It’s ironic that in the wake of this U.S. “election” (I doubt its legitimacy), pro-democracy people are like, “We need to organise!”
The GOP has been organising for about 50 years. They coalesced around Trump in a way that Dems have never been able to agree on anything.
I would agree. In my experience, the GOPChristianRight has Always been at war. It is written into and included in sermons, bible study, worship and all their media forever. They take *spiritual warfare v srsly. It informs everything they do.
When i left the GOPChristianRight I was somewhat in shock how not only Dem/left was so committed to being the opposite - to a fault. I never really lost that Fight mentality but it has been frustrating to see how live+let live, no-waves has allowed for extreme - war-like - bigotry
We were taught from the cradle to be prepared to die4Jesus/GOP/D. I 💯 understand blaming Dems for being milquetoast but sometimes the alternative is an EndTimes DeathCult. Once/if you leave it, there's decades of trauma & exhaustion to overcome. Imo mental healthcare is one way to "fight"/heal them.
As have i since 2007 when Michele Bachmann entered stage right. I started the first of its kind support group for former fundies and was early proponents of normalizing idea of religious trauma. This was/is my life's work at this point.
I am a survivor of early Quiverfull. One thing i encourage is being careful of shaming the children & women in it. It is nearly impossible to leave - to even conceive leaving bc you lose Everything.
It’s wild because the GOP has been openly at war *at least* since Mitch McConnell openly announced his only goal was to make Obama a one term president and then broke the Senate in that pursuit. It’s been 17 years, if the Dems still don’t get it, it’s because they prefer this state of affairs.
We have a few that are fighting the war for us already. Too few.
@aoc.bsky.social @repjasmine.bsky.social
And some on the cusp.
@raskin.house.gov @wyden.senate.gov @ericswalwell.bsky.social
Some really need a fire under their ass.
@schumer.senate.gov @hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social @amyklobuchar.com
(To be clear I entirely agree with you that they don’t think it’s war. I just cannot begin to get my head around how, aside from the usual self-interested inertia that always seems to impact people. Still, usually they eventually get shocked out of it.)
-GOP moves right
-Pols who would have been moderate Republicans go to Dem party
-Dem tent gets bigger, message gets more diluted
-GOP message more pointed
-Corporate media "bothsides"
-GOP wins elections- through better messaging and normalization, moves further right.
Since Reagan the Democratic party has been in that ^ reaction spiral. Add that the main Dem party prioritizes protecting those "frontline" Dems, and it's a recipe for passivity and ideological muddle.
What does the Democratic party believe in? Hard to find an issue where there's a clear ideology.
The Democratic brand, if there is one, seems to be "we're not crazy" pragmatism. "Only adult in the room," etc etc.
But that brand is a poor match for the moment. It means the party as a whole is unwilling to do anything that seems "extreme"- and will actively punish those who do.
The Republicans declared war in the nineties with the hated Newt Gingrich, and the gloves have been off ever since. The corporate Dems are merely Republican Lite. They all need to go.
For years I've said Dems are doing town halls & photo ops while the GOP are breaking into your offices & making deep fakes of you joining Isis. Isis, that's how long I've been saying it
I have stated before - in todays "Simon Lagree" dominated environment the dems are the only viable side and need to be the chosen side - they just havent yet decided to fully and vigorously advocate strongly for things that will make an impact on our Root problems
Yep. I’ve been saying this. We are at war. The rules aren’t quite the same in war. If they are at war with democracy, we MUST be at war defending it. Otherwise it’s called surrender.
This is correct.
Establishment Democrats think this is a disagreement with coworkers and peers they need to work out and resolve to keep peaceful co-existence.
They want to reason with the unreasonable.
They have yet to accept Republicans as an enemy.
They view them as friendly rivals in politics.
Journalists for the mainstream media also seem very calm. The US government is being hacked to pieces, in a way that guarantees economic destruction, and they’re whistling
I hound on "When they go low, we go high" because its so stupid. That might work in a normal political setting, now isn't normal. They need to switch to "When they put one of ours in the hospital we put one of theirs in a morgue" Not literally of course, settle down feds, they just need to stand up.
I'm truly fearful that people will finally have enough and this will be handled in a bipartisan manner similar to the January 6-ers, but with more cruelty.
They’re hall monitors—and that’s what they want to be. They don’t have an orienting vision beyond that, just keep stuff (capital) moving semi-smoothly.
💯 Further, a great many Democrats are conservatives with the most diaphanous veneers of "politeness" cloaking themselves, and are quite pleased to see what Rs are up to at any given moment. They will certainly not work to reverse these things, if they ever gain real power again.
Comments
The GOP has been organising for about 50 years. They coalesced around Trump in a way that Dems have never been able to agree on anything.
@aoc.bsky.social @repjasmine.bsky.social
And some on the cusp.
@raskin.house.gov @wyden.senate.gov @ericswalwell.bsky.social
Some really need a fire under their ass.
@schumer.senate.gov @hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social @amyklobuchar.com
And not once have the Democrats ever understood it.
I’ve seen the same memos at state level Dem offices. They couldn’t be clearer about the situation.
It’s hard for me to understand how people who have read them continue to think it’s not war. The Nazis even tweet about it being war.
-Pols who would have been moderate Republicans go to Dem party
-Dem tent gets bigger, message gets more diluted
-GOP message more pointed
-Corporate media "bothsides"
-GOP wins elections- through better messaging and normalization, moves further right.
Etc.
What does the Democratic party believe in? Hard to find an issue where there's a clear ideology.
But that brand is a poor match for the moment. It means the party as a whole is unwilling to do anything that seems "extreme"- and will actively punish those who do.
The Democrats still think they live in some kind of fantasy bipartisan political world.
Establishment Democrats think this is a disagreement with coworkers and peers they need to work out and resolve to keep peaceful co-existence.
They want to reason with the unreasonable.
They have yet to accept Republicans as an enemy.
They view them as friendly rivals in politics.