paximajica.bsky.social
All I can do is be me. Whoever that is.
73 posts
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It does, so what do we do with that reality, and how are we honest about these atrocities without pretending that generations on, the descendants of these peoples can simply get up and leave?
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Israel and the U.S. have a particular sting precisely because they were so recent but they aren’t unique in the world. Thus, I hope the proposals for the safety and humanity of all peoples involved is more self-critical than a country should not exist.
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When we talk about real ways forward in the wake of empire and colonization the world over, it’s important to be honest that very, very few citizens of any modern nation were there first or the majority.
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That’s true. It’s also true that Israelis have more of a claim to the ancestral land than European colonizers ever did.
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Agreed. I’m saying this is nuanced. I’m also saying party leadership at the highest levels has been ignoring this kind of self-reflection for a decade at least. And we’re all paying the price.
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I didn’t want any of them to lose. I’m saying we have an obligation to investigate why. Media pressure is part of that story but it’s not the totality. This country is as polarized as it has been since the 1890’s. It doesn’t take much either way when it’s often that close.
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The party at large. When I say the party, I mean the leadership nationally where the weight and scale of the loss was greatest.
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Not in every way that matters, but I take your point. In essential ways yes, he was great, but he couldn’t win again and there are consequences for that. Like LBJ, and Carter, those consequences are part of his legacy.
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You’ve given me no ground or generosity this whole time. Everything I say is wrong, and no concession on any of it, which is fine but I’ve said my piece. If you don’t want to hear any of it, don’t keep digging. I’ve told you where we agree, and you offer nothing in reciprocation. Dead end.
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I said they were taught a lesson in ignoring the critical problems their voters were telling them for two years. Not with glee, with perspective. And the party too often ignored them. The lesson is in learning to listen and actually adapt. If you reply again, I’m not answering.
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And the truth is, given how many incumbents lost last year worldwide, it still would’ve taken a miracle. Biden wasn’t up to it this time. That’s the truth.
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Of course not. The 15-20% who voted the other way were not billionaires. But a real primary would’ve mattered. Especially if he won it. The people he overwhelmingly had to convince were not rich folks.
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We’ve reached the end, sir. Yes, when Trump is the alternative if you loose, yes it’s that serious. We’re done here.
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The interview where when asked if he lost the election how he would feel, “I’d know I did my best.” You don’t get to say that in an existential election. We now know his internal polls had him loosing 2/3 of the states. He knew that and he kept going.
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Biden’s was still worse, and will probably be remembered as one of the worst in history, as in world history.
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You’re writing like a troll man.
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It’s not about perfection here. Our leaders are going to make mistakes but many of these problems are systemic because they’ve deteriorated over time. That also means individual candidates pay a price for the bigger problems, even those they didn’t make worse. Trump lost in 2020 for similar reasons.
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No they weren’t, not even close and believing that is self-deception.
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So focus on the people you can reach who have aligned priorities but some of them are still different. That doesn’t make reaching them impossible or unimportant.
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The other 15-20% have to be persuaded. That doesn’t make their rationale right or righteous but in a democracy you must persuade. That 35% voting for Trump no matter what are also part of the problem but you aren’t going to convince them.
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Which was a disaster. Don’t minimize it. A disaster that confirmed many voters worst fears. Again, I agree with your stance on who you were voting for no matter what, but only about 35% of the country on either side votes that way.
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That’s nonsense.
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I agree. This is only to say the country is big and we don’t get to decide every aspect of what people care about in a candidate. He did so much I am grateful for but the media didn’t just create those problems for him. They weren’t invented problems. They had a real impact for a year and more.
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I agree with you, but this marathon has been running for a decade and more, not just this week. And it’s in a more desperate phase.
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When I see our national party doing everything in its power to fight this, and the many mistakes that effort undoubtedly creates, I’ll give them grace.
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Healthy movements take criticism in stride. It keeps them honest and it connects them to the people they’re accountable to. If we ever want a healthy system of competing national parties that won’t abandon democracy when they loose, we’ve got to pursue both.
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And I need you to understand that good faith criticism is not aiding the enemy. How much of the GOP crackup stems from a lawless lack of accountability and self-reflection? I do give them their knocks, their behavior and actions are what is motivating me now at this moment.
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You keep wanting to pick a fight. You do you. There are more important things at stake.
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I do know that. Our government was arming them. That’s not trivial. It was a choice and we fucked up.
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It did. I’m saying it did. But prices on essentials remained high. It’s hard to imagine any incumbent surviving that hardship. Most countries who voted booted their incumbents. Not just us.
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We are not a neutral party in mass murder and they understood that and that neither of their choices on that issue were good.
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I do know that. He had the power and the obligation to stop arming Israel if it refused to protect civilians in ways we demand of every other ally. If they still refused, that’s on them but our citizens know where the weapons came from.
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I also don’t think Biden deserves the blame for the lasting inflation that hurt so many people. But president’s don’t get to choose which crisis they’re ensconced in. Better communication and offering the office to a nominee who wasn’t attached to that crisis would’ve helped.
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Agreed. But there is a real argument to be made that our government did not honor the commitment we’ve made against human rights abuses when it came to arming the Israelis after these abuses were known. Something these groups saw repeatedly.
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Our chances are brittle if we have to rely on one party protecting democracy long term. Because that side also needs real reforms we can’t just ignore.
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I agree but it’s a week we all knew was coming. We don’t have time to waste, which is not to say we can’t enact patient, deliberate strategy here. We just can’t only do that.
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You can’t just dismiss them, even if there are greater consequences you’re fighting for. You have to address them. That doesn’t mean acquiescence or pandering. It requires finding common ground and sharing influence and power. And that requires clear and constant communication. Biden didn’t do that.
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It means really listening, building coalitions that make us all proactive and fighting on every level. Gaza wasn’t some made up problem for Biden. Many voters had family and friends directly impacted, killed, and displaced and his stance was unacceptable to them.
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You may not like that many voters had needs and desires not perfectly connected to the many, many good things Biden did (I share that frustration.) Meeting them where they are doesn’t mean staying there, it means taking the most salient and motivating issues seriously.
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Being able to convey their importance, connect them to a bigger project matters. Lincoln, FDR, Kennedy, Reagan, Clinton, Obama. All of them understood how one served the other.
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Not true, and I take your criticism seriously, so please consider doing the same. Being a good messenger, using the bully pulpit effectively is essential to the presidency and Biden could not — and was often directly pivoted by his staff from — doing that. The accomplishments are real. They matter.
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Yes, because it was a real problem they heard over and over again. I still voted for him in the primary. This isn’t black and white. It’s an era of major disconnection which is why the organizing you’re talking about is so important. Messaging is part of that.
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I agree and they voted for someone else this time. I think we’re talking past each other now, because organizing is exactly what I’m talking about and messaging attached to the causes people care about local, state, and national.
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He did, and the majority of people still think his age was a problem and he never persuaded them it wasn’t. That was a serious error of judgment on his part.
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There is profound value in remembering a normalcy and ideal under threat but that shouldn’t mean these specific people need to hold onto their power like monarchs, either. Making the republic and its people the priority is the first duty of any public official, right?