Haven’t even read the piece but this simple point is 100% right. And not simply as branding. America has a robust civic democratic tradition, rich w libertarian (and not in the modern weird sense) symbols and touchstones, anti-autocratic totems. It’s the touchstone of the country’s civic mythology. - ThreadSky

joshtpm.bsky.social • 56 days ago

Haven’t even read the piece but this simple point is 100% right. And not simply as branding. America has a robust civic democratic tradition, rich w libertarian (and not in the modern weird sense) symbols and touchstones, anti-autocratic totems. It’s the touchstone of the country’s civic mythology.

Reposted from High Notes Jared

Been doing a lot of reading and thinking lately and based on everything I've looked at this logic is where I'm at with things. The movement back towards sanity should be wrapped in the flag. 🇺🇸
www.liberalcurrents.com/roadmap-to-a...

Comments

wadegarrett1527.bsky.social•56 days ago

Right. You can talk about libertarian ideals without having to be the “seat belt laws are unconstitutional” guys.

igorjad.bsky.social•55 days ago

📌

convolver.bsky.social•56 days ago

Modern American democracy, as we’ve known it, goes back a century and a half; even a century ago it was, in theory and practice, Black, queer, Jewish, immigrant, and feminist. That we don’t connect these strands to modern democracy is a tragedy that cedes authority to a false right-wing myth.

convolver.bsky.social•56 days ago

One of the great Boomer-era mistakes was to treat ‘60s and ‘70s political activist as de novo and a complete break from the past, rather than correctly seeing it as an evolution of a long current in American history, from Benjamin Lay right up to LBJ’s Howard speech.

placitas03.bsky.social•56 days ago

I have read it. It made me even surer of the plea I made on the cloture vote: Voting "no" would have been a powerful symbol that Democrats would not be complicit with those who seek to harm us. We need those touchstones.

gluonspring.bsky.social•56 days ago

This is the way. A nation is a kind social fiction that millions of people are in a giant clan or tribe or family. Symbols are not superfluous but what fills in the very real gaps between us.

dsng480.bsky.social•56 days ago

“Donald Trump did not require electoral shenanigans or the electoral college to win: he won fair and square”

Yes: don’t waste energy.

Propaganda is fine. It should be good stuff.

The states are a wild card in our favor, I think. Even red states.

4sight-nc.bsky.social•55 days ago

I can only hope for the best, but I am extremely pessimistic that it will work.

People have underestimated how racist and bigoted this country is, especially during economic stress, it explodes.

Proliferation of right wing Information sources have made Americans dumber, and extremely partisan

marylou.bsky.social•56 days ago

Totally agree about liberals reclaiming patriotism, love of our country for its rich embrace of freedom, generosity, courage in the face of evil - all the facts (not just myths) that Americans almost universally embraced after the horrors of WWII.

jvarrige.bsky.social•56 days ago

This article is a good road map back to sanity. I just still cannot believe we willingly handed over the keys to the castle to these terrible people. There are countries, like Ukraine, fighting and dying right now for what we had and gave away.

longislandtonv.bsky.social•56 days ago

Yesterday, I felt like Schumer and my Senator, Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, sold us for beads. It's actually worse than that. They literally gave us away.

They didn't even ask for the beads. 🤬

jonerikstorm.com•55 days ago

It already snapped. There will always be a telltale sign on the X-Ray even if it heals.

joshtpm.bsky.social•56 days ago

2/ In a battle such as this its folly not to make heavy use of that. It’s literally a big part of what sets the country apart. It’s like having a big powerful ally in yr corner. Crazy to think you wldnt make tons of use of it.

peacejunky.bsky.social•56 days ago

absolutely! let's go full in-yo-face repo of those symbols that Rs have repeatedly & relentlessly stolen & besmirched toward their own greed for power. i'd even include our institutions in those symbols; institutions are the concrete manifestations of all those symbols stand for!

bboerner2332.bsky.social•55 days ago

I think it would be consistent with "Defend Institutions" from Timothy Snyder's "On Tyranny".

peacejunky.bsky.social•55 days ago

indeed! he's so inspiring.

billblake2018.bsky.social•55 days ago

The left will win the next election, if there is one, because the public will be tired of Republican bullshit. Just like we got Trump because the public was tired of Democratic bullshit. Neither party is willing to understand that they're morally and policy-wise bankrupt.

moreacomment.bsky.social•56 days ago

I bought a 3*5 American portable flag - for the first time in my life - so I can bring it to the Tesla protests.

billkitchen.bsky.social•56 days ago

With "saving democracy" being the core message needed right now, it was a no-brainer that the D half of the chamber during the joint address (coming just 4 days after Oval fiasco) should have been a sea of blue & yellow. That was the message to send to the country & world.
@democrats.org blew it.

vjy1.bsky.social•56 days ago

People keep using “no brainer” in a way that indicates they haven’t thought about it

meera-sundaram.bsky.social•56 days ago

Not really feeling like land of the free and home of the brave right now, is it? Where is our love of country?

no2sin.bsky.social•56 days ago

Yes. One of the bigger mistakes of the progressive movement in the last 40 years has been forgetting the value of positive myth-making. There has been too much focus on making sure everyone knows exactly how bad America is/has been - which has resulted not in a national decision to do better, 1/2

tmoney2007.bsky.social•56 days ago

How do you convince people that there is a problem that needs to be fixed if you're not allowed to draw attention to the problem without being dismissed as "focusing on making sure everyone knows exactly how bad America is/has been"?

tmoney2007.bsky.social•56 days ago

If your argument is "we're not living up to our values" or "Trump is ripping up the constitution" how do you avoid going back to exactly the situation that existed immediately before Trump?

no2sin.bsky.social•56 days ago

You say "America is the greatest nation on Earth, but Trump is trashing our country and our values, here's what we have to do to fix it and to ensure that no anti-American traitor like Trump ever comes along to trash our country and our great values ever again!"

no2sin.bsky.social•56 days ago

You say "America is the greatest nation on Earth because we have the best values - but the people doing X are not living up to our values so let's make this change so that we can continue to be the best nation on Earth!" You say that, or you lose & cause Americans to vote for fascists.

no2sin.bsky.social•56 days ago

2/2 but instead has led many Americans to become deeply cynical onto nihilism, & to conclude that any attempt to appear or be good is manipulation & that in a dog eat dog world the important thing is to be the biggest, most aggressive dog. We need to restore a patriotic belief in American goodness.

no2sin.bsky.social•56 days ago

Stories matter and constantly telling stories that say "America is evil" MAKE America more evil. Progessives would do better to say "America is imperfect but good - let's be even better!"

tmoney2007.bsky.social•56 days ago

I can turn your argument into exactly what you accuse progressives of doing... Or I can find someone crazy who is nominally aligned with you and pretend that you're both saying exactly the same thing... Which is what you do when you paint "progressives" with such a broad brush.

no2sin.bsky.social•56 days ago

I don't know what you're trying to say here, but regardless - while not ever progressive intends to or even comes across as trashing America, as a whole progressives in general certainly do - and progressivism has turned a ton of Americans into cynics & more into fascists as a result.

j-lastcoolletter.bsky.social•56 days ago

You're making a really important point. There is a part of the left (which I am) that gets wrapped up in negativity, blame, and self-loathing. Some of it is narrowly true, but it's awful marketing. Must be what has led to the overreaction to DEI and woke narratives.

Better to be positive.

no2sin.bsky.social•56 days ago

Yes. DEI/woke/me too/trans rights were all good movements that were started because of and made very good points. And then they turned into anti-American disasters that in the end hurt their own goals more than they helped. You must persuade, not berate if you intend to improve things.

pramsey342.bsky.social•56 days ago

“Make America Great”…?

no2sin.bsky.social•56 days ago

I mean there's a reason that half the country has that on their hats. And if it wasn't already a Republican phrase, it would be a good progressive one "Make America Great Again by getting rid of the anti-American fascist Trump and making sure that fascism can never take root here ever again!"

darcyrobles.bsky.social•56 days ago

Yes! Ken Wilber speaks to this in his book I referenced in my other comment.

bobwestreich.bsky.social•56 days ago

Someone with a degree in history and a flair for political journalism will write an important book about the collapse (or, hopefully, not) of civil society in the current era.

vslacks.bsky.social•56 days ago

I think we should use “This is un-American!” as a protest slogan.

feralhattie.bsky.social•56 days ago

Emily Chenoweth’s ideas on nonviolent civil discourse are mentioned, and rightly so. It’s a good piece.

walkerbragman.bsky.social•56 days ago

100%

It’s time to stop letting the right monopolize patriotism and America’s symbols.

That’s why we chose the red, white, and blue color scheme and branding at @accountabilityji.bsky.social.

They don’t represent America—not the best parts, at least. They hate it.

fiona-webster22.bsky.social•56 days ago

shaidorsai.bsky.social•56 days ago

Yes, but this has to be far beyond “dissent”. Movements that centralize negative messages (and yes, dissent is negative, even if it’s for a good reason) aren’t what we want. Assuredly dissent from what the admin is doing, but we need to build a movement with positive patriotism at the forefront.

fiona-webster22.bsky.social•56 days ago

I don't view dissent as only negative.

We the people, want fair elections.
We the people, want compassionate police.
We the people, want a living wage & health care for all.
We the people, want action on the climate crisis.
We the people, want common-sense gun policy.
We the people, means EVERYONE.

folgers.bsky.social•55 days ago

This is the heart of it. We've been told for decades that government is the problem, and people believe that. We ( The People )are the government, we are the sovereign.

whimsywriter.bsky.social•56 days ago

"We the people" "more perfect Union" "establish Justice, insure the domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare"?
Sure.
Wrapping oneself in pledging to the flag under god with a glorification of the military over the people?
Nope, but this one gets pushed

rappstar.bsky.social•56 days ago

When I protest, I always wear my Team USA jacket. Because when I had the privilege to stand on the podium and hear my anthem played, it was the idea of America, with all its flaws, that I felt emblazoned indelibly upon me. It was the greatest privilege of my life to wear these colors.

whirledbizarre.bsky.social•56 days ago

Unchecked wealth will always and forever be an enemy of individual liberty. We have two tools at our disposal to stop them: government and pitchforks. The founders gave us a government that would empower the people, so they didn’t have to resort to pitchforks. It is our patriotic duty to save it.

dskamper.bsky.social•56 days ago

📌

mitchellmebane.bsky.social•56 days ago

📌

bfg008.bsky.social•56 days ago

The article is naive and unrealistic.
It's simplistic.

3141pie.com•56 days ago

I will just remind that there's history on reclaiming the flag as a symbol of protest

“The Merv Griffin Show, March 27, 1970. CBS blurred the video of Hoffman so viewers at home would not see his American flag pattern shirt, even though other guests had worn the same shirt in the past, uncensored”

breadthieves.bsky.social•56 days ago

Protesters should carry American flags. It is important that we do not alienate others and I think this would help.

joedferg.bsky.social•56 days ago

Those OG libertarians “built it themselves, with slave labor”.

justvisiting74.bsky.social•56 days ago

Exactly so. There should be heavy use of American flags at the protests. I will be bringing one.

christopher-green.bsky.social•55 days ago

Josh, I’m a firm believer that we need a symbol for the resistance. I suggest the flag that flew over Ft. Sumter. It was re-raised at the end of the war.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0e/US_33_Star_Fort_Sumter_Flag.svg/1280px-US_33_Star_Fort_Sumter_Flag.svg.png

darcyrobles.bsky.social•56 days ago

The issue is deeper than this. We need to course correct as a culture and do some introspection on what we value and make sure we are in fully integrity with that. I'm reading a book titled "A Post Truth World" by Ken Wilber that explains the issue well.

shaidorsai.bsky.social•56 days ago

Repeating from elsewhere: I had an idea a little while ago about remembering and celebrating progressive wins and reclaiming the idea of patriotism by making armed forces-esque battle streamers for the flag to memorialize Stonewall, the March on Washington, Women's Suffrage, etc.

shaidorsai.bsky.social•56 days ago

Because they ARE battles. We ARE in a war of values. And contextualizing it that way reminds people that we’ve had fights, we’ve had casualties, and yet have emerged victorious.

That’s as much of American history as the mistakes.

realfoxmueller.bsky.social•56 days ago

Thought that was what we were getting with Biden. Civil religion is missed.

nocturnamine.bsky.social•56 days ago

View from 2008. If you haven’t heard this, it’s definitely worth a listen.

https://youtu.be/71YLX4pUMW0?si=_trHkDtXQL17ldnL

ctriverhuddle.bsky.social•56 days ago

Interesting that you say this. We just ordered small 🇺🇸🇺🇦 flags to hand out at rallies. We are taking our flag back.

silverhorseman.bsky.social•56 days ago

This is why authoritarian rule is unlikely in America.
Americans have a rich history of apposing authority, often violently, over issues big and small.
Also, perhaps fortunately, Trump and Musk are destroying the institutions they need to impose their will.
Anarchy, that is entirely possible.

leocostello.bsky.social•56 days ago

If there is power in appealing to basic, heretofore widely accepted "American" principles (Freedom, Democracy), then that power can be neutralized by convincing people to reject them.

Recent evidence suggests this won't be too hard. Just note how attitudes toward Putin have done a 180 recently.

seasofsalish.bsky.social•55 days ago

When Argentina took their country back focusing on the flag was a strategy. It’s everyone’s flag.

I was huge success for them. They credit this strategy with having a helpful impact and moving their goals towards a successful end.

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