I’m guilty as charged on advocating for democracy but not with simply voting and hoping for the best. Voting is, and always has been, crucial to freedom but unless it actually happens on a large scale it will never be enough. Everybody needs to vote but many people do not for a variety of personal reasons, none of which are even remotely valid. Until this changes, nothing changes and this won’t change without political activism. People have to be contacted directly and challenged to vote so, my best advice is to contact your County Party, volunteer and then actually carry through. If one is not knocking on doors, donating locally (seriously, locally.), making postcards, stuffing walk packets with lit, identifying Democrats and calling/texting to remind them to vote or reaching out via relational organizing platforms during early voting and on Election Day, then one is effectively doing nothing to help. It takes sweat equity to preserve freedom and, my unvarnished opinion here, that labor will be most effective when channeled through your local Democratic Party. That’s not to diss like-minded allied groups but, coordinated action will be more effective than multiple independent ones. I’ve taken both routes at different times but, in the end, I have found the Democratic Party at the County and local level to be the biggest hammer we have. We just need more people to pick it up and start swinging. I don’t know where you are but you and/or anyone else is welcome to ping me at PCLead@TarrantDemocrats.org and I’ll be happy to point you in the right direction or connect you with the right people.
Our own Harlan ain't a character out of the Beverly Hillbillies.. He is actually the scion of Dallas's Trammel Crow family...beneficiaries of much government largese.
There really is nothing new under the sun. Over-zealous reactionaries have been and will be with us forever. One can generally find them in the same place now as ever, sitting in the amen pew every Sunday morning, totally convinced by their own self-righteousness of their superiority. People like this simply can’t abide the presence of anyone who doesn’t look, think, believe or act like them. So, contrary to the teachings of the deity they profess to worship, they espouse conformity, intolerance, fear and, yes, hatred of their fellow citizens. Anything and anyone who isn’t an exact reflection of their twisted ideal is deemed evil and apostate. The idea of allowing other people to live their lives as they see fit, worship or not worship as they wish, have the temerity to live as equals with the full rights due to all Americans, to love who they love and be who they are is unthinkable. We don’t have to stand for it and we shouldn’t. We do need to realize though that they will always be with us and their deluded views represent a danger to civil society against which we must always be on guard. Yesterday is today and today will be tomorrow. As the late Janis Joplin put it, “It’s all the same fucking day, man”.
You are advocating for democracy here, freedom. We need to figure out how we're going to fight the over zealous reactionaries because, I fear, the voting route and hoping for the best will doom us all.
Great clip of bully Senator Joe McCarthy and his search for Communists. Today's bullies are recycling old methods. May they end up in tatters.
Amen.
I’m guilty as charged on advocating for democracy but not with simply voting and hoping for the best. Voting is, and always has been, crucial to freedom but unless it actually happens on a large scale it will never be enough. Everybody needs to vote but many people do not for a variety of personal reasons, none of which are even remotely valid. Until this changes, nothing changes and this won’t change without political activism. People have to be contacted directly and challenged to vote so, my best advice is to contact your County Party, volunteer and then actually carry through. If one is not knocking on doors, donating locally (seriously, locally.), making postcards, stuffing walk packets with lit, identifying Democrats and calling/texting to remind them to vote or reaching out via relational organizing platforms during early voting and on Election Day, then one is effectively doing nothing to help. It takes sweat equity to preserve freedom and, my unvarnished opinion here, that labor will be most effective when channeled through your local Democratic Party. That’s not to diss like-minded allied groups but, coordinated action will be more effective than multiple independent ones. I’ve taken both routes at different times but, in the end, I have found the Democratic Party at the County and local level to be the biggest hammer we have. We just need more people to pick it up and start swinging. I don’t know where you are but you and/or anyone else is welcome to ping me at PCLead@TarrantDemocrats.org and I’ll be happy to point you in the right direction or connect you with the right people.
Yes, I completely agree. And if you live in Tarrant County and can be a precinct chair, ping Joel, he can help you.
Our own Harlan ain't a character out of the Beverly Hillbillies.. He is actually the scion of Dallas's Trammel Crow family...beneficiaries of much government largese.
https://www.propublica.org/article/harlan-crow-slashed-tax-bill-clarence-thomas-superyacht
There really is nothing new under the sun. Over-zealous reactionaries have been and will be with us forever. One can generally find them in the same place now as ever, sitting in the amen pew every Sunday morning, totally convinced by their own self-righteousness of their superiority. People like this simply can’t abide the presence of anyone who doesn’t look, think, believe or act like them. So, contrary to the teachings of the deity they profess to worship, they espouse conformity, intolerance, fear and, yes, hatred of their fellow citizens. Anything and anyone who isn’t an exact reflection of their twisted ideal is deemed evil and apostate. The idea of allowing other people to live their lives as they see fit, worship or not worship as they wish, have the temerity to live as equals with the full rights due to all Americans, to love who they love and be who they are is unthinkable. We don’t have to stand for it and we shouldn’t. We do need to realize though that they will always be with us and their deluded views represent a danger to civil society against which we must always be on guard. Yesterday is today and today will be tomorrow. As the late Janis Joplin put it, “It’s all the same fucking day, man”.
You are advocating for democracy here, freedom. We need to figure out how we're going to fight the over zealous reactionaries because, I fear, the voting route and hoping for the best will doom us all.
RIP Janis Joplin. Love her.