I am, Barbara, the kind of American who regrets so many dehumanized.
If Dems had used our humanities in the recent elections, they could have empathized with, shown concern for our working-class fellow Americans who, by the tens of millions, got their jobs offshored by other elites. Got their communities torn apart, abandoned. Got their k…
I am, Barbara, the kind of American who regrets so many dehumanized.
If Dems had used our humanities in the recent elections, they could have empathized with, shown concern for our working-class fellow Americans who, by the tens of millions, got their jobs offshored by other elites. Got their communities torn apart, abandoned. Got their kids stuck in schools with no humanities, only standardized testing treating all like numbers, like units in the conceits of dehumanized elites.
No Dems, or almost none, showed any bit of being in touch with any working classes.
Being tough, Barbara, can't make up for elites so evidently dehumanized.
On November 6, 2024 I stopped asking why. I now ask what. What can we do to defeat these people?
Phil, with respect. Either you are going to knuckle down and work to defeat these people or not. It would be unimaginable in the 1800's the 1940's for someone to talk like you are. For people to talk like you are makes it harder for those of us who know we have some hard work ahead of us.
I don’t think we need to denigrate Phil for feelings that many of us have. I empathize with the anger and despair. We can learn from that and do better next time. And we can hope there is a next time. Perhaps this was not the ultimate battlefield. But it’s indeed possible to feel like it was, that once they have taken the White House, Congress and SCOTUS they can rewrite our history going forward. I’m glad so many of the folks on this page are bloody but unbowed. It’s good for me to read about your resilience and determination. But don’t shut up or shut out our sisters and brothers who can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel.
I realize people come here to vent. I have that right as well.
Here is my deep concern Marge. If people are saying these things and carrying this attitude here are they carrying this stuff out in the world? Are these the core attitudes of Americans right now? Have we given up already? I am not shutting anyone out. I am going to be that voice that keeps challenging people. I am going to be that voice that challenges people to stop being scared, stop being overwhelmed and to start getting angry. It is way past time to stop worrying about feelings. Don't you think our people who sat in foxholes and flew fighter planes had feelings? And what did they do?
The way to get through this? My personal North Star is Ben Franklin, who when asked about the form of government our new nation would have responded, “a Republic, if you can keep it.” I intend to keep it. That’s the work for the next four years. Can we do it? It requires resilience. We can’t quit because we lost an election.
This is, in large measure, about us and not about Donald Trump. Yes, we will have to pay attention to understand what he is doing and assess how dangerous it is, but we don’t have to give him control. We need to focus on why the Republic matters: so we can do the things we care about and spend time with the people we love, address climate change, secure the environment, improve infrastructure and wages—a path Joe Biden started us on—and, as outdated and silly as it may sound right now, live the American Dream. Isn’t that why we’re all here, so we can have good lives and so our children and grandchildren can have good lives—not so Donald Trump and his cronies can profit at our expense?
The cavalry isn’t coming. It’s just us. And I’m thankful we’re together for it. It's no surprise that people are exhausted. It's no surprise that they feel like they've given their all and been betrayed by a country that reelected the convicted felon. But history teaches us that progress is not linear and that people who want to have a democracy, who understand that it's worth fighting for, have to stay the course even at their lowest point.
We have two choices: Give up or move forward.
It’s not even close. We have a Republic to keep, and we are not quitters.
I say to you - and to Joyce - that we have suffered a trauma. People heal from trauma quickly or slowly, completely or partially. We need to let people heal at their own speed. A person in trauma and/or depression and/or anger will not be able to run a marathon until they can even walk. Give each of us the time we need. Trust and encourage them to recover.
As we reenter the Trump era, the forces we find ourselves up against — oligarchy, corruption, fascism — are powerful, and real. Given the scale of the threat, it’s easy to give up, to blame the voters, to resign ourselves to four more years doomscrolling and raging at everything Donald Trump and the people around him do.
While there’s no doubt that the years ahead demand vigilance, what if our work, at least right now, is not as bleak or insurmountable as it seems?
What if our work right now is not to rescue democracy or stop fascism or deal a knockout blow to MAGA, but instead to fight for the most vulnerable, to choose compassion and hopefulness, and to fortify ourselves for the endeavors ahead?
What if our work right now is not to block all of the Trump agenda — an impossible task, but one we implicitly expect of ourselves each time we let a new cabinet nomination or the realization of another Project 2025 pledge send us into a spiral of assuming that things will remain like this forever — but instead to endure, to organize and resist where we can, and to look out for each other along the way?
What if our work right now is not to save America, but instead to hold on just enough to give ourselves a chance to march forward again in two years, in four years, over a decade?
When you throw words like “elite” around, You demonstrate a certain contempt. Someone recently said the word “woke“ to me and I pretended I didn’t understand what it meant and asked her. She was stymied. I remember a time when being elite at anything was an aspiration, not an insult.
I am, Barbara, the kind of American who regrets so many dehumanized.
If Dems had used our humanities in the recent elections, they could have empathized with, shown concern for our working-class fellow Americans who, by the tens of millions, got their jobs offshored by other elites. Got their communities torn apart, abandoned. Got their kids stuck in schools with no humanities, only standardized testing treating all like numbers, like units in the conceits of dehumanized elites.
No Dems, or almost none, showed any bit of being in touch with any working classes.
Being tough, Barbara, can't make up for elites so evidently dehumanized.
On November 6, 2024 I stopped asking why. I now ask what. What can we do to defeat these people?
Phil, with respect. Either you are going to knuckle down and work to defeat these people or not. It would be unimaginable in the 1800's the 1940's for someone to talk like you are. For people to talk like you are makes it harder for those of us who know we have some hard work ahead of us.
I don’t think we need to denigrate Phil for feelings that many of us have. I empathize with the anger and despair. We can learn from that and do better next time. And we can hope there is a next time. Perhaps this was not the ultimate battlefield. But it’s indeed possible to feel like it was, that once they have taken the White House, Congress and SCOTUS they can rewrite our history going forward. I’m glad so many of the folks on this page are bloody but unbowed. It’s good for me to read about your resilience and determination. But don’t shut up or shut out our sisters and brothers who can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel.
I realize people come here to vent. I have that right as well.
Here is my deep concern Marge. If people are saying these things and carrying this attitude here are they carrying this stuff out in the world? Are these the core attitudes of Americans right now? Have we given up already? I am not shutting anyone out. I am going to be that voice that keeps challenging people. I am going to be that voice that challenges people to stop being scared, stop being overwhelmed and to start getting angry. It is way past time to stop worrying about feelings. Don't you think our people who sat in foxholes and flew fighter planes had feelings? And what did they do?
Americans need to toughen up fast.
Phil vented, you attacked her for that.
The way to get through this? My personal North Star is Ben Franklin, who when asked about the form of government our new nation would have responded, “a Republic, if you can keep it.” I intend to keep it. That’s the work for the next four years. Can we do it? It requires resilience. We can’t quit because we lost an election.
This is, in large measure, about us and not about Donald Trump. Yes, we will have to pay attention to understand what he is doing and assess how dangerous it is, but we don’t have to give him control. We need to focus on why the Republic matters: so we can do the things we care about and spend time with the people we love, address climate change, secure the environment, improve infrastructure and wages—a path Joe Biden started us on—and, as outdated and silly as it may sound right now, live the American Dream. Isn’t that why we’re all here, so we can have good lives and so our children and grandchildren can have good lives—not so Donald Trump and his cronies can profit at our expense?
The cavalry isn’t coming. It’s just us. And I’m thankful we’re together for it. It's no surprise that people are exhausted. It's no surprise that they feel like they've given their all and been betrayed by a country that reelected the convicted felon. But history teaches us that progress is not linear and that people who want to have a democracy, who understand that it's worth fighting for, have to stay the course even at their lowest point.
We have two choices: Give up or move forward.
It’s not even close. We have a Republic to keep, and we are not quitters.
We’re in this together,
from Joyce Vance
Civil Discourse
I say to you - and to Joyce - that we have suffered a trauma. People heal from trauma quickly or slowly, completely or partially. We need to let people heal at their own speed. A person in trauma and/or depression and/or anger will not be able to run a marathon until they can even walk. Give each of us the time we need. Trust and encourage them to recover.
Thank you, I just love her newsletter!
As we reenter the Trump era, the forces we find ourselves up against — oligarchy, corruption, fascism — are powerful, and real. Given the scale of the threat, it’s easy to give up, to blame the voters, to resign ourselves to four more years doomscrolling and raging at everything Donald Trump and the people around him do.
While there’s no doubt that the years ahead demand vigilance, what if our work, at least right now, is not as bleak or insurmountable as it seems?
What if our work right now is not to rescue democracy or stop fascism or deal a knockout blow to MAGA, but instead to fight for the most vulnerable, to choose compassion and hopefulness, and to fortify ourselves for the endeavors ahead?
What if our work right now is not to block all of the Trump agenda — an impossible task, but one we implicitly expect of ourselves each time we let a new cabinet nomination or the realization of another Project 2025 pledge send us into a spiral of assuming that things will remain like this forever — but instead to endure, to organize and resist where we can, and to look out for each other along the way?
What if our work right now is not to save America, but instead to hold on just enough to give ourselves a chance to march forward again in two years, in four years, over a decade?
(From The Ink)
Thank you Marge!🗽
The Ink?
Thank you Marge.
When you throw words like “elite” around, You demonstrate a certain contempt. Someone recently said the word “woke“ to me and I pretended I didn’t understand what it meant and asked her. She was stymied. I remember a time when being elite at anything was an aspiration, not an insult.
Elite nowadays, Beyhan, means college educated.