SUCH a great day!!! And quotes of the day (after):
“Women don’t want to die for Mike Johnson’s religious beliefs.” —Molly Jong-Fast
And from Jessica Valenti:
"I wish I was the kind of person who wins gracefully. Really, I do. But when you spend a year writing about raped children being denied care and women forced to carry doomed pregnancies to term, you tend to lose your magnanimity.
So to every Republican politician who tried to keep voters from having a say on abortion, and to every anti-choice activist who worked to keep women under the government’s thumb:
God bless you and Jessica Valenti. I spent all of yesterday absolutely floating with vindication and am not sorry.
Considering the press coverage: I am happy that the pundits have figured out the face-slappingly eye-rollingly hair-on-end obvious fact that reproductive rights matters to everyone, is a paramount concern and isn't just, like, a trend, gurl! But I am frustrated that they *still* are not fully grasping that it is not *just* the damn abortion bans that are driving up Demicratic turnout. It is so much more than that.
Dobbs was the straw that broke the camel's back. It was the apex and culmination of the Christian-fundamentalist-nativist-nationalist madness that the Republican party has spent most of our lifetimes cultivating in our population for their own divisive ends. It was the moment that everything else became sharply clarified for a lot of people who were not previously willing to see the personal, visceral danger of these peoples' agenda of open authoritarianism on their lives. The threats to democracy are NOT abstract, nor are you immune from their effects, and the danger is not just stemming from Von Tweeto but the party as a whole. When folks hear about an abortion ban it sets off a little *ping* in their brain that "Oh yeah, AND ALSO the book banning, and the telling people what to wear, and the gay bashing, and the open carry rifles (my kid has a clear backpack now!), and the insurrection, and the Nazi marches, and the forced family separation, and the million dead from Covid because you wouldn't wear a damn mask, and oh God I guess these people are all truly insane and maybe the extra 60 cents at Starbucks isn't the biggest problem after all!"
Ronna McDaniel was on the news saying how the party needs to make it clear how they value exceptions and nuance, and need to demonstrate "compassion" through more "pregnancy centers" and "viable adoption." Ugh. Lady, you are NOT GETTING IT. There is no nuance here. It is the 21st Century. Adults have sex. Having sex is FINE. Sometimes a woman gets pregnant, doesn't want to be a Mom yet. That is FINE. Get over it. That woman doesn't feel like spending a year of her life having her body put through hell and then the rest of her life knowing the kid she gave up is wandering out there, when the alternative is a SIMPLE COMMON MEDICAL PROCEDURE that removes some cells and lets her get on with her own destiny. Kindly stop shoving your hateful medieval judgement you learned from your magic book up her uterus.
Fuck you, we win.
Edit: Oh, and progressives ALSO have better ideas than the reactionaries about putting more money in the pockets of regular people. That too! (That isn't new, though.)
And stop defining zygotes as babies. All cells have potential but many fall short. Republicans fall short of that reach for humanity every day. Just like in 2012, when they heard the same advice “need a change of message,” they doubled-down and hugged right. And the money flowed in. Ronna McDaniel will NEVER get it. It’s power, pure and simple. One thing is for sure, the zealots will never admit defeat. Neither can we.
Jeri (and Will): Yes! AND stop defining women's bodily autonomy as only abortion. The issues having to do with women regaining legal control over their bodies is far more vast than that. What we need is ERA. And we also need to demand that this Christofascist focus on the "fault" of women for getting pregnant when they have intercourse be corrected. Pregnancy cannot happen without a (wait for it: I beat this drum on a regular basis) PENIS being involved. And yet all these white boyz are convinced that somehow their insertion of their favorite organ into a woman's vagina is not the problem. What I love is the fact that the book burning morons are being hoist on their own petard. My motto for years has been "Never EVER mess with librarians." We have to begin at the bottom and work through the system methodically. The Democratic machine is terrible at this, but it could be that we have some momentum.
"We have to begin at the bottom and work through the system methodically. The Democratic machine is terrible at this, but it could be that we have some momentum"
Thank you for this. I am chair of a local Dem committee, and on the county exec committee. You caught the Dem problem spot on. I have worked with groups, both political and non-political, for decades, and I know that people need to feel part of the process. But over and over again I hear people complaining that the only time they hear from the Dem party is when they want money. This is pretty much the truth. So I set out to give people in my committee a sense of having a voice and agency, knowing that they would take that out into the community to others. Yesterday, I was informed at county meeting in no uncertain words that the party is about raising money for in-state candidates, period. Yeah, we need the money, because we don't have the anonymous PACS the Republicans do. But before people give money, they have to feel like the organization hears them and is responsive to them. So while I will keep on chairing and toeing the line, I want to offer outside "work-sessions" for the folks in my committee who want to actually DO something to ensure we get the voters out, not just here, but in our neighbor states where close races WILL determine whether we have a functioning Congress. The old days of just having big event fund-raisers just don't cut it anymore. We want democracy back, and we want to be part of it- including our own political party.
I've experienced exactly what you're saying. As a result, every time I get an email from the DSCC or DNC or other establishment Washington-based Democratic group, if a text I type STOP and if a phone call I tell them to forget it, I never give money over the phone.
As we get into 2024 I'll donate to individual candidates - all Dems of course - but won't ever pay the overhead of institutionalized and out of touch Democratic groups in D.C.
I love you work to create a New Democratic Party. The old way is why we are in the fix we are in.(it’s not just that the gop went nuts). I want my support and action to be a part of that new bottom up rebuilding. I want us to win AND make a positive difference! Thank You Annie for chairing your local Dem committee. Here’s wishing you get better leadership higher up.
I think they are working on it at the national level. Keep in mind that each state has its own Dem organization and by-laws, and that, I think, is where the significant move toward change must happen. Also keep in mind that people all up and down are doing the best they can. We are almost all volunteers; the few staff we are able to hire are not well-paid for the level of work they do- and they do work hard. Nobody goes into this without a sense of commitment. It's just that people burn out, and new people tend to pick up on what they have seen, so old ways of doing things get perpetuated. Change takes time, and it's often hard. I believe that the amazing grass-roots activity outside the party the past several years will be one of the big drivers for change in the Democratic party. It already is a new Democratic Party. And the proof is the amazing results in recent elections. We each can do some small thing that will make a difference. One of the big ones is getting the media to pay attention to the important things. Write letters to journalists to let them know when they are off, but as important- let them know when they've done a good job. Best way to create change.
Yes! There is no pregnancy without a penis! 50% of the genetic makeup of each child belongs to the father. So, my suggestion to the pro-life extremists is that for every child born, the biological father is financially responsible for the child’s food, housing, clothing, healthcare, education through college, sports, etc. Let’s put that on the ballot along side their draconian anti-abortion bills. That’s only fair. The truth is, they don’t give a damn for those babies once they’re born. And they prove that by cutting SNAP and Medicaid benefits to poor women and children. This isn’t about being pro-life and it never was. It’s about keeping women powerless second class citizens.
Ramasmarmy was telling some reporter before the debate that the answer to abortion was "male sexual responsiblity." Which on a certain level is acknowledging the obvious that immaculate conception isn't suuuuuper common, but really is just another way of saying that the acceptable solution is to stop having sex, which is not going to happen and doesn't need to happen, because *adults have sex,* and always have and always will, and there is nothing WRONG with having sex whenever you want with another consenting adult, and the idea that you need to live with the "consequences" and "take responsibility" for having sex, like it is some grave weighty life choice you are making is goddamn ludicrous to everyone who knows what goddamn century it is.
Rami is dubiously offering a red herring. No doubt more male sexual activity responsibility would solve a LOT of world problems, but abortion will always be necessary health care. Responsible people get unwantedly pregnant. Responsible people have obstectric crisises that abortions will medically remedy. Pregnancy - even when resulting from responsible action - is still -and always will be- dicey business. Leave the decision where it should most responsibly be: with the pregnant person and the medical professional chosen to accept help from. NONE of this stops other women or men from chosing how to act personally. If you are against abortion, don’t get one. Or don’t have sex with someone who will get pregnant. Nothing is stopping someone from exercising their personal choice to carry their pregnancy to term. Nothing. As well, Nothing should stop a pregnant person from making the personal choice that is best for the pregnant person.
Susan, you must not live in a state like Missouri. Where the Dem machine is so afraid of losing their comfy relationship with the neofascists they won't support progressive candidates. Where they are fielding a primary opponent who wants to get rid of Cori Bush, probably one of the most remarkable Congresswomen around. Where they deliberately sank the nomination of a viable candidate in the last senatorial race (Lucas Kunce, who is now running to run against Hawley) in favor of a completely incompetent candidate whose only claim to fame was that she was a beer heiress with ties to St. Louis. And then lied about Lucas in order to primary him out of the picture. Where, outside of KC where I live and where we bleed blue, the Dem machine won't support their own electorate in favor of maintaining what piddly power or influence they have. Dem machine doesn't mean Democratic voter. Dem machine is the organization that ceded the grassroots to the Reaganites. That allowed the neofascists and Christofascists to take over local government. That is interested mostly in maintaining its own institutional power. Machines are all corrupt. I am interested in voters. In people. In pushing against the whole machine politics situation. Ironically, although Biden has been a team player most of his life, hhe has been out ahead of his own party for years--including as VP--in ways that the Dem machine has found objectionable. Why do you think they are being so coy? Talking about replacing him? Not amplifying his message?
Sorry for the screed but I just can't let this one go. I have never EVER voted for a Republican--and I remember and liked John Lindsey. But I won't call myself a member of the Democratic Party (except perhaps in Will Rogers's famous phrase: "I don't belong to an organized political party. I'm a Democrat") because I have been abandoned by the machine more times than I have been supported.
Thank you Linda! I am a lifelong Democrat, and I know it is important for us to call out the corruption in our own Party. I never give to the DCCC or the DSCC precisely because, as you said, they so often support candidates who are acceptable to corporate donors rather than those who really work for us.
That said, I have yet to see a Republican candidate who really gives a d@mn about real people, so I will continue to support Dems. Of MY choice.
Thank you for elucidating (is that a word?!) the situation in MO.....it’s bad enough fighting our enemies, but our “friends”? It must be doubly depressing
Wow...I'd like to copy your message and send to some friends in NY who are so frustrated with the NY Dem. machine. Would that be ok?
I'm encouraged by the young folks, especially women, I see who are truly progressive and working hard at the grass roots level. Old Dems will die out (I'm 78, and I'm sure of this!) so we have to keep fighting the good fight and supporting these young folk. Blessings,
Thank you for this post. Around here it is the more progressive people who are often Bernie bots and believe the label socialist can win who have dissed Biden. i don't hear that so much now, so maybe a few of them have reformed.
Have you heard Michael Moore’s podcasts about blue dots in a red state? His tips made sense to me, tho I live in NM which is blue, although there are a lot of MAGAs here….
Susan, the people doing the most effective work right now are the kitchen table Democrats: all the people writing postcards, making calls, going to the local town hall meetings, reaching out, showing up. We do need the organization of the party to pull it all together, but they let us down at the local level if all they do is constantly ask for money. In recent times, the most effective fund-raising has been for small amounts. I don't mind getting asks from candidates, because it costs to run a campaign. But it's pretty off-putting to be asked to give without being given a sense of why, and of being given the sense that We the People have no role in the process other than as money raisers.
First...I'm a radically independent moderate, I've voted for candidates and positions supported by both D and R.
Second...regarding the D. When they had the majority, when they had the House, the Senate and POTUS they did NOT pass the legislation that many of us want:
- right to reproductive control
- proper gun control
- right to register and vote
I think I see the R party self imploding on abortion and guns and extreme extremists, and am hoping to see D's have success in local, state and national elections in 2024.
Will the D's have enough discipline and self-control to advance the legislation that the MAJORITY of Americans (members of D and R and INDEPENDENTS) want?
"Will the D's have enough discipline and self-control to advance the legislation that the MAJORITY of Americans (members of D and R and INDEPENDENTS) want?"
I think it is key to remember that there is no particular amount of "self-discipline and control" that can mind-magic any given egotistical Senator into going along with the plan, especially when they feel they stand to be rewarded for NOT doing so, and if you have literally no people to lose then that is that. 273/275 Dems voting the same way (99.5% agreement) is pretty freaking "disciplined". Too bad those 2 were in the wrong place. If that doesn't happen next time, then all these nice things will happen next time.
Nicely put. It's been woman' fault since Eve. I recently read Gilgamesh and found out it was a woman (a temple prostitute) who spoiled Enkido's natural ways and made him a human so he could pal around with Gilgamesh who wasn't exactly a good ruler. I will give the ancient writers kudos though for not beating around the bush and telling exactly what happened. No euphemisms.
I have seen bits of whole Christian seminars based around the message that women need to keep themselves chaste because they have no idea how hard it is for men to control themselves when women are alluring, essentially laying the shame and responsibility for "sin" in the world at women for not keeping *themselves* oppressed enough.
I found it offensive as a man, though, because I have absolutely no problem keeping my business in my pants upon seeing a nice lady specimen, and I don't need any help from her (or Jesus) to not be a creep, thank you very much.
Love this, Will. On Christmas Eve we listen at 7am to the Readings and Carols from King's College Chapel, Cambridge. I love it, except the first bit about the Garden of Eden. Available, btw at 7amPST Christmas Eve on all classical.org to stream.
I find the work of Dr. Kristin Kobes du Mez very interesting. She is the author of a book Jesus and John Waynehttps://www.google.com/search?q=Kristin+kobes+du+mez&sca_esv=581440190&tbm=vid&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwio1oOQrruCAxXfjokEHWLiDN0Q_AUoBHoECAMQBg&biw=2219&bih=1051&dpr=2#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:41264421,vid:nLBgAimpnKs,st:0
Thanks for saying this Will. I have long been perplexed (and angry) that some theocratic countries keep women home-bound, shrouded head-to-toe when outdoors and “controlled” by men because-- what?—the men can’t control their urges? That screams to me of “moral weakness” and lack of self-agency….poor darlings, so sad & silly! Sometime ago I read The Power by Naomi Alderman, a fiction thought-experiment about the male/female power dynamic…an interesting read & btw was one of Obama’s favorite reads for 2017 (also NYT’s Book Review one of 10 best for 2017). I am grateful that for my trip-round-the-sun I landed in a relatively free society, if still somewhat misogynistic. And I hope to see the ERA finally passed before I shuffle off to star dust.
This summer my goal was to read as many banned books as possible ( including several children's books). To honest some I wouldn't care for in a high school. I think there would be other books which would cove the topic. The Handmaid's Tale and the Giver affected me the most. My general impression is they don't like anything that presents a possible authoritarian tendencies. Any thing LBGTQ is definitely out even if no sex is mentioned. and why is Where the Wild Things Are on the list?
Right on about the zygotes, Jeri. I've never seen any R sobbing over the more than 40% of zygotes that never take and get flushed down toilets all over the world every day. That's REALITY. Don't tell me those clumps of cells have souls.
If they cared about babies, they would CARE ABOUT BABIES, and children, and the damaged vets, and the immigrants who could contribute to our society, and... Well, I could go on and on.
How can you say you value all life when it is a zygote in utero but not when it is a Black man on death row for the same things white men get away with?
This is true, but you don't even have to go that far! They think that the life of a fully functioning women should cede its own exercise of free will the second an unformed zygote appears.
They clearly value some of "all lives" more than others.
Girls and women are sinners, and the men are just bystanders. NOT. Glad I have known some wonderful men or I could be a hater. I'm a hater of hypocrisy instead.
What is a soul? This much we know: all bodies are temporary no matter in what stage of development. If a soul is the point where the body plugs in to life, and the body dies, life is not the poorer for it.
Those right wing extremists are NOT the ones protecting life. Women and girls are suffering emotional trauma and dying because the Republican Taliban is practicing medical care without a license. The Republican Taliban voted to increase child poverty and wants to cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, SNAP, and every social safety net program while letting their legacy children into college and keeping kids with few financial resources out.
The ONLY good Republicans are pushing up daisies. Right on Harry Truman.
So many have been traitors for decades. The Coup of 1933 was the first I heard of. But not the last. Things that never made it into our history books. No wonder DeSatan wants to "protect" us from what republicans have done to our democracy. Now Santorum says it out loud.
Here in Ohio, the Republicans changed the wording of the Issue 1 amendment on the ballot, substituting “unborn child” for the word “fetus”, I suppose thinking fewer people would vote for that. Our issue wasn’t just about abortion. It includes the right to contraception, infertility treatment, and miscarriage care. It also forbids the state from punishing those who either seek abortions or help those seeking them.
While I’m thrilled that both Issues 1 and 2 passed, I find it pretty awful that turnout was less than 50% for such an important election. I get that that’s high for an off year, and all we voted for were a couple of magistrates, school board (and thank god our far right crazy lost), and our two issues, but ugh! Come on people, vote!
Had a conversation with my grand girl who seemed to think that since she uses contraception for other than birth control, she would be safe. Disabused her of that notion. It matters not. Also told her that things might not always be in her control. My ex bff has three daughters and one d-in-l. All were raped as teens, two working in restaurants, one at Oxford during a semester abroad, and one at college. None reported it. Shocking to me, but apparently more common than any know. Yet girls and/or women wear the Scarlett Letter.
My Mom was pregnant 13 times. She has 2 children. She wanted more, but that is life. Miscarriage is common and devastating, and she is the strongest person I know. I am so glad that she didn't have to think about what state she was living in while going through that near-decade of trying, and anyone who thinks it is ok for a woman having to consider such a thing in such a situation deserves an express ride to the very particular neighborhood in Hades.
My wife was 1 for 6. Two of those were in Missouri and one in Nebraska. She nearly died on one of them that happened when abortion was legal in those states.
If a woman in those states had miscarriages at the same point in their pregnancies that my wife did, there is a good chance they would die if this happened now.
I haven't spent time in Ohio since the 2002 election, but at that time, I noticed that daytime NPR always focused on music in the day time and all the news was pushed into the evenings, whereas in New York City, you could get NPR news all day long. I was volunteering for a group sponsored by George Soros (no demon in my book) rather than the Kerry campaign, but it seemed to me that some timely news would have been helpful, because the Republican narrative was out there unchallenged.
We’re seeing it play out now… “Within MAGA Republicans’ refusal to admit that their far-right positions are unpopular is a disdain for those voters who disagree with them.”
Sounds like the unnamed official in the George W. Bush administration who said “(you’re) in what we call the reality-based community,' which he defined as people who 'believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.' [...] 'That's not the way the world really works anymore,' he continued. 'We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality.”
Otherwise known as "alternative facts." Yep, W and Dickie were great at creating their own reality. We suffer mightily for their insanity today. W laughingly said "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and those are the ones you want to concentrate on." Chump signed on and here we are.
Don't forget W. had a lot of help from Karl Rove, who, if I'm not mistaken, first used the term reality-based community. And no, in reality, Saddam Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction, and we've been paying for it ever since.
Zealots or true believers of any ilk never admit defeat because they would have to give up the essence of themselves....the idea that only they have the truth and the hatred and disdain for anyone else who doesn't. It's a horrible way to go through life in my opinion, but we find it all over the world in various guises.
I think we can mostly thank death star for giving haters and in your face folks carte blanche to do this. Also I find that society in general is much less civil in everyday life.
The fact is, the Bible says the soul does not enter a body until the first breath is taken; these evangelical extremists have no biblical evidence for their stance against a woman’s rights.
Well said. It is the zealous quest of power. But the fervor is driven or rationalized by an irrational sense of rightness. And it's a sense that self-justifies immoral and unethical actions. It's frightening.
5 1/2 months for a baby to be able to survive outside the women. Something like 90+% abortions are done before 13 weeks. No one is ripping, screaming live babies from anyone.
But that's the lie the right-wing nut cult is pushing. I think chump actually said that. Worse than that, they think that no egg should go unfertilized. Birth control is as evil as abortion at any time. But sperm, just let it flood the land. Insanity rules the fools and has since God was a baby.
Great post, Will. You are so right about that "ping" setting off the remembrance of all those other oppressions. I think the thing is, forced birth is a constantly looming horror that affects more than half the population ALL THE TIME, so it galvanizes more people faster. And also, as HCR has often pointed out - Dobbs TOOK AWAY a Constitutional right. That is a five alarm fire.
Yes, things were looking pretty bleak, but nothing should tarnish the positivity of these elections. The message is clear. One of my favorite lines of this newsletter:
"As Greg Sargent noted in the Washington Post, right-wing culture wars appear to be losing their potency as opponents emphasize American principles."
No, Will, the anger will NOT subside…I have kept mine since the mid-60’s based on personal pre-Roe experience & that branded my advocation for reproductive bodily autonomy on my soul. For women the thrum of danger lives just beneath our skin, always—even when ones’ childbearing days are past . We do not forget.
And there is a potential link to so very many babies born with syphilis and lack of reproductive care. There have been increasing numbers for a decade but up 32% last year. Unforeseen consequences of the anti abortion movement and ruling of the Supreme Court.
SUCH a great day!!! And quotes of the day (after):
“Women don’t want to die for Mike Johnson’s religious beliefs.” —Molly Jong-Fast
And from Jessica Valenti:
"I wish I was the kind of person who wins gracefully. Really, I do. But when you spend a year writing about raped children being denied care and women forced to carry doomed pregnancies to term, you tend to lose your magnanimity.
So to every Republican politician who tried to keep voters from having a say on abortion, and to every anti-choice activist who worked to keep women under the government’s thumb:
'Fuck you, we win.' "
God bless you and Jessica Valenti. I spent all of yesterday absolutely floating with vindication and am not sorry.
Considering the press coverage: I am happy that the pundits have figured out the face-slappingly eye-rollingly hair-on-end obvious fact that reproductive rights matters to everyone, is a paramount concern and isn't just, like, a trend, gurl! But I am frustrated that they *still* are not fully grasping that it is not *just* the damn abortion bans that are driving up Demicratic turnout. It is so much more than that.
Dobbs was the straw that broke the camel's back. It was the apex and culmination of the Christian-fundamentalist-nativist-nationalist madness that the Republican party has spent most of our lifetimes cultivating in our population for their own divisive ends. It was the moment that everything else became sharply clarified for a lot of people who were not previously willing to see the personal, visceral danger of these peoples' agenda of open authoritarianism on their lives. The threats to democracy are NOT abstract, nor are you immune from their effects, and the danger is not just stemming from Von Tweeto but the party as a whole. When folks hear about an abortion ban it sets off a little *ping* in their brain that "Oh yeah, AND ALSO the book banning, and the telling people what to wear, and the gay bashing, and the open carry rifles (my kid has a clear backpack now!), and the insurrection, and the Nazi marches, and the forced family separation, and the million dead from Covid because you wouldn't wear a damn mask, and oh God I guess these people are all truly insane and maybe the extra 60 cents at Starbucks isn't the biggest problem after all!"
Ronna McDaniel was on the news saying how the party needs to make it clear how they value exceptions and nuance, and need to demonstrate "compassion" through more "pregnancy centers" and "viable adoption." Ugh. Lady, you are NOT GETTING IT. There is no nuance here. It is the 21st Century. Adults have sex. Having sex is FINE. Sometimes a woman gets pregnant, doesn't want to be a Mom yet. That is FINE. Get over it. That woman doesn't feel like spending a year of her life having her body put through hell and then the rest of her life knowing the kid she gave up is wandering out there, when the alternative is a SIMPLE COMMON MEDICAL PROCEDURE that removes some cells and lets her get on with her own destiny. Kindly stop shoving your hateful medieval judgement you learned from your magic book up her uterus.
Fuck you, we win.
Edit: Oh, and progressives ALSO have better ideas than the reactionaries about putting more money in the pockets of regular people. That too! (That isn't new, though.)
And stop defining zygotes as babies. All cells have potential but many fall short. Republicans fall short of that reach for humanity every day. Just like in 2012, when they heard the same advice “need a change of message,” they doubled-down and hugged right. And the money flowed in. Ronna McDaniel will NEVER get it. It’s power, pure and simple. One thing is for sure, the zealots will never admit defeat. Neither can we.
Jeri (and Will): Yes! AND stop defining women's bodily autonomy as only abortion. The issues having to do with women regaining legal control over their bodies is far more vast than that. What we need is ERA. And we also need to demand that this Christofascist focus on the "fault" of women for getting pregnant when they have intercourse be corrected. Pregnancy cannot happen without a (wait for it: I beat this drum on a regular basis) PENIS being involved. And yet all these white boyz are convinced that somehow their insertion of their favorite organ into a woman's vagina is not the problem. What I love is the fact that the book burning morons are being hoist on their own petard. My motto for years has been "Never EVER mess with librarians." We have to begin at the bottom and work through the system methodically. The Democratic machine is terrible at this, but it could be that we have some momentum.
"We have to begin at the bottom and work through the system methodically. The Democratic machine is terrible at this, but it could be that we have some momentum"
Thank you for this. I am chair of a local Dem committee, and on the county exec committee. You caught the Dem problem spot on. I have worked with groups, both political and non-political, for decades, and I know that people need to feel part of the process. But over and over again I hear people complaining that the only time they hear from the Dem party is when they want money. This is pretty much the truth. So I set out to give people in my committee a sense of having a voice and agency, knowing that they would take that out into the community to others. Yesterday, I was informed at county meeting in no uncertain words that the party is about raising money for in-state candidates, period. Yeah, we need the money, because we don't have the anonymous PACS the Republicans do. But before people give money, they have to feel like the organization hears them and is responsive to them. So while I will keep on chairing and toeing the line, I want to offer outside "work-sessions" for the folks in my committee who want to actually DO something to ensure we get the voters out, not just here, but in our neighbor states where close races WILL determine whether we have a functioning Congress. The old days of just having big event fund-raisers just don't cut it anymore. We want democracy back, and we want to be part of it- including our own political party.
I've experienced exactly what you're saying. As a result, every time I get an email from the DSCC or DNC or other establishment Washington-based Democratic group, if a text I type STOP and if a phone call I tell them to forget it, I never give money over the phone.
As we get into 2024 I'll donate to individual candidates - all Dems of course - but won't ever pay the overhead of institutionalized and out of touch Democratic groups in D.C.
BRAVA Annie!!!!!!!!!!! You give me hope.
I love you work to create a New Democratic Party. The old way is why we are in the fix we are in.(it’s not just that the gop went nuts). I want my support and action to be a part of that new bottom up rebuilding. I want us to win AND make a positive difference! Thank You Annie for chairing your local Dem committee. Here’s wishing you get better leadership higher up.
I think they are working on it at the national level. Keep in mind that each state has its own Dem organization and by-laws, and that, I think, is where the significant move toward change must happen. Also keep in mind that people all up and down are doing the best they can. We are almost all volunteers; the few staff we are able to hire are not well-paid for the level of work they do- and they do work hard. Nobody goes into this without a sense of commitment. It's just that people burn out, and new people tend to pick up on what they have seen, so old ways of doing things get perpetuated. Change takes time, and it's often hard. I believe that the amazing grass-roots activity outside the party the past several years will be one of the big drivers for change in the Democratic party. It already is a new Democratic Party. And the proof is the amazing results in recent elections. We each can do some small thing that will make a difference. One of the big ones is getting the media to pay attention to the important things. Write letters to journalists to let them know when they are off, but as important- let them know when they've done a good job. Best way to create change.
Yes! There is no pregnancy without a penis! 50% of the genetic makeup of each child belongs to the father. So, my suggestion to the pro-life extremists is that for every child born, the biological father is financially responsible for the child’s food, housing, clothing, healthcare, education through college, sports, etc. Let’s put that on the ballot along side their draconian anti-abortion bills. That’s only fair. The truth is, they don’t give a damn for those babies once they’re born. And they prove that by cutting SNAP and Medicaid benefits to poor women and children. This isn’t about being pro-life and it never was. It’s about keeping women powerless second class citizens.
Ramasmarmy was telling some reporter before the debate that the answer to abortion was "male sexual responsiblity." Which on a certain level is acknowledging the obvious that immaculate conception isn't suuuuuper common, but really is just another way of saying that the acceptable solution is to stop having sex, which is not going to happen and doesn't need to happen, because *adults have sex,* and always have and always will, and there is nothing WRONG with having sex whenever you want with another consenting adult, and the idea that you need to live with the "consequences" and "take responsibility" for having sex, like it is some grave weighty life choice you are making is goddamn ludicrous to everyone who knows what goddamn century it is.
Rami is dubiously offering a red herring. No doubt more male sexual activity responsibility would solve a LOT of world problems, but abortion will always be necessary health care. Responsible people get unwantedly pregnant. Responsible people have obstectric crisises that abortions will medically remedy. Pregnancy - even when resulting from responsible action - is still -and always will be- dicey business. Leave the decision where it should most responsibly be: with the pregnant person and the medical professional chosen to accept help from. NONE of this stops other women or men from chosing how to act personally. If you are against abortion, don’t get one. Or don’t have sex with someone who will get pregnant. Nothing is stopping someone from exercising their personal choice to carry their pregnancy to term. Nothing. As well, Nothing should stop a pregnant person from making the personal choice that is best for the pregnant person.
I guess that birth control is out of the question in some states. Even crossing the state is a no no (one of the southern states-Mississippi I think)
very well said
Funny comment, Linda. Never say the Democratic machine is terrible, ok? Please? Democrats are the loves of my life right now.
Susan, you must not live in a state like Missouri. Where the Dem machine is so afraid of losing their comfy relationship with the neofascists they won't support progressive candidates. Where they are fielding a primary opponent who wants to get rid of Cori Bush, probably one of the most remarkable Congresswomen around. Where they deliberately sank the nomination of a viable candidate in the last senatorial race (Lucas Kunce, who is now running to run against Hawley) in favor of a completely incompetent candidate whose only claim to fame was that she was a beer heiress with ties to St. Louis. And then lied about Lucas in order to primary him out of the picture. Where, outside of KC where I live and where we bleed blue, the Dem machine won't support their own electorate in favor of maintaining what piddly power or influence they have. Dem machine doesn't mean Democratic voter. Dem machine is the organization that ceded the grassroots to the Reaganites. That allowed the neofascists and Christofascists to take over local government. That is interested mostly in maintaining its own institutional power. Machines are all corrupt. I am interested in voters. In people. In pushing against the whole machine politics situation. Ironically, although Biden has been a team player most of his life, hhe has been out ahead of his own party for years--including as VP--in ways that the Dem machine has found objectionable. Why do you think they are being so coy? Talking about replacing him? Not amplifying his message?
Sorry for the screed but I just can't let this one go. I have never EVER voted for a Republican--and I remember and liked John Lindsey. But I won't call myself a member of the Democratic Party (except perhaps in Will Rogers's famous phrase: "I don't belong to an organized political party. I'm a Democrat") because I have been abandoned by the machine more times than I have been supported.
Thank you Linda! I am a lifelong Democrat, and I know it is important for us to call out the corruption in our own Party. I never give to the DCCC or the DSCC precisely because, as you said, they so often support candidates who are acceptable to corporate donors rather than those who really work for us.
That said, I have yet to see a Republican candidate who really gives a d@mn about real people, so I will continue to support Dems. Of MY choice.
Thank you for elucidating (is that a word?!) the situation in MO.....it’s bad enough fighting our enemies, but our “friends”? It must be doubly depressing
the "Democratic" National Committee
is a Private Corporation and is
'democratic' in name Only:
.
they're vastly Too com-
fortable to Afflict the
Comfortable and
Comfort the
Afflicted.
Wow...I'd like to copy your message and send to some friends in NY who are so frustrated with the NY Dem. machine. Would that be ok?
I'm encouraged by the young folks, especially women, I see who are truly progressive and working hard at the grass roots level. Old Dems will die out (I'm 78, and I'm sure of this!) so we have to keep fighting the good fight and supporting these young folk. Blessings,
Thank you for this post. Around here it is the more progressive people who are often Bernie bots and believe the label socialist can win who have dissed Biden. i don't hear that so much now, so maybe a few of them have reformed.
There are not enough 'Likes' for me to express my appreciation for your comments Linda.
I see. Thank you for the history from your neck of the woods and also your point of view.
Have you heard Michael Moore’s podcasts about blue dots in a red state? His tips made sense to me, tho I live in NM which is blue, although there are a lot of MAGAs here….
Mayor John Lindsay was the only Republican I ever voted for.
Wow! Thank you for these clear examples of the failings of the Democratic Machine. I did not understand the complaints until I read your post here!
Spot on. It is like watching a Trojan Horse. The R's infiltrated. Corporate agents.
Linda I am with you. And Mr Rogers.
Susan, the people doing the most effective work right now are the kitchen table Democrats: all the people writing postcards, making calls, going to the local town hall meetings, reaching out, showing up. We do need the organization of the party to pull it all together, but they let us down at the local level if all they do is constantly ask for money. In recent times, the most effective fund-raising has been for small amounts. I don't mind getting asks from candidates, because it costs to run a campaign. But it's pretty off-putting to be asked to give without being given a sense of why, and of being given the sense that We the People have no role in the process other than as money raisers.
Thank you, Annie.
First...I'm a radically independent moderate, I've voted for candidates and positions supported by both D and R.
Second...regarding the D. When they had the majority, when they had the House, the Senate and POTUS they did NOT pass the legislation that many of us want:
- right to reproductive control
- proper gun control
- right to register and vote
I think I see the R party self imploding on abortion and guns and extreme extremists, and am hoping to see D's have success in local, state and national elections in 2024.
Will the D's have enough discipline and self-control to advance the legislation that the MAJORITY of Americans (members of D and R and INDEPENDENTS) want?
"Will the D's have enough discipline and self-control to advance the legislation that the MAJORITY of Americans (members of D and R and INDEPENDENTS) want?"
I think it is key to remember that there is no particular amount of "self-discipline and control" that can mind-magic any given egotistical Senator into going along with the plan, especially when they feel they stand to be rewarded for NOT doing so, and if you have literally no people to lose then that is that. 273/275 Dems voting the same way (99.5% agreement) is pretty freaking "disciplined". Too bad those 2 were in the wrong place. If that doesn't happen next time, then all these nice things will happen next time.
Nicely put. It's been woman' fault since Eve. I recently read Gilgamesh and found out it was a woman (a temple prostitute) who spoiled Enkido's natural ways and made him a human so he could pal around with Gilgamesh who wasn't exactly a good ruler. I will give the ancient writers kudos though for not beating around the bush and telling exactly what happened. No euphemisms.
I have seen bits of whole Christian seminars based around the message that women need to keep themselves chaste because they have no idea how hard it is for men to control themselves when women are alluring, essentially laying the shame and responsibility for "sin" in the world at women for not keeping *themselves* oppressed enough.
I found it offensive as a man, though, because I have absolutely no problem keeping my business in my pants upon seeing a nice lady specimen, and I don't need any help from her (or Jesus) to not be a creep, thank you very much.
Love this, Will. On Christmas Eve we listen at 7am to the Readings and Carols from King's College Chapel, Cambridge. I love it, except the first bit about the Garden of Eden. Available, btw at 7amPST Christmas Eve on all classical.org to stream.
I find the work of Dr. Kristin Kobes du Mez very interesting. She is the author of a book Jesus and John Waynehttps://www.google.com/search?q=Kristin+kobes+du+mez&sca_esv=581440190&tbm=vid&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwio1oOQrruCAxXfjokEHWLiDN0Q_AUoBHoECAMQBg&biw=2219&bih=1051&dpr=2#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:41264421,vid:nLBgAimpnKs,st:0
Thanks for saying this Will. I have long been perplexed (and angry) that some theocratic countries keep women home-bound, shrouded head-to-toe when outdoors and “controlled” by men because-- what?—the men can’t control their urges? That screams to me of “moral weakness” and lack of self-agency….poor darlings, so sad & silly! Sometime ago I read The Power by Naomi Alderman, a fiction thought-experiment about the male/female power dynamic…an interesting read & btw was one of Obama’s favorite reads for 2017 (also NYT’s Book Review one of 10 best for 2017). I am grateful that for my trip-round-the-sun I landed in a relatively free society, if still somewhat misogynistic. And I hope to see the ERA finally passed before I shuffle off to star dust.
You rock, Linda, telling it like it is!
This summer my goal was to read as many banned books as possible ( including several children's books). To honest some I wouldn't care for in a high school. I think there would be other books which would cove the topic. The Handmaid's Tale and the Giver affected me the most. My general impression is they don't like anything that presents a possible authoritarian tendencies. Any thing LBGTQ is definitely out even if no sex is mentioned. and why is Where the Wild Things Are on the list?
Right on about the zygotes, Jeri. I've never seen any R sobbing over the more than 40% of zygotes that never take and get flushed down toilets all over the world every day. That's REALITY. Don't tell me those clumps of cells have souls.
If they cared about babies, they would CARE ABOUT BABIES, and children, and the damaged vets, and the immigrants who could contribute to our society, and... Well, I could go on and on.
How can you say you value all life when it is a zygote in utero but not when it is a Black man on death row for the same things white men get away with?
This is true, but you don't even have to go that far! They think that the life of a fully functioning women should cede its own exercise of free will the second an unformed zygote appears.
They clearly value some of "all lives" more than others.
It is the ultimate irony, Jeri, that Rs cannot give a fig about living humans. They only have plans to matters worse for ordinary people.
It's not babies. It's CONTROL of women.
Read somewhere - you can tell Democrats by the people they want to help. You can tell republicans by the people they want to hurt.
Absolutely.
AMEN!!!
"Don't
tell me those
clumps of cells have souls."
.
those who love
to proclaim 'Corporations
are too People!' keep using
that term. they haven't a Clue
what a Soul is or there'd Never
BE any more Executions. Zygotes
.
are
NOT
"Babies."
Dig it. Zygotes are not babies, baby.
&
Corps're
NOT Peeps.
oh
and
EVERY
Sperm
Is Sacred.
.
so let's
have some*
Ceremonies
for those that
Don't Make It.
.
*Mandatory!
Girls and women are sinners, and the men are just bystanders. NOT. Glad I have known some wonderful men or I could be a hater. I'm a hater of hypocrisy instead.
hate the Hipocrisy
AND Hate the
Patriarchy:
.
Women
hold Up
1/2 the Sky.
Man-datory, man. Eschew the idle unless your name is Eric.
Hahahaha…I see what you did there Les!
What is a soul? This much we know: all bodies are temporary no matter in what stage of development. If a soul is the point where the body plugs in to life, and the body dies, life is not the poorer for it.
I see the soul as a useful word for the awareness of right and wrong, as used by Tolstoy.
Those right wing extremists are NOT the ones protecting life. Women and girls are suffering emotional trauma and dying because the Republican Taliban is practicing medical care without a license. The Republican Taliban voted to increase child poverty and wants to cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, SNAP, and every social safety net program while letting their legacy children into college and keeping kids with few financial resources out.
The ONLY good Republicans are pushing up daisies. Right on Harry Truman.
So many have been traitors for decades. The Coup of 1933 was the first I heard of. But not the last. Things that never made it into our history books. No wonder DeSatan wants to "protect" us from what republicans have done to our democracy. Now Santorum says it out loud.
I'm ready for my closeup, Mr. MAGA.
Right on, JennSH!
Here in Ohio, the Republicans changed the wording of the Issue 1 amendment on the ballot, substituting “unborn child” for the word “fetus”, I suppose thinking fewer people would vote for that. Our issue wasn’t just about abortion. It includes the right to contraception, infertility treatment, and miscarriage care. It also forbids the state from punishing those who either seek abortions or help those seeking them.
While I’m thrilled that both Issues 1 and 2 passed, I find it pretty awful that turnout was less than 50% for such an important election. I get that that’s high for an off year, and all we voted for were a couple of magistrates, school board (and thank god our far right crazy lost), and our two issues, but ugh! Come on people, vote!
Had a conversation with my grand girl who seemed to think that since she uses contraception for other than birth control, she would be safe. Disabused her of that notion. It matters not. Also told her that things might not always be in her control. My ex bff has three daughters and one d-in-l. All were raped as teens, two working in restaurants, one at Oxford during a semester abroad, and one at college. None reported it. Shocking to me, but apparently more common than any know. Yet girls and/or women wear the Scarlett Letter.
Jeri, how heartbreaking. It makes my blood boil.
Mine too
Thank you KR for mentioning miscarriages and the danger to women who want their pregnancy to be viable but have to terminate it.
KR, thanks for sharing the "inclusions" of contraception and miscarriage care.
My Mom was pregnant 13 times. She has 2 children. She wanted more, but that is life. Miscarriage is common and devastating, and she is the strongest person I know. I am so glad that she didn't have to think about what state she was living in while going through that near-decade of trying, and anyone who thinks it is ok for a woman having to consider such a thing in such a situation deserves an express ride to the very particular neighborhood in Hades.
My wife was 1 for 6. Two of those were in Missouri and one in Nebraska. She nearly died on one of them that happened when abortion was legal in those states.
If a woman in those states had miscarriages at the same point in their pregnancies that my wife did, there is a good chance they would die if this happened now.
Fuck you Alito and the other CINOs on the USSC.
❤️
The prospect of the Handsmaid’s Tale coming to life feels too real.
It’s no longer a movie/book it’s a movement ....
And DYING....
***Applause for GOTV, Democrats Awakening ❤️😉, voting, donating, holding onto tried and truth , ACKNOWLEDGING our errors and corrective action.***
I haven't spent time in Ohio since the 2002 election, but at that time, I noticed that daytime NPR always focused on music in the day time and all the news was pushed into the evenings, whereas in New York City, you could get NPR news all day long. I was volunteering for a group sponsored by George Soros (no demon in my book) rather than the Kerry campaign, but it seemed to me that some timely news would have been helpful, because the Republican narrative was out there unchallenged.
That is still true.
We’re seeing it play out now… “Within MAGA Republicans’ refusal to admit that their far-right positions are unpopular is a disdain for those voters who disagree with them.”
Sounds like the unnamed official in the George W. Bush administration who said “(you’re) in what we call the reality-based community,' which he defined as people who 'believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.' [...] 'That's not the way the world really works anymore,' he continued. 'We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality.”
Otherwise known as "alternative facts." Yep, W and Dickie were great at creating their own reality. We suffer mightily for their insanity today. W laughingly said "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and those are the ones you want to concentrate on." Chump signed on and here we are.
Don't forget W. had a lot of help from Karl Rove, who, if I'm not mistaken, first used the term reality-based community. And no, in reality, Saddam Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction, and we've been paying for it ever since.
I’ll never forget Rove. Texas went to hell when he foisted W on the state. I told off more than a few people who defended that WMD crap.
'We're an empire now,
and when we act, we
create our own reality.”
.
with a Ginormous
Assist from Rupert 'Uncle
Snoopy' Mudroach, killer of
Democracies planet-wide and
his FOX facts-FREE teevee: ''the
Scum also rises.'' --Hunter S Thompson
and don't forget the Koch Kleptocrats and their $15 billion spent on psyops games, like creating the Tea Party in the shadows.
when your Empire
rests on the same
Fossil Fuels that
are Destroying
the Planet you
GOTTA Work
at undermin-
ing Democ-
racy & the
Kochs are
Experts
in that
field.
Omg, did that really happen?! So bad to be in a “reality-based community”!
Zealots or true believers of any ilk never admit defeat because they would have to give up the essence of themselves....the idea that only they have the truth and the hatred and disdain for anyone else who doesn't. It's a horrible way to go through life in my opinion, but we find it all over the world in various guises.
So true, but in my long life, I have never experienced the "out in the open" viciousness that exists today in our "tolerant country/"
I think we can mostly thank death star for giving haters and in your face folks carte blanche to do this. Also I find that society in general is much less civil in everyday life.
So true
The fact is, the Bible says the soul does not enter a body until the first breath is taken; these evangelical extremists have no biblical evidence for their stance against a woman’s rights.
Well said. It is the zealous quest of power. But the fervor is driven or rationalized by an irrational sense of rightness. And it's a sense that self-justifies immoral and unethical actions. It's frightening.
That self-righteousness identifies dangerous zealots who want to control your life
5 1/2 months for a baby to be able to survive outside the women. Something like 90+% abortions are done before 13 weeks. No one is ripping, screaming live babies from anyone.
But that's the lie the right-wing nut cult is pushing. I think chump actually said that. Worse than that, they think that no egg should go unfertilized. Birth control is as evil as abortion at any time. But sperm, just let it flood the land. Insanity rules the fools and has since God was a baby.
Great post, Will. You are so right about that "ping" setting off the remembrance of all those other oppressions. I think the thing is, forced birth is a constantly looming horror that affects more than half the population ALL THE TIME, so it galvanizes more people faster. And also, as HCR has often pointed out - Dobbs TOOK AWAY a Constitutional right. That is a five alarm fire.
Yes, things were looking pretty bleak, but nothing should tarnish the positivity of these elections. The message is clear. One of my favorite lines of this newsletter:
"As Greg Sargent noted in the Washington Post, right-wing culture wars appear to be losing their potency as opponents emphasize American principles."
"Will voters still care in a year's time, or will the anger subside as other issues come into the picture?"
I DON'T KNOW, WILL EVERY WOMAN IN AMERICA STOP HAVING HER PERIOD EVERY SINGLE MONTH? PRETTY CONSISTENT REMINDER OF THIS "ISSUE", WOULDN'T YA SAY?
No, Will, the anger will NOT subside…I have kept mine since the mid-60’s based on personal pre-Roe experience & that branded my advocation for reproductive bodily autonomy on my soul. For women the thrum of danger lives just beneath our skin, always—even when ones’ childbearing days are past . We do not forget.
And there is a potential link to so very many babies born with syphilis and lack of reproductive care. There have been increasing numbers for a decade but up 32% last year. Unforeseen consequences of the anti abortion movement and ruling of the Supreme Court.
The US stats scream for better health care period.
Included in that is maternal care, post partum care.
The US stats regarding health care are abysmal. The US stats regarding pregnancy and birth care are worse than that.