The Democratic victories in the 2020 election were vital, but they were not enough. We ousted Trump, maintained control of the House, and made some gains in the Senate. However, we have more work to do if we are going to truly move this nation forward, if we are to get a Green New Deal and Medicare for All and a living minimum wage and so on. The GOP has a hammerlock on the Supreme Court, and since the Senate is 50/50 they can still block a lot of programs that Democrats propose thanks to the filibuster.
Republican Congressman Chip Roy was caught on hidden camera saying “Honestly, right now, for the next 18 months, our job is to do everything we can to slow all of that down and get to December of 2022…18 more months of chaos and the inability to get stuff done. That’s what we want.” Roy proved that Republicans are concerned with only party loyalty, and this country and its citizens and residents be screwed. They are willing to oppose any and all programs Biden and the Democrats propose for no reason other than toeing the party line. Trump cancelled a pandemic early-warning program in September 2019 just because Obama set it up, and that is just one of many reasons why COVID-19 was so devastating in this country. Republicans have become Trump’s stooges, forced to do his bidding lest they be ostracized. Look at what happened to Liz Cheney when she dared to call a spade a spade.
We need to get rid of “not liberal enough” and start agreeing to disagree. We need to focus on our common goals rather than split hairs. As long as we let infighting hobble us, the Right will ride roughshod over us and ram through statutes we are powerless to stop. We need to stop being so squeamish about offending people. Avoiding racial, ethnic, etc. slurs is one thing; feeling as though you have to walk on eggs with every word you say is another.
We also need to rein in “wokeness” and political correctness. Taking down statues of Confederate generals and leaders is one thing, but removing statues of Thomas Jefferson and George Washington just because they owned slaves is another. The Washington Redskins and Cleveland Indians are changing their mascots; does that mean the Atlanta Braves, Chicago Blackhawks, Kansas City Chiefs, etc. should follow suit? Remember what Voltaire said: We are all creatures of our time; very few of us rise above the ideals of the day. Many things we regard as acceptable today may be unpalatable to our great-grandchildren. You have to draw the line somewhere.
Yes, it’s a timeworn cliche to harp on how we are all in this together, how we all need to work together, blah, blah, blah. However, this cliche has some basis in fact. We need to stop letting the Right divide us with “identity politics” – straight versus LGBTQ, citizen versus immigrant, white versus people of color, and so on – and unite inside and out. We can focus on the big picture and worry about the details later.
Getting liberals to work together is like herding cats. Traditional methods don’t work. You can, however, “herd” cats with food. The can of tuna is victory in elections – local, state and national – over the next few years. We need to focus on winning elections, because only winners make policy; all the losers can do is protest.
Democrats need to grow strong spines, both individually and collectively. It’s the only way we will be able to tackle the Republicans who are dragging this country towards destruction.
12 Responses to “SOUND OFF! 7/24/21”
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My cat is definitely a Democrat, as she is polite, and loves eating tuna. Lots of it.
Come to think of it…I do too.
What a horrible thing to say. Chip Roy (R-TX) is a waste, as are the other R’s…Cruz, Cornyn to name a few.
I agree … we need to get stronger day by day, for uniting together vs. the R’s.
Great read, and post, Freya! Thank you.
My cat loves tuna, too. But my vet warned against giving too much because it changes their urinary pH which leads to stone formation.
So when I have tuna I drain the water from the can, dilute it about 2:1 (water:tuna) and add it to his canned cat food. He LOVES that!
He can be sound asleep in my bedroom at the other end of the house, and within 30 seconds after opening the can, he’ll be in the kitchen rubbing up against my legs hoping for a smidgen of tuna.
OOOO, that’s good to know about tuna and kitties eating too much.
Thank you for the info, SoINeedAName. Appreciate it.
Ever since McConnell said his sole goal was to make Pres. Obama a one-term president, it’s been the GQP approach to everything: Obstruct, Delay, Obstruct, Delay, Obstruct …
I remember Pres. Obama patiently working w/ the “Gang of Six” in an effort to make ACA a bipartisan act. But then getting not a SINGLE Rethuglican vote.
I hope Biden remembers that lesson. It’s fine to try for a bipartisan approach to infrastructure – but there comes a point in the not too distant future where Democrats just need to say: “We compromised in an effort to get a bipartisan bill, but they wouldn’t budge. So now we’ll get it done by ourselves because America needs it and republicans have no interest in helping working class Americans succeed.”
[Posted a comment in the wrong spot – so I moved it.]
FYI – You’re an administrator, you can delete it in “Comments” reached from the Dashboard. And you can also delete this response, and then it never happened.
WOW! I have THAT much power? That makes me feel like Samantha on “Bewitched”. I’ll just have to learn how to twitch my nose/
Great post, Freya.
Ever since tRump lost the election, the rotten R’s have been doing everything they could think of to get their precious leader back into control. What he did on January 6, to our precious Capital, he should of been prosecuted to the fullest with his as* thrown behind bars for the rest of his life.
Seeing these R’s continue to cheat by making illegal voting laws in their states, ignoring and fighting against the investigation of the January 6 insurrection, people must be flipping blind if they still back these senators/representatives.
I agree with you and others that the Democrats need to stand up even stronger against them. If they don’t our country is going to suffer in numerous ways. These R’s are heartless, don’t give a damn about the people. They’ll like tRump, just care about themselves.
We the people must fight back, voting at the upcoming/future elections, making sure that these R’s are voted out of their seats. Otherwise our current administration will never get things passed or done.
Thanks Freya
I couldn’t agree more with everything you said, Freya. Liberals need to get over themselves and start working together on the basis of things they generally agree on, not on the finicky little details. If they go for the grand scheme and a grand plan to go with it, Democrats will win. Quibble about every little detail and they will lose.
Trump only won because he spoke in big general terms that appealed to people. He lost because they turned out to be hollow, i.e. lies, and there were no plans whatsoever to get there because he never even had the intention to for instance “drain the swamp.”
Personally, I consider myself a Democratic Socialist at this point in life. I think we can, and will, have a democracy that works for all of us and I’ve a number of reasons for that optimism.
First, I hope Trump keeps making noise (though the media ought report something else other than his Big Lie, as they jumped all over CPAC (1525 people there) and last night in AZ, 4000 people there. But as long as the party stays afraid of him, the more divided they are. I think we’re seeing the death of the modern republican party and they just don’t know it yet. Registered republicans have dropped 1-2% in every election since 1994 and they are dying off now. They are now at most 29% of the electorate and not all of them are Trumpers.
Second, the conventional wisdom that says off year elections are bad for the administration is WRONG, it’s only happened twice since Eisenhower. Fully 65% plus of Americans (and more than half of republicans) want the policies progressive Democrats are pushing. I’d like Biden to get over his fondness for the “good old days” and realize that NOTHING gets done over a drink and coffee anymore. He has to get off the dime on the filibuster, or we need a President that will – maybe 2024, or a Senate that will, maybe as soon as 2022.
Third, the youngest two generations are more progressive than anyone thinks, Gen Z being the most so by far and millions more of them are eligible to vote in every election. They grew up in diverse classrooms, are not weighed down by the racism and white supremacy previous generations were. They’ve always had friends of other races. While there are some young people, in the south primarily but elsewhere too, who are of the supremacy opinion, most of the young are not, including many IN the south who are against everything their parents and grandparents are for. I think the 2022 and 2024 elections will be near the end of the GQP. They will have to reinvent themselves completely to ever be a real force in American politics again. While they try to do that, progressives will be making policy on things people will never want to give up. The GQP is morally bankrupt and has nothing to offer but division and white supremacy. That’s not going to be enough, it will never be enough.
Fourth, Democrats need stop eating their young and fighting each other, we have to find a way to get where we want to go even if that means increments. We have a common enemy and we must never forget that.
The only real wild card is climate change. I don’t see anything on the horizon to ameliorate or reverse it. The 2015 Paris Accords are NOT enough. If we have reached the tipping point, it’s questionable whether our species survives at all and it will not take as long as people think to find that out, one to two centuries, though I feel for those who will live through those times. Still, barring that, I think the next two decades will be very interesting, right now more than half of all children under 15 are not white. As they become the majority in America, within 20 years, I wonder how that changes our policies, foreign relations, the world. I hope to see some of that. Stay safe, my friends. It’ll be a bumpy ride for a bit, but I really believe the 2022 elections are going to go the way 2018 did. Can’t wait to find out. :^) gene
Thanks for honing in to the bottom lines that the media’s responses tend to obscure about the GOP these days Freya. The guidance/recommendations you make for Dems is very much what I am also hearing from the leaders of ethnic-based organizations–solidarity across identity groups is the most effective response, e.g. for the AAPI community to reject increased police presence in communities as the solution to increased hate crimes when it makes their Black neighbors more at risk of police violence, etc. and thus community-based approaches preferred. Sadly not enough leaders willing to focus on those few DEM senators who are gullible enough to see the GOP as sincere about any bipartisanship effort being commensurate with the country/people’s needs.