honor and support HUMAN RIGHTS and if in the expression of those human rights preferences, our choices don't impact another's pursuit of their own personal freedoms, who are we to judge? So many, guided by The Arsonist, seem to feel their obligation is to TELL us ALL how to live their truth... that their 'faith' demands that we all follow their path... is flawed in every way and fails the test of being an enlightened human.
Eloquent Dan. What happened to separation of church and state? We will complain about how voting will be handled because of the road blocks to our freedoms. I’m disheartened about misogyny and racism and I don’t see a solution. Women aren’t respected in red states. Maybe they should be their own country?
Hope is always there. We just need to believe it. Your writing gives me hope, as do the people who write comments here. But it is very hard to see human rights taken away from women! I’m hoping that this will galvanize all people who believe in rights. That everyone will realize that there is something very wrong with someone telling another person what to do with their body and making laws that forbid you to make those decisions.
I just can’t wrap my head around these people that did nothing but scream and yell about their “freedoms being taken away” for 2 years while happily cheering on that very thing now. You can’t be in favor of freedom AND be against abortion. They’re two totally disparate beliefs. If you’re against abortion, you’re against freedom. It’s pro-choice and anti-freedom.
I also can’t wrap my head around people who seem hell bent on imposing THEIR way of life, & THEIR belief systems onto everyone else. It’s literally the opposite of what this country is about and the freedoms we have always had around speech & religion etc. I would NEVER dream of forcing people to do something just because I do or don’t like it. That’s selfish & insane and I would never want to do that. I don’t understand where these people seem to be getting that this country is some sort of Christian nation state when that’s not at all what it’s ever been. Why does separation of church and state seem like it never existed with these people? It’s bizarre and beyond arrogant they think their way is the best and ONLY way for people to live.
I don’t care what anyone does with their lives as long as they don’t hurt others. Live and let live. But the right just seem incapable of doing that. They’d rather burn it all down than share the freedoms they enjoy with every other American who may or may not agree with them.
They want the freedom to do and say whatever it is they believe, but for some inexplicable reason, they’ve decided that every other American does NOT have that same freedom. What do they hear when they hear “freedom of religion”? Don’t they get that we all get to practice any religion we choose and basing laws off of one religion or another is just antithetical to this country? As a Jew, if I started making laws based on my personal beliefs and attempted to impose my religion on them, they would lose their minds freaking out about how I can’t do that. Yet they don’t seem to give a second thought about doing that to others. It’s head spinningly crazy.
And I don’t get it. But I’m not giving up. I refuse to let people who are so small minded, ignorant, and hateful run this country when the majority is the opposite. Dan is totally right. This is untenable and while the right is making short term gains, long term a house of lies eventually crumbles. The truth will always come out. Thank you for another great piece Dan & Elliott!
I needed this. I’ve been unsubscribing from democratic campaigns because I’m losing hope and I can’t afford to keep donating. Here’s to you for helping me find my way back to keeping steady….at least for today.
"The unity of Ukraine stands in stark contrast to the severed bonds of our national community. "
EXACTLY. That should be on a T-shirt, right there. There is ZERO reason why we should be on the brink of civil war. Yet those who blur the lines between entertainment and news continue incite unrest for the simple purpose of "ratings" or to sell product. What is most amazing is the dramatic relinquishing of discernment that is so prevalent these days. "Well, (some TV host) said it's true so that's good enough for me!". Bullpucky. If it's not good enough for EVERYBODY, then it's not good enough.
I realize the place of privilege I have by believing that this is the worst time in American history. But the combination of pandemic, war, racism, insurrection, reproductive rights, gerrymandering, and LIES has made me a basket case. Thank you for being here for all of us!
Excellent! I really needed this today after my Democratic Party Senator betrayed the women of my state and America.
I applaud your articulation of the deep undercurrents at play in this turbulent moment, and I also hear echoes of my own sense that life — not just American life, but life itself — is pressuring us to evolve beyond the narrow parameters within which, should we have continued along the path we were on even before "all this", we would have essentially been living like frogs boiling in slightly cooler water. It seems inevitable to me that humans, individually and collectively, do not typically evolve without intense pressure to do so. Does anything? I am working, these days, on really expanding my capacity to hold all that is going on, to participate fully, without destroying my own nervous system. Acceptance — not in a sense of resigned capitulation, but in the deeper sense of acknowledging that these are, indeed, the circumstances of our lives right now — opens a new space for creativity, energy, and even compassion when I allow it to. No matter how malignant and maleficent the actors, they are (it must be acknowledged) objectively damaged people who are thus able to inflict untold damage upon others. Their pain is dressed up as power, and that power must be opposed, but it is predicated on a very limited reading of the totality of life. I do think, though, that as Democrats — who stand, by and large, for the good things you've named — we also REALLY need to come to terms with the way we, too, are being called to grow and refine our stances. Nuance is not intrinsic to the domain of politics, but it must be introduced.
Your words today are particularly meaningful and helpful at this time of despair. They rather remind me of how your steadying voice had the same effect when you our spokesman on the air years ago. Please help us stay the course.
I wish your words and "steady" calls to action or at least to hope for our country had a better influence on me. But I am 77 and tired. I am sad and disillusioned and angry. I know that in the years I have left on this planet I will not see the future you describe. That is not to say I have climbed into bed and pulled the covers over my head. I just am no longer the optimist I was as a younger activist. I no longer have the strength or will to keep fighting, yet I will do my part in the voting booth. Thank you Dan and Elliot for at least reaching out to us in these scary times. And to our younger, stronger generations, I say, "take heed."
I weep nightly and daily for our country and what it has seemingly become. I weep for the poor and people of color who suffer unjustly and so much. I cry for myself because of what may happen to social security (which I live on in low-income housing). I cry for the continued onslaught of Covid...all because so many mean-spirited and ignorant people in our country refuse to be vaccinated or to wear masks....thus they will continue to spread Covid everywhere they go. I cry because it is difficult to find enough money to pay for the necessities of living here in our country and the increasing number of homeless people just because they lost their homes and jobs and have nowhere else to turn to for food and shelter. I cry for my lack of compassion at times toward those who are causing all of this angst and who are ruining our government system to feed their need for power and money. They would rather do the will of corporations than the will of the people they are supposed to be helping and governing. I feel your despair, Dan, because I feel it most keenly myself. I find myself going to bed early at night so I don't have to ponder anymore on these gruesome topics. But when I get up in the mornings, it is facing me once again. There are a number of seniors in the complex where I live who have committed suicide rather than continue keeping on...and they have killed their beloved pets so that they will not be leaving them behind to suffer after they kill themselves. I weep again for my Dad who survived the horrors of WWII. He was a Republican all of his early life and switched parties to Democratic the month before he died 15 years ago. He wept openly about that switch. He felt betrayed. I feel betrayed. I find myself thinking awful thoughts, hoping that something bad will happen to Trump and all of his followers, including his cloned "lawmakers" in Florida and other Southern states. I feel like we're heading for another civil war. There is even a secession movement taking place in California now. How sick is that??! Enough. This is making me sick.
Take heart dear Dan. I so feel there is a huge positive wave coming just because everyone is becoming so courageous and ready to ‘construct’ in your iwn words.
I was just listening to Preet Bharara podcast on Bill Browder who has been investigating Russia , Putin and oligarchs, and how his friend Navalny is still courageously fighting, even imprisoned, and twice poisoned. And then the Ukrainian people. And then women protesting for their rights.
We’re all a human family and most of us courageous and resilient. No doubt about it. Take heart :)
I think you've hit the nail on the head, again. In so many areas, I feel the root cause of so much of our acrimony is that we've forgotten the separation of church and state... that as a nation, we don't have to abandon our own personal belief preferences to recognize, honor and support HUMAN RIGHTS and if in the expression of those human rights preferences, our choices don't impact another's pursuit of their own personal freedoms, who are we to judge? So many, guided by The Arsonist, seem to feel their obligation is to TELL us ALL how to live their truth... that their 'faith' demands that we all follow their path... is flawed in every way and fails the test of being an enlightened human.
Today's Republicans (if they can even be called that) want one thing above all, to keep America white and male-dominated.
“I would call it a duty — to step into the fight and do our part to shape our destiny along a framework of hope. “
Vote in every election at every level of government. Every citizen can do this while they still have the right.
Eloquent Dan. What happened to separation of church and state? We will complain about how voting will be handled because of the road blocks to our freedoms. I’m disheartened about misogyny and racism and I don’t see a solution. Women aren’t respected in red states. Maybe they should be their own country?
Hope is always there. We just need to believe it. Your writing gives me hope, as do the people who write comments here. But it is very hard to see human rights taken away from women! I’m hoping that this will galvanize all people who believe in rights. That everyone will realize that there is something very wrong with someone telling another person what to do with their body and making laws that forbid you to make those decisions.
I just can’t wrap my head around these people that did nothing but scream and yell about their “freedoms being taken away” for 2 years while happily cheering on that very thing now. You can’t be in favor of freedom AND be against abortion. They’re two totally disparate beliefs. If you’re against abortion, you’re against freedom. It’s pro-choice and anti-freedom.
I also can’t wrap my head around people who seem hell bent on imposing THEIR way of life, & THEIR belief systems onto everyone else. It’s literally the opposite of what this country is about and the freedoms we have always had around speech & religion etc. I would NEVER dream of forcing people to do something just because I do or don’t like it. That’s selfish & insane and I would never want to do that. I don’t understand where these people seem to be getting that this country is some sort of Christian nation state when that’s not at all what it’s ever been. Why does separation of church and state seem like it never existed with these people? It’s bizarre and beyond arrogant they think their way is the best and ONLY way for people to live.
I don’t care what anyone does with their lives as long as they don’t hurt others. Live and let live. But the right just seem incapable of doing that. They’d rather burn it all down than share the freedoms they enjoy with every other American who may or may not agree with them.
They want the freedom to do and say whatever it is they believe, but for some inexplicable reason, they’ve decided that every other American does NOT have that same freedom. What do they hear when they hear “freedom of religion”? Don’t they get that we all get to practice any religion we choose and basing laws off of one religion or another is just antithetical to this country? As a Jew, if I started making laws based on my personal beliefs and attempted to impose my religion on them, they would lose their minds freaking out about how I can’t do that. Yet they don’t seem to give a second thought about doing that to others. It’s head spinningly crazy.
And I don’t get it. But I’m not giving up. I refuse to let people who are so small minded, ignorant, and hateful run this country when the majority is the opposite. Dan is totally right. This is untenable and while the right is making short term gains, long term a house of lies eventually crumbles. The truth will always come out. Thank you for another great piece Dan & Elliott!
I needed this. I’ve been unsubscribing from democratic campaigns because I’m losing hope and I can’t afford to keep donating. Here’s to you for helping me find my way back to keeping steady….at least for today.
"The unity of Ukraine stands in stark contrast to the severed bonds of our national community. "
EXACTLY. That should be on a T-shirt, right there. There is ZERO reason why we should be on the brink of civil war. Yet those who blur the lines between entertainment and news continue incite unrest for the simple purpose of "ratings" or to sell product. What is most amazing is the dramatic relinquishing of discernment that is so prevalent these days. "Well, (some TV host) said it's true so that's good enough for me!". Bullpucky. If it's not good enough for EVERYBODY, then it's not good enough.
Thank you Dan, from a fellow Texan! Your articles keep me informed and help me to feel just a tiny bit more hopeful about our country.