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hw's avatar

Thank you for your clear-eyed assessment of the state of our country.

There are flickers of light arising from the actions of blue state governors, young activists who've become alarmed by the dire threats to their futures, and a handful of election wins/polls that show a decided shift away from extremism and endless culture wars.

That said, the absence of Democratic leadership on the federal level is pathetic. Dick Durbin chairs the Senate Judiciary committee and cannot bring himself to eliminate the blue-slip rule holding up the confirmation of a slew of Biden judges. Durbin's answer to the astounding level of Justices Thomas' corruption was not to immediately commence hearings putting Thomas on the hot seat, but to weakly plead with Robert's to 'do something'. Is it possible to be more inert and ineffective than Durbin?

Schumer and Jeffries aren't much better...they seem to believe that issuing 'strongly worded messages' are Olympian-level feats of daring, meanwhile unknown state legislators in TN have shown bravery and oratorical skills that have garnered worldwide attention. Biden simply cannot seem to muster the ability to call out the relentless attacks on our democracy and people.

The answer is clear...the institutions won't save us... they're barely functioning. DC won't save us, so it's up to us to galvanize at the local and state levels. Attend school board meetings, register GenZ voters, help disenfranchised voters across the country obtain voter IDs (see VoteRiders.Org), run for local office/school boards/state legislatures (see RunForSomething), vote in everyone election (Democrats aren't heroes, not even close, but they're not fascists either). Vote blue in every election, every time. Write postcards, send texts, knock on doors, make calls.

Things will NOT be fine unless we take action. GenZ will not 'save us' unless they vote at 75% levels or higher.

The GOP won't stop stripping away rights.

Someday we'll be sufficiently sane as a country and we can create new parties, but for now it's Democrats vs fascists.

The future is in our hands.

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Ben Rimalower's avatar

Even when raining on our parade, your treatises are a clarifying tonic

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