Six months ago today, rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol, intending to stop the counting of the certified ballots that would make Joseph R. Biden president and Kamala Harris vice president. This attack was unprecedented. It broke our nation’s long history of the peaceful transfer of power.
The conclusion of a review of the Pew Research Center data:
"Thirty percent of Americans under 29 think Donald Trump was the worst president in American history. Sixty-five percent have an unfavorable view of the former president. Just 18 percent watch Fox News, the primary national vector for viral paranoia and disinformation, regularly. The Pew report is just a brutal document for Republicans. And it suggests that the light at the end of the tunnel, far from illuminating a path out of the wilderness for the GOP, is instead an oncoming, hostile generation poised to put Republicans at a decisive disadvantage in national elections for years."
The largest political party in the U.S. is non-voters, the disinterested, the distracted, the apathetic. If we are a 50 / 50 country of voters, we must remember that in even a high turnout election we struggle to turnout 65% of eligible voters. We need to get a significant portion of that other 35% motivated to overcome their disinterest. Trying to convince Republican voters of their folly is a fools errand, figuratively and literally. Overcoming gerrymandered districts and the skewed to rural electoral college requires motivating the disinterested. Interestingly, the actions of the Republican GQP party to concentrate wealth and power may ultimately serve that purpose but require the story to be told loudly and clearly. The actions of Republicans following January 6 may ultimately be Democrats best weapon.
I agree, Bruce. Once again, voter turn out, voter turn out. Your statistics, the 35% who don't vote, would assure Democrat victories. It should be a chief focus of Dems' strategy -- 1) encourage Democrat voters to check their eligibility on their states' websites and 2) arrange/negotiate for cities to provide free bus transportation to the polls.
I would add the overwhelmed to your reasons for not voting. Stressed with trying to get by and raise children politics can be a distant cacaphony of the noise made by chalk on a chalkboard. Biden might appeal to those with his serious attempts to assist with “getting by” and calm reassuring demeanor?
Yes, so real. The stress of raising children. No time to think about politics. The "getting by" appeal could be a good message, imo. Actually, I have a 35-year-old daughter with three kids in that category and her husband is a Trumper! She doesn't vote because she doesn't have time to sort out/disagree with what he believes vs. what we her parents say. I try to provide her general information re what Dems stand for vs. the "Repugnicans." But I think it's hard to live with a Trumper if you outright disagree with him. I tell her voting is like going to confession (she was raised Catholic) -- you don't have to tell anyone what you said to the priest or how you voted, not even your husband.
Kimceann, the headlight of an oncoming generation. I love it!
We must then carefully groom and cultivate this generation in any way that we can, starting with our own kin, even if they are already behind that headlight. How deep is their knowledge of how things got to be the way they are? Are they reading this letter? Are they aware of how much we support them?
This is not a short conflict, and the Repetrolicans know that, and have been coming against Democracy, not for generations, but for centuries. So now they send--from an old playbook-- schemes and laws and lies. We will must also take the long strategy, and send citizen warriors: People. We the People.
In this long war, education--not propaganda--is the long range cannon!
Not sure that I agree with that. The young people I am with….and that can be toddlers to young adults….are very much connected to their upbringing and do not see division in any way as much as we did. I believe the self worth of the young is much more defined and stronger at a younger age than it was in our generation. I’m not referring to self esteem.
Christine, how do you differentiate between "self worth" and "self esteem" ? My experience has been that we have often, but obviously not always, robbed our children of their childhood, short-circuited their sociability, deprived them of a developmental framework and they have difficulty thereafter in working out who they are and what that means in this world.
Lifetime teacher here. You nailed it Stuart. However there are some points I’d make. First of all, this is a relatively recent trend. It’s also *very* much a product of an insecure middle class. The world heaved in the years under Reagan and thereafter. In the 90s and beyond, schools fell hook, line, and sinker for the idea of applying a business methodology to education. Hence the great outbreak of the “testing disease”. It germinated first in England under a ministry called Ofsted, but quickly migrated to the Americas. Bush’s maliciously clever “No Child Left Behind” slogan and program lifted testing into the stratosphere.
Economically insecure parents, victims of trickle-down policy put enormous pressure on their kids to succeed in education as if it’s whole point was to give one a financial ticket for life. Naturally there followed quickly behind all sorts of micro and macro scandals. But that’s another book.
Although it’s not the only factor (the “stranger danger” phenomenon was another), the distortion of education has wrecked, and I use that word advisedly, wrecked millions of children in the way you described so succinctly.
If you want to read an incredibly chilling book, get Excellent Sheep by William Deresiewicz. You will never forget it.
In the past few years standardized testing has gotten some strong critical blowback. The success of the Finns who lead the world in educational attainment with a radically different approach has led other countries to begin pulling back in this area.
Nothing is 100% of course, but far, far too many children have had their childhood aborted, have not learned valuable lessons through play and remain “children” in need of succour well into adulthood. Interestingly boys suffer most at school age. Girls cope well by doing their level best to meet all demands, regardless of how dumb some of them are. They thrive, or seem to, well into adulthood. But then, for many a breakdown comes at the intersection of marriage, work, and parenting. I have heard many stories from mothers about their own breakdowns later in life.
And the rule of thumb is - the smarter the kid, the more problems (s)he will experience.
Thankfully I see this fever just beginning to break. But there can be a lot of damage in 30 years and I’ve witnessed it.
Eric, Thank you for a thoughtful and first perspective analysis from the inside of our educational system. While I am a strong supporter of public schools and public education, I also believe that this is just a part of a larger essential framework for building balanced life skills. I believe in the importance also of adult mentoring, from parents, family, coaches, neighbors, and others in building those life skills. I also recognize the importance of friendships and a wider social circle of influencers as important also. Lastly, I also believe in the importance of taking personal responsibility for building those life skills and completing a balanced education. I believe most expect too much from the schools and teachers alone. The necessary components of a good education and building those life skills require more than the educational system alone can impart.
I wish there were a better word for people like your son. "Gifted" rubs me the wrong way, as if all the rest of us have no gifts of our own. Can't we come up with something more appropriately descriptive? What happened to "genius"?
I assume you are not even including this subset in your comments. They are just the tip of the iceberg. But yes more college educated parents means understanding human growth and development means generations are having those needs met more appropriately so the future looks brighter. Perhaps someday we can actually teach six year olds how to nurture and nourish themselves and others bodies and minds. What a radical thought 😳 https://www.acf.hhs.gov/media/press/2020/2020/child-abuse-neglect-data-released
That has not been my experience at all and my career in public education is long with a perspective that I bring to my comments about the young in this forum.
I completely agree, Kathy. Hilary Clinton was totally correct in the emphasis of her message….it takes a village to raise children. We are seeing the benefit of that more so with this younger generation than at any other time. Though independent, they are more comfortably interdependent. That’s a good thing when it comes to improving equity of opportunity. They see it as a given.
Oh I wish it were so, Kathy. I raised my daughter with all the “right” values and a sense of what democracy stood for. Then she married someone who is now a Trumpet. His friends and the crap he now listens to has turned her and I can’t get through to her. For the peace of the family we have agreed to not talk politics. I try in ever so subtle ways to bring her back, but no success so far and I am despondent about that.
I am so sorry. I truly can’t imagine. One of my kids is so far left, and has a tendency to pontificate, that we, too don’t talk politics anymore. But at least I feel like his heart is in the right place.
That doesn't mean you didn't do a great job raising her, Annette, or that she isn't a good person. Sometimes it just skips a generation, said my Republican father of 3 Democrat daughters (and a son who did a 180 from liberal to libertarian).
Stuart, I totally agree with you. Yes, we screwed it all up.
But now, with that hindsight and hopefully the wisdom we may have acquired, and the information we share with each other here, isn't it imperative that we try to equip and motivate the next generations? I'm having a little success, and it inspires me to try harder!
What good is it for us to right the ship we foundered,, only to turn the helm over to ernest but inexperienced crew? (Like we were, once).
Oh yes. They need us just like we need them. Stacy Abrams and Jim Clyburn saved the election for us in 2020. If any single element of our coalition start thinking they stand alone and can win the day, we are all screwed.
Yes Gustav. It’s why they are so stupid about Critical Race Theory. Which enhances the instruction, not the curriculum that they target. The common good of public education is always a stumbling block for, what did you call them, the Repetrolicans??? Ha!
I am so encouraged by the people that I know that fall into that 18-30 age group. Through my involvement with the U of O Music School, I have come to know quite a few people in this age range. They make my heart sing. They are becoming teachers in great numbers and are up front and vocal about their positions on the rights of all, and the need for redress and condemnation of systemic racism.
I see that also Ally as is evident from my comments about education. If I may quote Gustav from yesterday…my political will and interest is “quickened” participating with the young people. Their interdependence is so satisfying to me. Cornerstone of equality and equity.
Also, in 2020, Trump won the over-75 idiots I've had to put up with since they were 10-year old morons by only 5 percentage points, rather than the 12 points he won by in 2016. Fortunately, the majority of my high school graduating class has finally beautified America by their permanent departures, something that should be only moreso by 2024.
The only trouble is TC that they are replaced in considerable numbers....not as much as the baby boomers but.....people tend towards the conservative end of the political polarity with aging.
Morning Stuart! Here is perhaps a more hopeful (albeit perhaps not entirely verifiable) trend: straight women, especially those whose lives get shaken up by divorce, tend to become leftier as they age (non-straight women tend to be super lefty in any case). And women vote far more regularly and consistently than do men. This is apparently connected to the issue of straight women having to accommodate men while in their fertile years, but not needing to worry about that stuff after a certain age. In addition, women are being vaccinated in larger numbers than are men in the states that are being run by genocidal arses (like Mike Parson) who I think want to keep Covid alive and thriving in their states in the mistaken belief that it will kill more POC than whites (which someone admitted a few days ago was precisely the White House strategy back in the spring of 2020, although I wonder about the accuracy of that report). So as the male over 50s are getting sick, the women are holding on. And, of course, women are the majority in the population in most western countries in any case.
So--TC and Stuart--it might be that, as usual, women save the day. She says without a note of irony. 🤪🤣
Yes, yes, and yes! True even of the Greatest Generation, not just Boomers and later. Let’s also never forget who handed us the last election either. Women of color worked their collective butts off. We owe them a debt we cannot repay for having Biden’s back. Or was it Harris’s back (she says without a note of irony either) 🤣
Women are indeed the best hope for retaining some sanity in politics. Well except for the few of those of the QOP tribe. We need more of them to run for office and all of them to vote.
I am one of those lefty women but I was disheartened to read in the Pew report that white women increased their support from ‘16 - ‘20 for the former guy
Morning, Stuart!! And then there are some of us boomers who once recoiled at the thought of Medicare for All and other social safety nets but now will vote for their passage.
Yeh....morning Lynell..., but when you get into the masses, the tendencies are clear. What is important with such deep trends is the definition of what "conservative" means. That too can change with the ages.
Hey, Norman. Not knowing how "stuff" works, I was stuck in and believed the idea that it was not fair to those of us who spent 40+ years paying into Medicare system. Now I know better.
Fortunately it is some and not all of us that tend towards conservatism as we age. In the course of talking to people over the last five and a half years I have been heartened by the number of folks older than myself (67) who are not DiJiT fans or even GQP fans.
Growing older (80) does not mean growing more conservative. That is a conscious choice. Watching national and world politics, it is certain that we cannot continue this top-heavy, nondemocratic, unconstitutional system. This is not governance. This is ruling as authoritarians.
“This is not just a Black thing. This is a fear of the American people, a fear of Black and white and Brown and Asian and Native people coming together and pushing this nation forward.”
Rev. William Barber, co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign
Just to illustrate the attitude of GOP legislators, this statement was made in public. Most of them are more careful about saying what they believe:
“Even though my constituents voted for this lie, I’m going to protect them,” he said. “I am proud to stand against the will of the people.”
Rep. Justin Hill, Mo.
He was speaking on the expansion of Medicare. This is where our representative government has fallen to. The will of the peo[ple is immaterial to them.
Stuart, yesterday on here I posted the site kimceann posted waaaaaaay above, as well as a link to the Pew Research Center data (which is a lot to wade through). What it did show was that trends tend to favour the Democrats in terms of demographic "replacement" (i.e. us 75+, baby-boomer Republican-voting old farts dying out vs younger and/or first-time voters coming on to voter rolls). The GOP's voter bloc is shrinking a bit faster--and they KNOW it. That's why they're grabbing power as fast as they can.
Stuart, you are correct and it would be a concern if we were talking about conservatives. Have you ever heard of a "conservative" , or "conservatives" trying to overthrow an election????? Neither have I.
On the other hand fascists frequently used that to try to gain power and that is who we are dealing with not conservatives.
Joe, in principle, conservatives seek to preserve all that is "good" in a society. Obviously that depends on your definition of "good" . Fascists find that the "good" has been lost a long time ago and they need to break everythingto be able to reimpose what has been "lost" .
Been saying it Kimceann, sister. It is the “youngsters” that are clear eyed about progressive, responsible, doable change to improve government, climate, equity of opportunity, health, family, education…. Just about any topic that concerns involvement of, by, and for the people. It is their votes that are crucial to restoring our country to the country that they were promised as they were raised.
There is a certain age when "youngsters" question the things their parents have taught them and realize that their elders are full of sh*t. Whether they stay with that opinion is influenced by subsequent experience.
I think the GOP is well aware of the miscalculations they have made, but they are far too deep in the downward spiral to try to change course now. It is do or die time for them. With the backing of the Supreme Court, they can halt elections. They have seen what the black voters did in Georgia last time and they see this young multiracial force that is now taking place becoming more motivated to take part in their government, and they are terrified. But, there is something to be said about the ferocity of a trapped rat.
I am working on that in regards to my two young helpers. Told them both to get registered and if they are registered by the end of the year, I would come to their house and make sure they are. Same with voting (cept we all get mail in voting), if they haven't voted before election day, I would be coming to their house to take them to the polls.
I also talk to them about their vote is their voice and it is more powerful than they know.
As they have often been "short-changed" on the side of history education and don't have a frame of reference for understanding what is going on and what it all means.
My thought has always been, as a retired museum historian, that most people don't appreciate history until they have a history themselves -- they can now see themselves in the whole scheme of things. Can't count how many of my museum volunteers have told me "I hated history in school, but I love it now." Perhaps I loved it from the beginning because I had a couple of great history teachers.
Hence the importance of the "acceptability criteria and the verification/certification process. Not enough attention is being given, in my opinion to the latter.
I pray the younger generation is not too late in turning this around. If Republicans get control in 2022 I fear all bets are off for generations to come.
I find it interesting that we seem always to look to the younger generation to save us. Indeed I hope to see them gain interest and show up in greater numbers to the polls. However, turnout numbers show we are more likely to be saved by our black and brown sisters. Women of color delivered us two Democratic Senators in Georgia. This is, by % of eligible voters showing up, the most powerful force in the Democratic power at the polls and knocking on doors. Honor, respect, and mobilize them. They are a force to be reckoned with.
I look to the young along with the emerging dynamic of increased participation of BIPOC voters. Participation is the key. I recognize every force that votes for truth and saving our democracy.
I totally agree with you, Sharon. I hate to say it, but Democrats needs to get more ferocious in the ring with Republicans. In the end, Democrats only chance of retaining power is to rise up with historical voter turnout, despite new suppression laws.
Thank you, Kimceann. I needed to see this, after finally making myself watch the entire NYTimes insurrection video. My daughter is a millennial. She sent me a TikToc video yesterday that was a millennial talking to her therapist, ticking off the major time stamps of her life so far (being in middle school when Columbine happened, and on and on on that score), graduating college in the teeth of "the worst recession since the Great Depression", tons of student debt, oh, yeah, and 9/11, etc., culminating with the Trump fiasco. It was sad and funny at the same time.
I have a Millennial friend* who writes for Medium; she has posted this same thing many times. (Hanna Brooks Olsen, if you're curious.)
*Technically the daughter of a former coworker, but still a friend. This former coworker and I were bastions of left thought on our department. We both got directives about our hair length (me: too short; him: too long, while our hair was the exact same length. Come to find out that Sergeant is, if all possible, more liberal than either of us.)
I don't think there is any doubt the majority of Americans do not want Trump as their president. The majority didn't want him in 2016. Voter suppression and gerrymandering are the enemy. If a minority that has seized power decides what votes get counted and where, they can control the outcome. The GOP doesn't want to win elections, they want to establish an authoritarian regime.
kimceann - Thank you for posting that link! Made me think there may be some hope for the future. The job ahead of us is to continue to find ways to keep those younger people engaged in the political process.
Morning, all!! Morning, Dr. R! Today (which happens to be July 7) I wish to celebrate a couple who are celebrating their 75th anniversary. In November of 1976, America turned its back on the "horrors" of Watergate and elected a peanut farmer from the State of Georgia. Many had written at the time that he was ineffectual, a weak president who did not accomplish much.
I recall a time at a gala held in Los Angeles. Many celebrities were in attendance, Hollywood types as well as the well-connected. There was the standard hum in the room that goes with every large gathering of people. But the room electrified the moment Jimmy Carter, the President of the United States, the leader of the free world, entered. You could not help but notice it, it was that vivid. I can still feel it to this day.
So, too, aboard Air Force One on January 6,1978, after a tour of seven countries, a tired First Lady, Rosalyn Carter, gave up her chair and sat at her husband's feet so that this stenographer could do her job of reporting the President's remarks at a press briefing.
Morning, Daria!! I hesitated to share this bit of my personal history. I hope it is received in the spirit it was given. Our team was not a political appointment but won the contract to be the WH official stenographers. I served for two years.
Lynell, it is most certainly received in the spirit it was given. Thank you so much for sharing these priceless firsthand memories. I was born in '67, so I certainly remember the Carter years. But as I child I had no real context in which to place them and really never learned more than the most well known basics about them personally. There are many details in the moving article you linked that I did not know. Thank you for that.
Lynell, I join in thanking you for sharing these picturesque, chill-inducing details!
I could see the gala room and swank attendees, feel Carter’s arrival send a charge through the room, and picture Rosalyn insisting you have her seat for the important words you needed to capture!
I lived in GA when Jimmy Carter ran for and won the 1976 election. I remember his son, Jack, stopping by my boss’s law practice. I would love to hear more about your work for him! Having once a long time ago learned shorthand myself, I can’t imagine the responsibility of recording the words of a president.
We used a stenotype machine, different from pen shorthand and has its own code of letters. Your name, Marcy, would look like this on steno paper once you struck the correct keys: PH A R/SEU. With machine shorthand you can write at speeds of up to 225 words per minute, with some having been clocked at 300 wpm!
Congratulations to the Carters on lives well-lived and their continued devotion to each other.
Jimmy Carter is one of two presidents I saw in person while they were campaigning. He gave a speech on the Plaza in downtown Albuquerque and I climbed up to stand on the base of a lamppost so I could see him. I have vivid memories of one Secret Service agent who devoted his time to staring watchfully at me. It was a good speech and he got my vote.
The other candidate was Ronald Reagan. I did not like his speech which was perhaps more subtle than Trump’s rallies, but also designed to foment anger in the crowd.
Leslie, while I try even at this late date to keep up with what's what, I have to admit that these articles/letters/stories are my preferred news! Thanks for this PBS link. Is this 3.5 hour tour virtual or in-person?
And fixing this whole disaster hinges on getting voting rights legislation passed.
I've been calling my Republican senators, and will keep calling them, especially on gerrymandering and dark money, and explaining that state's rights do not overpower our constitutional rights. It won't do any good, until it does.
Very thankful for Manchin's backup plan.
Our troops didn't give up on D-day, or under pressure from kamikaze pilots. So yeah, I can make phone calls. LOTS of phone calls.
SUBSCRIBERS, I believe that we are in the midst of a troll attack today.
Heather has provided us with an outline of where America is today; the steps towards autocracy taken by the Republican Party since the 1980's and historical contexts taking us back to the 1800's. It is a brilliant work by her that will nurture our understanding far beyond today and our activism going forward.
I was going to add a comment about figures such as the Nobel Prize–winning economist James M. Buchanan, 'The Architect of the Radical Right' (The Atlantic), the Koch Brothers and Rupert Murdoch as major forces contributing to the destruction of Democracy. I will not be submitting that comment today given our unwelcome visitors. It is too disquieting to be surrounded by them. I can only offer my sense of things and suggest that these characters are here to take us off track, smear democracy and occupy space in highly noxious ways. That is my impression, and I hope that the forum is less problematic today than I suspect.
As teachers practice, it is more productive to address a behavior than to slap a label on someone. The label “troll” has been used here to rail against comments posted by (1) professional provocateurs intending to draw a large volume of responses to detract from the main message of HCR’s Letter, (2) political contrarians, and (3) attention seekers, some of whom are more unfiltered than others.
In all cases, these comment forums are driven by algorithms. A person’s comment and “likes” to others’ comments, even calling out the trolling behavior, are only quantitatively registered by the algorithm. The algorithm does not distinguish between critical versus supportive content of a comment.
Across the board, the advice is to Ignore, Do Not Respond, “Do not feed the trolls.” Scroll on by.
Then our job is to use our critical thinking skills to question the accusations made against named individuals on this forum. Some self proclaimed investigators have wrongfully asserted that other individuals here are Russian agents. The process of engaging supporters to this claim via repetition and playing to loyalty is ironically similar to that employed by the professionals to sow political disinformation.
Please let us stay on track and focus on building a fairer society.
Agreed, however there is one particular commentator on this forum, I'm sure you know who I'm referencing, that is not a troll, as in the pure sense of the vernacular, but is old enough to chose his words more wisely. When he goes out of his way to defame Dr Richardson, just to satisfy his narcissistic personality, I will respond to him in spades.
Ellie, your penultimate paragraph is spot on. I "pulled the plug" on some subscribers when the accusations of individuals being Russian assets began to fly. It was interesting to see who piled on to that bandwagon so eagerly. I've since pulled the plug on others for a variety of reasons.
Heather gives us the information and her insight. We go from there. People, like yourself, have continually offered solid, sound information and commentary aimed at shoring up our democracy, both intellectually and practically. This forum is not meant to aid people interested in developing their own cult of personality. They can do that on their own time and on their own dime.
Thank you for pointing out the "flood the zone" factor employed by the professionals. Aside from if/when HCR has a Substack moderator to zap such zone flooders, subscribers nevertheless need to learn to recognize trolling behavior and then have the discipline to respond effectively, meaning to Ignore, do not engage.
I still find it interesting and instructive to read their alternate point of view. Sometimes they even make a good point. Mostly they devolve into faulty logic. The haters love to stir up passions too, then call us emotional and illogical ourselves. So much deflection. Reminds me so much of my x-husband.
Margaret The Artist, It would be impolite not to stop in appreciation of your perspective and humor. I was in no mood this morning for the negative spewing of you know what. Reading subscribers comments in the last few minutes was a boost and a reminder of the varied sources of information and force for good that the Forum represents. Thank you. I'll be back tomorrow in a better frame of mind.
Fern, yes you are correct. Trolls or people that just want to think that they are significant are finding their way to this column. Likely because it's the #1 column on Substack. I'm finding myself less interested in engaging here. I'm getting tired of wading through the bullshit.
The fact that contrarians pay to comment in a forum where they clearly are outnumbered stumps me. Why bother? They must know they are not going to sway us to the other side! I guess 5 bucks a month is a small price to pay to raise people's hackles.
Too, I think it's important to distinguish between those with whom we disagree, those who are utterly devoid of critical thinking skills, and those who continually advocate the righteousness of the ultra conservative faction in the US (and around the globe). No contrarian who has stepped into this space has had the persuasive power to change any of our hearts or minds. And I wonder, do they come here to try and persuade us to another POV or do they come here because they struggle with what they currently believe and want us to persuade them that there is something better than what they advocate?
From chaos we organize and evolve. Whether it's disruptive technology that propels society forward or stochastic forces in nature that lead to evolutionary jumps, chaos is an important dynamic.
Trolls, however, are mostly just attention whores:
Good morning, Daria. I, too, wonder why the obvious trolls bother here, other than the possibility that they might find reason to "think", maybe for the first time, that there is another way of seeing the events of the country/world.
It's not at all contrary to examine problems from all angles and try to critically evaluate everything passed ones way. It may be annoying to some, but it's not necessarily contrary.
Further, if we are ever to come together as a country, we need to have a better understanding of everyone's perspectives. Perhaps this forum section would be improved if more conservatives, etc joined the discussion?
I agree with you. 100%. I used the word contrarian to define a person with a POV other than that of the majority.
It was not intended to be ugly. Nor do I advocate banishing, flushing, or sanitizing this forum of those whose opinions do not align with the majority or responding to comments with a monosyllabic euphemism for excrement.
This forum has changed significantly since its beginning. It's a shame.
Remember, a few weeks ago when a vicious and protracted attack was leveled against Hugh, who was labelled a troll and derided? It was unfair and ugly because he's not a troll but someone who lived in the US decades ago and has a different perspective from ours about our politics and society. Yes, there are trolls who drop into this forum from time to time, I don't like their words either. There are members on this forum who insult the owner continually, yet they are still here despite their ugly words. We don't own this forum, it's Heather's forum. I understand what you're saying Christine, but it is what it is. Like it or not, this isn't a forum of hand-picked participants but one where anyone who pays their $5.00 gets to play.
Understand that totally, Daria and agree. I just don’t like it and struggle with my response to it. Which also lets me see how I am a perfect target for them. Hard to disengage for me. Thank you Daria for ALWAYS taking the time to respond to difficult discourse.
Thanks Daria - as I only get a small "window of opportunity" - I miss much of the stuff - (thank heavens!). Some of the stuff -links, I post, are ones that have caught my attention - I certainly don't agree with many of them, but they are worth considering - and I'm impressed with the level of discourse here, but I feel that a few too many tend to reach for their guns (Hey - this is an USA site (grin).
Good morning, Hugh! One of the sad things that's happened in this forum is, as you say, the willingness for some to reach for their guns. What struck me a few weeks ago was the fact that you provided links to the work you were doing and still people continued to throw shade. I know I can be outspoken and abrasive but I generally preface those comments upfront with a "disclaimer". The thread and undercurrent of intolerance that is growing in this forum is alarming. The language that is being used with regard to how dissenters should be dealt with, even more so.
I've been a paid subscriber from the beginning. I have watched as valued members have left or fallen silent. I've watched a new wave of subscribers bully and denigrate other subscribers while others have belittled the host. It's sad and disheartening.
Don't leave Linda. It's a irritant. I had no patience for it this morning. The Forum is our source of information, inspiration, connection and comradery with a fine teacher in the lead.
I've been dealing with disagreeable trolls online for years. If disagreeable trolls are here, is it because they don't like what Heather writes. Is it because it punches their buttons, deep down inside their souls are hoping they will listen? If there were no disagreeable trolls here, would that be something to worry about?
I find the backslapping infuriating - it seems to me to be the antithesis of reasoned and rational discussion (which is why I signed up - as I live in a "community" rather lacking in it).
Sloan, It was a joke as to the toxic garbage that comes from the uninvited on the Forum. Please don't take it to extremes. Was your smile a joke? Thanks.
It's my experience that the sanitization gods sanitize the left and the right and the middle, when they set their minds to it. I'm having some trouble understanding how disagreeable people are uninvited, if this is a public forum? I don't see Heather telling them to bug off. I've often been accused of being a troll by people who didn't care for how I responded to what they put online, mostly on Facebook. I wonder why they put it on Facebook if they weren't expecting responses? I have disturbed the peace of lots of red spectrum folks, and lots of blue spectrum folks.
I discovered Heather the other day when a south Alabama amiga, who minces no words, shared Heather's splendid July 2 post with her Facebook friends, which begins, "Today news broke that Anthony Aguero, who was in the Capitol on January 6 and who is close to Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), joined Republican members of the right-wing Republican Study Committee when they traveled to the U.S.-Mexico border Tuesday night."
Linda, I've thought about your comment all day: "Trolls or people that just want to think that they are significant are finding their way to this column." I am sad and alarmed that folks on this forum believe they should determine who is and is not significant based on a commenter's political beliefs. I'm tired of wading through the bullshit, too. I'm tired of the current and fairly recent wave of clannish rhetoric designed to pit one group of subscribers against an individual. I'm tired of people kissing a disgruntled, overly entitled curmudgeon's behind despite the fact that he's abusive and demeaning to not only HCR but most of subscribers on this forum. I'm tired of those on this forum who spend time and energy pitting one against the other. I'm stunned that someone wants to sanitize this forum and that some people on this forum actually agree with that. What the hell? I don't believe that is, or was ever, Heather's intent in opening this forum. I don't believe she ever expected a group of "yes men and women". I may be wrong, but I doubt it.
Good morning Daria. I agree. Heather would never want a forum filled to the brim with unquestioning "followers". That is the antithesis of her life's work.
I like to think that this group, in general are educated, or atleast self taught and are open to learning. That was the layout initially. I've been on board here for a while and with any group, I'm seeing changes. As you pointed out earlier, this is Heather's forum, not ours. We cannot pick and chose who comes to play, nor should we. So you know, I use the term "troll" in its current social media vernacular. They do pop up everywhere. I even see them in an online gardening group I belong to.
I am baffled by the fellow contributors that are willing to be drawn in by the certain someone and overlook his constant narcissistic, abusive towards Heather. Is it just to buddy up to him? As a side note, most are men. Is his babble that enticing? Not for me and I know not for you.
I do have to wonder how much longer Heather will continue to produce a daily letter. This has certainly surpassed her initial time frame. The academic semester will start soon and preparation is never ending. I believe I heard that she will be teaching on campus. I am grateful for all she offers to us. Regardless of what an unwielding group we are. 🙃
Good morning, Linda. I wonder, too, how much longer Heather will continue the daily Letters. It is an important daily read for me but for her it requires a lot of deep thought in order to compile something that can be viewed as a legitimate record of our time.
And you're right, as unwieldy as we are, we are fortunate to have this forum! Enjoy your day too!
Daria, it is part of my daily routine as well. What she does to make it happen is tremendous and the fact that she is able to offer it up in a way that , most everyone understands her intent is noteworthy.
Will you be joining her online history class this afternoon as well? Baring any unanticipated meetings, I will be there as well.
This one is quite awkward and obvious. I'm guessing that he/she/it is in training, and not yet good at subterfuge. The response below, with it's righteous indignation, reveals its inexperience. It seems to be concerned about Vlad's evaluation of its skills.
Only really DC trying to stir a little currently I think. I he starting to wake up to the repetitious cycle of history perhaps and is surprised that we recognize it as the trumpites cannot seem to. His point aboit the previous president going off into TV Reality dreamland is however a positive sign. I for one would be interested in your comments on Buchanan et al nonetheless.
I will absolutely follow through on Friday or Saturday. Up to +++ with other work. Thank you for your interest in Buchanan and other BIG BUCKS conspirators.
I once read an excerpt from some kind of field manual for how to disrupt organizations, and I think a lot of trolls follow the model, which is largely to distract and delay and to debate endlessly or the like. I think the trolls also want to seed doubt and exhaust people.
I think it makes best sense, though, to not allow oneself to be distracted or misdirected. Not get drawn into discussions of irrelevant topics. Largely, I think ignoring them as much as possible, not “giving them oxygen,” as folks say now.
Unfortunately, the guide was designed for those doing the sabotage, not for those defending against it. I did search for it, though, and I think this article references the document I was probably remembering…
Pursuit now on the Forum, just a few minutes, so far, has lifted my spirits in admiration of who you all are. I'll stop here with you and then return to other work. When I first got on the Forum, DC my first spotting. From Heather's laser to DC stopped me in my tracks. You are a bright and brighter light. I saw the tack that you gave Lynell and hope that today's invasion is a dot on the formidable force, which is Heather and LFAA's subscribers. See you tomorrow, Christine. On we go!
David Connor put in his 2 cents. The call to sanitize the forum thus ensued. I am wary of calls to sanitize the forum, it smacks too closely to the word exterminate, which is what one group of people did to another thus resulting in the Second World War.
The way to deal with trolls and other obnoxious creatures is to limit responding to them. Their behavior is maintained by strong emotional responses that show they have riled folks up - it an endorphin hit. Not responding at all or a few responses with a short matter of fact nature deprives them of that hit. Over time, thy will tire and fade away.
Today I heard an interview with Nina Lakhani about the conviction of a Honduran corporate official for heading the conspiracy that murdered their most eminent environmentalist, Berta Caceres. Lakhani described the political environment of Honduras as a criminal state - not plutocratic, not authoritarian, which it may be, but as criminal.
This strikes me as an apt description of what Trump wants for the United States - a mechanism to deliver our wealth to HIM, and one that allows him to act with impunity. I would like to use that descriptor going forward, to separate the sheep from the co-conspirators.
Some countries have a shadow government operated by organized crime. The U.S. does not have that, yet, but has a privileged faction, for whom trump was the face, that has wormed its way into power, enflamed a large segment of the populace, and found myriad cracks in the norms of decent government to technically legally exploit to the detriment of democratic process.
One step before the creation of the Putin criminocracy. The Russian government, including Tsarist regimes has always previously operated in a loose alliance with the local criminal gangs; alliance in which it was clear that the head of government gave the orders. The difference with Putin is the level of fusion at the top where the government has adopted fully the gangs structures and operating methods to the extent that it is nolonger certain that it is the politicians that give the orders. Sounds pretty close.
True about nefarious dealings. It would be interesting to read about the difference between "criminocracy" (did you just coin that?) and oligarchy. Got any leads?
Hi Elie, I did just coin it....seemed appropriate. In Oligarchy I would say they don't have to break laws as they have written them to suite themselves and obeying them ensures the solidity, stability and perenity of the oligarchic control group. In a criminocracy I would see a basic but limited governing alliance of criminal gangs with Clan/War Chiefs (as in Afghanistan) and politicians where the only law is actually the rule of the strongest with no need for laws as internal peace isn't maintained by anything other than mutual deterrence. The basic governing principle being each does as he likes in his own sphere of influence and any sign of weakness leads to turf wars. Putin's strength is his ability to make them believe that he can form coalitions against recalcitrant members and thereby threaten their annihilation and thus their life, wealth and power.
One such shadow group of operatives is the Federalist Society which creates a list of right wing people who they propose for judicial appointments. Too many Members of SCOTUS owe their ‘seat’ to this group! Any person nominated for a federal judgeship who is not on the list will have their Senate hearing ‘kneecapped’ by mBitch!
Thank you, Judith, for using the word "criminal." I think you are spot on in your assessment. As you suggest, I will try to use that descriptor going forward.
Maybe, just maybe, if we get enough people to vote against them, we can get through this morass. Numbers matter, and we can't take for granted that we'll have enough. They'll have a harder time stealing elections if we have a huge turnout.
Call your local Dem headquarters tomorrow and volunteer. Organize your precinct, if it's not already. Ask what you can do to help.
If we can follow the example of the black voters in 2020 and circumvent all the new hurdles they are trying to put in place, we can win in 2022. All these new laws are directed at the black and other minorities because that is who they fear most.
A group of HCR Substackers has formed a community to turn good discussion here into action and share resources. Walk the talk, like you are! For more info, email:
The idea that legislatures can nullify the vote is horrific. Reprehensible. But believable from this group of people. I am actually amazed that they resisted at the time of the election, but now they’ve made it legal to do, so they will do it.
The Economist magasine has identified this in an editorial as being as or more important than the culling of ethnic voters from the lists. It goes on to suggest that this should be the focus of the Democrat's attention.
I think they deliberately added the “outrageous” in form of legislatures and judges nullifying the people’s vote to their suppression bills, Deb. And will appear to have contrition and back off from these pieces if fiercely contested. And then be satisfied with what goes forward. Just another thug tactic.
Rupurt Murdoch's latest project is to establish FOX Weather channel this fall. Of course, that means misinformation and lies about the climate crisis. This kind of opposition to moving forward rapidly on the climate crisis could be devastating for the world. I think this may be the time for non-violent resistance. Boycott any corporation or entity who advertises on FOX any channel. Complain to the FCC every day until they lose their broadcast license (I know, remote possibility). Expose the politicians who are getting money from Murdoch and other dark money. Any other suggestions? Yes, I'm serious. DTs lies about COVID much of which came from FOX cost hundreds of thousands of lives. FOX tampering with climate change could mean millions of lives.
I just heard about this yesterday. Even listening to the sparring already between The Weather Channel and this possible new Fox entry is ridiculous. I’m filing another broadcasting complaint today. And every day. Because a day does not pass that something egregious is being cooked up and served at the Fox News Channel.
I had not heard of this. Wow! Now trying to deny climate change while we’re in the middle of dealing with Hurricane/Tropical Storm Elsa in my neck of the woods is insane. While I hope Floridians wouldn’t be bamboozled, I fear with Faux “News” broadcast in so many households, including the interior area of The Villages, they might just succeed in having folks not believe what they are seeing outside their windows.
Cathy, I heard about this yesterday. How appropriate to have a climate denier at the helm of a 24/7 Weather channel. He will be feeding climate change misinformation to those lemmings continually.
I agree with your sentiments, but the planet is quite overpopulated and a changing environment along with diminishing resources will likely lead a population reduction with or without FOX.
In the meantime, "it's always sunny on FOX" is a great ad campaign...
I have been posting some of Heather's letters to my Facebook page; today's letter was one of them. This is a personal message I attached so my "friends" can understand why I'm posting.
The writer, Heather Cox Richardson, is a professor of American history at Boston College, where she teaches courses on the American Civil War, the Reconstruction Era, the American West, and the Plains Indians. She has a great knack of understanding events in the country's past and connecting them to today's political events. I received a degree in history in college and was a reporter for a decade in the1980s. Regardless what I covered, the premise and necessity of delivering unbiased facts to the public was drilled into me and other journalists ad infinitum. And there were editors ready to correct bias in reporters' stories if it occurred. That is why I like Ms. Richardson's daily columns. I have been reading them since last year and have not detected outward bias even once. That is not what she does. Ms. Richardson presents historical and current-day events side-by-side and allows you, the reader, to make your own conclusions. I don't think enough people in this country form opinions based on facts; most rely on biased media reports and propaganda espoused on the Internet, television, radio, podcasts, etc., whether these reports come from so-called right- or left-wing outlets. Ms. Richardson's columns are a way for you to gain a better understanding of the evolution behind some of the political goings-on occurring today. That is why I post them. If you are interested in reading them free of charge, just do an Internet search for "Letters From an American."
Dennis, I have posted Dr. Richardson's letters to my FB page as well. Your description of her work is decidedly on point, commendable, and most certainly, deserving of her scholarship and talents. However, each time you say, Ms. Richardson, it rubs me the wrong way. The proper way to address her is either Dr. or Professor Richardson. After all, she is a university professor with a Ph.D. and deserves recognition as such. Wouldn't you use those terms if she were a man? I don't mean to be rude, because I know you respect her and her work tremendously, it's just that women are still addressed without their titles, which is such a shame.
Any idea that he didn’t know what was going on is ludicrous, the same secret service that protects the VP and was under threat, was protecting him. In the WH they were very much aware of what was happening at the capital. I would like to hang the bastard for treason, at the Washington Monument facing the WH so that the last thing he sees is the place he defiled.
Don't hold back, tell us how you really feel! Nothing matters to him but himself. If the end was inevitable, he'd probably pull a Hitler in the bunker moment.
This making a deal with an authoritarian style of government suggests the depths of insecurity among Americans who refuse to accept diversity. They are so frightened of changes in their world that they would give up democracy in order to feel safe.
I suspect that members of the privileged faction don't think in terms of giving up democracy. Rather, they are narrowly focused on their own self-interests for how to maintain and expand their power and wealth. But however narrow the scope of political philosophy or consequences on the populace, a privileged faction of predominantly white Christian moneyed men has been at the top since the arrival on these shores of the first European colonizers. Capitalists that they were, they did undertake significant risk for greater gain.
And their biggest fear is that some of their gains will be taken away from them or that they will one day not have "enough". I watched the film on the kidnapping of Hearst's grandson the other day and in the film Hearst was asked why he wouldn't pay the ransom? He anwered that he wasn't sure he would always have enough money. When other actor in the scene asked how he could feel more secure, his response was...when I have more!
Goodonya for posting again Sandy. Readers… this NYTimes Virtual Investigation documentary has been discussed and posted several days on this forum. If you have not watched, today is the day if you can find an hour to do so. You’ll need that much time to get through the 40 minute vídeo. I wasn’t able to watch without stopping a few times to collect myself. The rage that the former president fomented in his followers is stunning and palpable. Therein lies the truth of the lie that has threatened democracy.
Thank You, Sandy. FYI, on July 6, 2021, the FBI's Washington DC Field Office released 11 "new" Videos of suspects attacking Federal Officers during the January 6 Attacks. Also, on July 6, the Joint Terrorism Task Force Forcd (JTTF) filed another criminal complaint against an "Oath Keeper" (over 20 cases, so far). I understand a criminal Trial is set in January 2022.
It’s chilling watching it Sandy, the level of rage on display is sobering, watching them attacking up the steps on the back side of the capital under the grand stands I could clearly see a guy with a hammer with a pick on one side like the kind used for prospecting in rocks, he was using it to attack the police, if I had been on the receiving end of that thing I would have shot him dead on the spot, it’s no wonder so many had to be hospitalized that day. I’m still amazed at the restraint the capital’s defenders exhibited……
And I don't doubt that those taken in by the "big lie" and other enemies of democracy cheer as they watch this and other January 6 videos. Like their counterparts in that abortive beer hall in Munchen ninety-eight years ago, they will be back. And next time, we must be prepared.
HCRs Letter tonight is a cliff hanger. Hope we don't have to wait too long for the sequel where the heros win the day -- and democracy.
One bit of good news tonight that does give me a wee bit of hope: Just heard on the Lawrence O’Donnell show that Texas Republican members of the legislature are now calling the provision allowing judges to turn over elections piece of the SB7 voting suppression bill “horrendous” and walking it back out of the bill claiming they don’t know how it got in there – at the last minute hoping no one would see it… When we see the actual bill we’ll be able to confirm it. What a victory for Texas voting rights! I have requested a meeting with my Texas Representative which will probably happen within this next week. There's still a lot to talk to him about! Maybe its just the Republicans being exposed, but I hope it is the start of a trend for Texas and then the other Red states. I know there is fighting going on within the Texas Republican party for control of the party. Perhaps this is the first sign the traditional Republicans are breaking through. Then, maybe I'm reading too much into this. We the People, All of Us this time.
My state representative is the grandson of a former governor of Texas, a Republican but one who thinks through his positions and is willing to listen and discuss why, conservative. I'll let you know how the meeting goes.
As you lay is out, Heather, and I agree, "the steal" has been in progress for quite a while, and what better way to fuzz it over than claim the stolen from did the stealing.
What I don't see being said straight up in the news or on social media are other public places is the people claiming the 2020 election was stolen from Trump, and other Republicans who lost, think but do not say blacks stole it. Why is that? Look at the Jan 6 capitol riot.
Look at the sea of white people swarming the national capitol. Look at the Confederate flag on top of the Capitol deck. Look at photos of MAGA rallies. Seas of white people. Look at the Charlottesville protests against removing Confederate monuments. A sea of white people, Confederate and Swastik flags.
Looks to me that Americans who do not like the South having risen again need to get very busy encouraging blacks and other non-white minorities and white Democrats and Independents about the South having risen again, and about how to vote in the future, and to vote regardless of how hard red states make it to vote.
Do not forget, ever, that during North Carolina elections in 2020, President Trump told his base to write in their vote, then go to the polls on election day and vote again, and their write in vote would not be counted.
Don't forget, ever, that not one Republican candidate reelected in 2020 claimed it was by voter fraud in his/her favor. All the voter fraud was done by the left, the right says. Not one dead Republican voted even once. Not one live Republican voted twice, or three times, even once. Republicans would never cheat to win elections. Only Democrats do that.
I'm not a Democrat, belong to no political party. I grew up in Alabama during the George Wallace years, when the Democratic Party was the white supremacist party in Alabama.
With an effective get-out-the-vote effort, Democrats can win statewide elections in any state where citizens with non-European ancestors make up at least 30% of the electorate. Ironically, most such states are in the South: Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina. In red states with whiter electorates (Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, Idaho, Oklahoma, Missouri …) putting Democrats in statewide offices is much harder. A monumental effort will be required to avoid autocracy, and most of that effort must be invested in getting Democrats to the voting booth.
Trump doesn’t get enough credit for being a great teacher. He’s taught us two ugly, dangerous lessons. One is that, if a president is willing to, and his party controls the Senate, he can do whatever he damn well pleases. There are no guardrails, he can be as corrupt and autocratic as he chooses. Our vaunted “checks and balances” have proven to be mostly historical expectations and wishful thinking. Until Trump came along, presidents released their tax returns, presidents didn’t accept campaign help or bribes from foreign governments, presidents didn’t use the DOJ as their personal law office, presidents abided by the peaceful transfer of power. Then Trump showed us that there are no laws saying he has to do these things, so why should he?
Trump taught us that our vaunted “checks and balances” are mostly tissue paper. The only real check on a president is impeachment, overseen by the Senate. Nixon was forced to resign (by Republican congressmen), for crimes far less onerous than Trump’s. It didn’t even come to impeachment, Nixon resigned because he was likely to be impeached. Trump…well you know how his two impeachments turned out. The transitive law holds that, when Trump controls the GOP, and the GOP controls the Senate, Trump controls the Senate.
Trump’s Big Lie is teaching Republicans another lesson. Which is that our democracy is frail and flimsy, not all votes should count, and they don’t have to lose elections. We came closer than we ever would have expected to Trump declaring himself president in January, and staying in the White House for as long as he wants. He won’t miss next time. In 2024, after the votes are counted and the “real” votes are “certified”, Trump (or his clone) will be declared president, and that will be that. That’s what the Big Lie is really all about - Republicans preparing themselves to steal the next election.
Professor Trump taught us that democracy is for chumps. It’s a nice idea, but wouldn’t you rather have power? Trump showed Republicans how they can hold all the power, if they are bold enough, and just ignore precedent and expectations. The party of Trump may never give up power again.
The conclusion of a review of the Pew Research Center data:
"Thirty percent of Americans under 29 think Donald Trump was the worst president in American history. Sixty-five percent have an unfavorable view of the former president. Just 18 percent watch Fox News, the primary national vector for viral paranoia and disinformation, regularly. The Pew report is just a brutal document for Republicans. And it suggests that the light at the end of the tunnel, far from illuminating a path out of the wilderness for the GOP, is instead an oncoming, hostile generation poised to put Republicans at a decisive disadvantage in national elections for years."
From:
https://theweek.com/republicans/1002288/a-fresh-look-at-2020-electorate?utm_campaign=afternoon_newsletter_20210706&utm_source=afternoon_newsletter&utm_medium=email&refid=%7EREFERENCE_ID%7E
The largest political party in the U.S. is non-voters, the disinterested, the distracted, the apathetic. If we are a 50 / 50 country of voters, we must remember that in even a high turnout election we struggle to turnout 65% of eligible voters. We need to get a significant portion of that other 35% motivated to overcome their disinterest. Trying to convince Republican voters of their folly is a fools errand, figuratively and literally. Overcoming gerrymandered districts and the skewed to rural electoral college requires motivating the disinterested. Interestingly, the actions of the Republican GQP party to concentrate wealth and power may ultimately serve that purpose but require the story to be told loudly and clearly. The actions of Republicans following January 6 may ultimately be Democrats best weapon.
I agree, Bruce. Once again, voter turn out, voter turn out. Your statistics, the 35% who don't vote, would assure Democrat victories. It should be a chief focus of Dems' strategy -- 1) encourage Democrat voters to check their eligibility on their states' websites and 2) arrange/negotiate for cities to provide free bus transportation to the polls.
I would add the overwhelmed to your reasons for not voting. Stressed with trying to get by and raise children politics can be a distant cacaphony of the noise made by chalk on a chalkboard. Biden might appeal to those with his serious attempts to assist with “getting by” and calm reassuring demeanor?
Yes, so real. The stress of raising children. No time to think about politics. The "getting by" appeal could be a good message, imo. Actually, I have a 35-year-old daughter with three kids in that category and her husband is a Trumper! She doesn't vote because she doesn't have time to sort out/disagree with what he believes vs. what we her parents say. I try to provide her general information re what Dems stand for vs. the "Repugnicans." But I think it's hard to live with a Trumper if you outright disagree with him. I tell her voting is like going to confession (she was raised Catholic) -- you don't have to tell anyone what you said to the priest or how you voted, not even your husband.
Kimceann, the headlight of an oncoming generation. I love it!
We must then carefully groom and cultivate this generation in any way that we can, starting with our own kin, even if they are already behind that headlight. How deep is their knowledge of how things got to be the way they are? Are they reading this letter? Are they aware of how much we support them?
This is not a short conflict, and the Repetrolicans know that, and have been coming against Democracy, not for generations, but for centuries. So now they send--from an old playbook-- schemes and laws and lies. We will must also take the long strategy, and send citizen warriors: People. We the People.
In this long war, education--not propaganda--is the long range cannon!
However, Gustav, I'm not sure that they need us as they probably consider that we are the ones that screwed up. The numbers are already very clear.
Not sure that I agree with that. The young people I am with….and that can be toddlers to young adults….are very much connected to their upbringing and do not see division in any way as much as we did. I believe the self worth of the young is much more defined and stronger at a younger age than it was in our generation. I’m not referring to self esteem.
Christine, how do you differentiate between "self worth" and "self esteem" ? My experience has been that we have often, but obviously not always, robbed our children of their childhood, short-circuited their sociability, deprived them of a developmental framework and they have difficulty thereafter in working out who they are and what that means in this world.
Lifetime teacher here. You nailed it Stuart. However there are some points I’d make. First of all, this is a relatively recent trend. It’s also *very* much a product of an insecure middle class. The world heaved in the years under Reagan and thereafter. In the 90s and beyond, schools fell hook, line, and sinker for the idea of applying a business methodology to education. Hence the great outbreak of the “testing disease”. It germinated first in England under a ministry called Ofsted, but quickly migrated to the Americas. Bush’s maliciously clever “No Child Left Behind” slogan and program lifted testing into the stratosphere.
Economically insecure parents, victims of trickle-down policy put enormous pressure on their kids to succeed in education as if it’s whole point was to give one a financial ticket for life. Naturally there followed quickly behind all sorts of micro and macro scandals. But that’s another book.
Although it’s not the only factor (the “stranger danger” phenomenon was another), the distortion of education has wrecked, and I use that word advisedly, wrecked millions of children in the way you described so succinctly.
If you want to read an incredibly chilling book, get Excellent Sheep by William Deresiewicz. You will never forget it.
In the past few years standardized testing has gotten some strong critical blowback. The success of the Finns who lead the world in educational attainment with a radically different approach has led other countries to begin pulling back in this area.
Nothing is 100% of course, but far, far too many children have had their childhood aborted, have not learned valuable lessons through play and remain “children” in need of succour well into adulthood. Interestingly boys suffer most at school age. Girls cope well by doing their level best to meet all demands, regardless of how dumb some of them are. They thrive, or seem to, well into adulthood. But then, for many a breakdown comes at the intersection of marriage, work, and parenting. I have heard many stories from mothers about their own breakdowns later in life.
And the rule of thumb is - the smarter the kid, the more problems (s)he will experience.
Thankfully I see this fever just beginning to break. But there can be a lot of damage in 30 years and I’ve witnessed it.
Eric, Thank you for a thoughtful and first perspective analysis from the inside of our educational system. While I am a strong supporter of public schools and public education, I also believe that this is just a part of a larger essential framework for building balanced life skills. I believe in the importance also of adult mentoring, from parents, family, coaches, neighbors, and others in building those life skills. I also recognize the importance of friendships and a wider social circle of influencers as important also. Lastly, I also believe in the importance of taking personal responsibility for building those life skills and completing a balanced education. I believe most expect too much from the schools and teachers alone. The necessary components of a good education and building those life skills require more than the educational system alone can impart.
"Regardless of how dumb they (girls) are??????
I think the tule you state is very troublesome. “the smarter the kid, the more problems he-she will experience”? What in the world?
I wish there were a better word for people like your son. "Gifted" rubs me the wrong way, as if all the rest of us have no gifts of our own. Can't we come up with something more appropriately descriptive? What happened to "genius"?
I assume you are not even including this subset in your comments. They are just the tip of the iceberg. But yes more college educated parents means understanding human growth and development means generations are having those needs met more appropriately so the future looks brighter. Perhaps someday we can actually teach six year olds how to nurture and nourish themselves and others bodies and minds. What a radical thought 😳 https://www.acf.hhs.gov/media/press/2020/2020/child-abuse-neglect-data-released
To many “means”. Whatever, some day I’ll learn to check it before posting it 🤷🏻♀️
That has not been my experience at all and my career in public education is long with a perspective that I bring to my comments about the young in this forum.
Our generation may have screwed up a lot, but one thing we got right was the raising of our children.
I completely agree, Kathy. Hilary Clinton was totally correct in the emphasis of her message….it takes a village to raise children. We are seeing the benefit of that more so with this younger generation than at any other time. Though independent, they are more comfortably interdependent. That’s a good thing when it comes to improving equity of opportunity. They see it as a given.
Oh I wish it were so, Kathy. I raised my daughter with all the “right” values and a sense of what democracy stood for. Then she married someone who is now a Trumpet. His friends and the crap he now listens to has turned her and I can’t get through to her. For the peace of the family we have agreed to not talk politics. I try in ever so subtle ways to bring her back, but no success so far and I am despondent about that.
I am so sorry. I truly can’t imagine. One of my kids is so far left, and has a tendency to pontificate, that we, too don’t talk politics anymore. But at least I feel like his heart is in the right place.
That doesn't mean you didn't do a great job raising her, Annette, or that she isn't a good person. Sometimes it just skips a generation, said my Republican father of 3 Democrat daughters (and a son who did a 180 from liberal to libertarian).
😔
HEAR! HEAR!
Stuart, I totally agree with you. Yes, we screwed it all up.
But now, with that hindsight and hopefully the wisdom we may have acquired, and the information we share with each other here, isn't it imperative that we try to equip and motivate the next generations? I'm having a little success, and it inspires me to try harder!
What good is it for us to right the ship we foundered,, only to turn the helm over to ernest but inexperienced crew? (Like we were, once).
Or am I too full of myself? I pray not.
Oh yes. They need us just like we need them. Stacy Abrams and Jim Clyburn saved the election for us in 2020. If any single element of our coalition start thinking they stand alone and can win the day, we are all screwed.
Yes Gustav. It’s why they are so stupid about Critical Race Theory. Which enhances the instruction, not the curriculum that they target. The common good of public education is always a stumbling block for, what did you call them, the Repetrolicans??? Ha!
I am so encouraged by the people that I know that fall into that 18-30 age group. Through my involvement with the U of O Music School, I have come to know quite a few people in this age range. They make my heart sing. They are becoming teachers in great numbers and are up front and vocal about their positions on the rights of all, and the need for redress and condemnation of systemic racism.
I see that also Ally as is evident from my comments about education. If I may quote Gustav from yesterday…my political will and interest is “quickened” participating with the young people. Their interdependence is so satisfying to me. Cornerstone of equality and equity.
you are so right on!
Doing my part with teen daughters who are passionate, vocal, and action-oriented!
May the HEADLIGHT lead us far away from CRIMINOCRACY and such wretched ilk!
Many thanks, Stuart and kimceann!!
Also, in 2020, Trump won the over-75 idiots I've had to put up with since they were 10-year old morons by only 5 percentage points, rather than the 12 points he won by in 2016. Fortunately, the majority of my high school graduating class has finally beautified America by their permanent departures, something that should be only moreso by 2024.
The only trouble is TC that they are replaced in considerable numbers....not as much as the baby boomers but.....people tend towards the conservative end of the political polarity with aging.
Morning Stuart! Here is perhaps a more hopeful (albeit perhaps not entirely verifiable) trend: straight women, especially those whose lives get shaken up by divorce, tend to become leftier as they age (non-straight women tend to be super lefty in any case). And women vote far more regularly and consistently than do men. This is apparently connected to the issue of straight women having to accommodate men while in their fertile years, but not needing to worry about that stuff after a certain age. In addition, women are being vaccinated in larger numbers than are men in the states that are being run by genocidal arses (like Mike Parson) who I think want to keep Covid alive and thriving in their states in the mistaken belief that it will kill more POC than whites (which someone admitted a few days ago was precisely the White House strategy back in the spring of 2020, although I wonder about the accuracy of that report). So as the male over 50s are getting sick, the women are holding on. And, of course, women are the majority in the population in most western countries in any case.
So--TC and Stuart--it might be that, as usual, women save the day. She says without a note of irony. 🤪🤣
Yes, yes, and yes! True even of the Greatest Generation, not just Boomers and later. Let’s also never forget who handed us the last election either. Women of color worked their collective butts off. We owe them a debt we cannot repay for having Biden’s back. Or was it Harris’s back (she says without a note of irony either) 🤣
Women are indeed the best hope for retaining some sanity in politics. Well except for the few of those of the QOP tribe. We need more of them to run for office and all of them to vote.
Goodness gracious, Linda. This one's an eye-catcher. Loving It!
I am one of those lefty women but I was disheartened to read in the Pew report that white women increased their support from ‘16 - ‘20 for the former guy
Me too, very disheartened.
😒
Hear, hear, Linda❣️
"Leftier"?!
MaryPat, I started lefty and it has gotten only leftier the older I get! I tone it down for this lovely community. 🙃
My relatives in their 90s are Democrats! They were republicans when they were younger.
Love It!
More left(ier)?
Morning, Stuart!! And then there are some of us boomers who once recoiled at the thought of Medicare for All and other social safety nets but now will vote for their passage.
Yeh....morning Lynell..., but when you get into the masses, the tendencies are clear. What is important with such deep trends is the definition of what "conservative" means. That too can change with the ages.
Why in the world did you once recoil at the thought…?
Hey, Norman. Not knowing how "stuff" works, I was stuck in and believed the idea that it was not fair to those of us who spent 40+ years paying into Medicare system. Now I know better.
Well, that is understandable. Thank you for your candid reply, Lynell! And thank you for your regular contributions to the conversations here.
Fortunately it is some and not all of us that tend towards conservatism as we age. In the course of talking to people over the last five and a half years I have been heartened by the number of folks older than myself (67) who are not DiJiT fans or even GQP fans.
I was a hippy growing up in LA. I am hippier now than ever...
Growing older (80) does not mean growing more conservative. That is a conscious choice. Watching national and world politics, it is certain that we cannot continue this top-heavy, nondemocratic, unconstitutional system. This is not governance. This is ruling as authoritarians.
“This is not just a Black thing. This is a fear of the American people, a fear of Black and white and Brown and Asian and Native people coming together and pushing this nation forward.”
Rev. William Barber, co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign
Just to illustrate the attitude of GOP legislators, this statement was made in public. Most of them are more careful about saying what they believe:
“Even though my constituents voted for this lie, I’m going to protect them,” he said. “I am proud to stand against the will of the people.”
Rep. Justin Hill, Mo.
He was speaking on the expansion of Medicare. This is where our representative government has fallen to. The will of the peo[ple is immaterial to them.
Stuart, yesterday on here I posted the site kimceann posted waaaaaaay above, as well as a link to the Pew Research Center data (which is a lot to wade through). What it did show was that trends tend to favour the Democrats in terms of demographic "replacement" (i.e. us 75+, baby-boomer Republican-voting old farts dying out vs younger and/or first-time voters coming on to voter rolls). The GOP's voter bloc is shrinking a bit faster--and they KNOW it. That's why they're grabbing power as fast as they can.
Stuart, you are correct and it would be a concern if we were talking about conservatives. Have you ever heard of a "conservative" , or "conservatives" trying to overthrow an election????? Neither have I.
On the other hand fascists frequently used that to try to gain power and that is who we are dealing with not conservatives.
Joe, in principle, conservatives seek to preserve all that is "good" in a society. Obviously that depends on your definition of "good" . Fascists find that the "good" has been lost a long time ago and they need to break everythingto be able to reimpose what has been "lost" .
Ah,, but we have seen how fascism works in real life: death and destruction.
Been saying it Kimceann, sister. It is the “youngsters” that are clear eyed about progressive, responsible, doable change to improve government, climate, equity of opportunity, health, family, education…. Just about any topic that concerns involvement of, by, and for the people. It is their votes that are crucial to restoring our country to the country that they were promised as they were raised.
There is a certain age when "youngsters" question the things their parents have taught them and realize that their elders are full of sh*t. Whether they stay with that opinion is influenced by subsequent experience.
True. I’m just glad that many parents teach them to question! Always glad to read your comments Lanita Grace!
I think the GOP is well aware of the miscalculations they have made, but they are far too deep in the downward spiral to try to change course now. It is do or die time for them. With the backing of the Supreme Court, they can halt elections. They have seen what the black voters did in Georgia last time and they see this young multiracial force that is now taking place becoming more motivated to take part in their government, and they are terrified. But, there is something to be said about the ferocity of a trapped rat.
As long as they follow through and vote.
I am working on that in regards to my two young helpers. Told them both to get registered and if they are registered by the end of the year, I would come to their house and make sure they are. Same with voting (cept we all get mail in voting), if they haven't voted before election day, I would be coming to their house to take them to the polls.
I also talk to them about their vote is their voice and it is more powerful than they know.
As they have often been "short-changed" on the side of history education and don't have a frame of reference for understanding what is going on and what it all means.
Short changed? How bout blind Stuart? Maybe our historical curiosity gene doesn't turn on until after we attend our school of hard knocks?
My thought has always been, as a retired museum historian, that most people don't appreciate history until they have a history themselves -- they can now see themselves in the whole scheme of things. Can't count how many of my museum volunteers have told me "I hated history in school, but I love it now." Perhaps I loved it from the beginning because I had a couple of great history teachers.
As long as their are counted.
Hence the importance of the "acceptability criteria and the verification/certification process. Not enough attention is being given, in my opinion to the latter.
As long as their votes are counted.
Morning, Kim!! Here's one I saw a few days ago. Thanks for the lead-in!
https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2021/06/30/presidential-rankings-2021-cspan-historians/?utm_campaign=wp_afternoon_buzz&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_buzz&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F340c625%2F60dcd00a9d2fda8060efd554%2F5e865b08ade4e21f59b0a68d%2F24%2F57%2F60dcd00a9d2fda8060efd554
Morning Lynell! Fascinating we are; I mean, the article.
Thanks so much for sharing this news. Of course the key is getting young voters to turn out en masse, even as Republican states erect obstacles.
I pray the younger generation is not too late in turning this around. If Republicans get control in 2022 I fear all bets are off for generations to come.
I find it interesting that we seem always to look to the younger generation to save us. Indeed I hope to see them gain interest and show up in greater numbers to the polls. However, turnout numbers show we are more likely to be saved by our black and brown sisters. Women of color delivered us two Democratic Senators in Georgia. This is, by % of eligible voters showing up, the most powerful force in the Democratic power at the polls and knocking on doors. Honor, respect, and mobilize them. They are a force to be reckoned with.
I look to the young along with the emerging dynamic of increased participation of BIPOC voters. Participation is the key. I recognize every force that votes for truth and saving our democracy.
I totally agree with you, Sharon. I hate to say it, but Democrats needs to get more ferocious in the ring with Republicans. In the end, Democrats only chance of retaining power is to rise up with historical voter turnout, despite new suppression laws.
Yes, to get out the vote regardless of suppression attempts -- a key to winning.
Thank you, Kimceann. I needed to see this, after finally making myself watch the entire NYTimes insurrection video. My daughter is a millennial. She sent me a TikToc video yesterday that was a millennial talking to her therapist, ticking off the major time stamps of her life so far (being in middle school when Columbine happened, and on and on on that score), graduating college in the teeth of "the worst recession since the Great Depression", tons of student debt, oh, yeah, and 9/11, etc., culminating with the Trump fiasco. It was sad and funny at the same time.
I have a Millennial friend* who writes for Medium; she has posted this same thing many times. (Hanna Brooks Olsen, if you're curious.)
*Technically the daughter of a former coworker, but still a friend. This former coworker and I were bastions of left thought on our department. We both got directives about our hair length (me: too short; him: too long, while our hair was the exact same length. Come to find out that Sergeant is, if all possible, more liberal than either of us.)
I don't think there is any doubt the majority of Americans do not want Trump as their president. The majority didn't want him in 2016. Voter suppression and gerrymandering are the enemy. If a minority that has seized power decides what votes get counted and where, they can control the outcome. The GOP doesn't want to win elections, they want to establish an authoritarian regime.
Thank you. The media is obsessed with the Big Lie folks who are older and whiter.
kimceann - Thank you for posting that link! Made me think there may be some hope for the future. The job ahead of us is to continue to find ways to keep those younger people engaged in the political process.
Morning, all!! Morning, Dr. R! Today (which happens to be July 7) I wish to celebrate a couple who are celebrating their 75th anniversary. In November of 1976, America turned its back on the "horrors" of Watergate and elected a peanut farmer from the State of Georgia. Many had written at the time that he was ineffectual, a weak president who did not accomplish much.
I recall a time at a gala held in Los Angeles. Many celebrities were in attendance, Hollywood types as well as the well-connected. There was the standard hum in the room that goes with every large gathering of people. But the room electrified the moment Jimmy Carter, the President of the United States, the leader of the free world, entered. You could not help but notice it, it was that vivid. I can still feel it to this day.
So, too, aboard Air Force One on January 6,1978, after a tour of seven countries, a tired First Lady, Rosalyn Carter, gave up her chair and sat at her husband's feet so that this stenographer could do her job of reporting the President's remarks at a press briefing.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/07/03/inseparable/
What a singular and poignant memory to have, Lynell. Thank you and very good morning to you!
Morning, Daria!! I hesitated to share this bit of my personal history. I hope it is received in the spirit it was given. Our team was not a political appointment but won the contract to be the WH official stenographers. I served for two years.
Lynell, It must have been quite an experience. I'm glad you shared with us. You have a perspective most of us cannot ever have.
It was quite the experience. I wish I had today a sharper memory of it!
Thank you Lynell, I'm glad you shared that with us. What a memory, sharp or not!
Thanks, Sally; and Morning!!
What’s sharper than a tack, pray tell? Love it Lynell!
Lynell, it is most certainly received in the spirit it was given. Thank you so much for sharing these priceless firsthand memories. I was born in '67, so I certainly remember the Carter years. But as I child I had no real context in which to place them and really never learned more than the most well known basics about them personally. There are many details in the moving article you linked that I did not know. Thank you for that.
Thanks so much, Nomi. To be honest, I was a young adult with no "real context" either! But I recognized integrity right away while I was there.
Lynell, I join in thanking you for sharing these picturesque, chill-inducing details!
I could see the gala room and swank attendees, feel Carter’s arrival send a charge through the room, and picture Rosalyn insisting you have her seat for the important words you needed to capture!
Yes, Ashley, you picture the scene I was trying to portray. A room full of actors, as it were, meeting up with the real thing!
Wonderful!! And Thank You for these precious insights, Lynell!
I lived in GA when Jimmy Carter ran for and won the 1976 election. I remember his son, Jack, stopping by my boss’s law practice. I would love to hear more about your work for him! Having once a long time ago learned shorthand myself, I can’t imagine the responsibility of recording the words of a president.
We used a stenotype machine, different from pen shorthand and has its own code of letters. Your name, Marcy, would look like this on steno paper once you struck the correct keys: PH A R/SEU. With machine shorthand you can write at speeds of up to 225 words per minute, with some having been clocked at 300 wpm!
That is totally cool!
Fascinating story! Sounds like you had to learn a new language.
Yes, HREUZ!! A new language in written form.
Congratulations to the Carters on lives well-lived and their continued devotion to each other.
Jimmy Carter is one of two presidents I saw in person while they were campaigning. He gave a speech on the Plaza in downtown Albuquerque and I climbed up to stand on the base of a lamppost so I could see him. I have vivid memories of one Secret Service agent who devoted his time to staring watchfully at me. It was a good speech and he got my vote.
The other candidate was Ronald Reagan. I did not like his speech which was perhaps more subtle than Trump’s rallies, but also designed to foment anger in the crowd.
Thank you Lynell!
Wow. I love this love. Thank you Lynell! Salud to the Carters!
Morning, Lynell! I read the story; to have known each other for nearly 100 years is astounding.
Morning, Ally!!
Thank you for sharing this. It's lovely.
That’s a singularly lovely memory, Lynell — thank you so much for sharing it here. I have to say, it is the small, intimate moments that bring such reinforcing clarity to history sometimes. I just finished my first 3.5 hour tour through the newly reopened/re-made Truman Library and the intimacies recorded in the letters between Harry and Bess through the years are just a fabulous insight. Right person at the right time with the right admin of folks (of all persuasions) around him. The Carters’ interviews this past week have been great, too! https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwi82Pbvq9HxAhXRWc0KHcHwBWAQwqsBMAB6BAgHEAE&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DCF0QiQOQHyE&usg=AOvVaw10aPmfboXdrElWOznPyLKZ
Leslie, while I try even at this late date to keep up with what's what, I have to admit that these articles/letters/stories are my preferred news! Thanks for this PBS link. Is this 3.5 hour tour virtual or in-person?
In person — opened Friday last week after a 2+ year renovation.
Thank you, such a fun memory.
And fixing this whole disaster hinges on getting voting rights legislation passed.
I've been calling my Republican senators, and will keep calling them, especially on gerrymandering and dark money, and explaining that state's rights do not overpower our constitutional rights. It won't do any good, until it does.
Very thankful for Manchin's backup plan.
Our troops didn't give up on D-day, or under pressure from kamikaze pilots. So yeah, I can make phone calls. LOTS of phone calls.
"It won't do any good, until it does." Wise words, S.!
SUBSCRIBERS, I believe that we are in the midst of a troll attack today.
Heather has provided us with an outline of where America is today; the steps towards autocracy taken by the Republican Party since the 1980's and historical contexts taking us back to the 1800's. It is a brilliant work by her that will nurture our understanding far beyond today and our activism going forward.
I was going to add a comment about figures such as the Nobel Prize–winning economist James M. Buchanan, 'The Architect of the Radical Right' (The Atlantic), the Koch Brothers and Rupert Murdoch as major forces contributing to the destruction of Democracy. I will not be submitting that comment today given our unwelcome visitors. It is too disquieting to be surrounded by them. I can only offer my sense of things and suggest that these characters are here to take us off track, smear democracy and occupy space in highly noxious ways. That is my impression, and I hope that the forum is less problematic today than I suspect.
As teachers practice, it is more productive to address a behavior than to slap a label on someone. The label “troll” has been used here to rail against comments posted by (1) professional provocateurs intending to draw a large volume of responses to detract from the main message of HCR’s Letter, (2) political contrarians, and (3) attention seekers, some of whom are more unfiltered than others.
In all cases, these comment forums are driven by algorithms. A person’s comment and “likes” to others’ comments, even calling out the trolling behavior, are only quantitatively registered by the algorithm. The algorithm does not distinguish between critical versus supportive content of a comment.
Across the board, the advice is to Ignore, Do Not Respond, “Do not feed the trolls.” Scroll on by.
Then our job is to use our critical thinking skills to question the accusations made against named individuals on this forum. Some self proclaimed investigators have wrongfully asserted that other individuals here are Russian agents. The process of engaging supporters to this claim via repetition and playing to loyalty is ironically similar to that employed by the professionals to sow political disinformation.
Please let us stay on track and focus on building a fairer society.
Focus on Issues, not Personas.
Agreed, however there is one particular commentator on this forum, I'm sure you know who I'm referencing, that is not a troll, as in the pure sense of the vernacular, but is old enough to chose his words more wisely. When he goes out of his way to defame Dr Richardson, just to satisfy his narcissistic personality, I will respond to him in spades.
The others are just fodder.
Ellie, your penultimate paragraph is spot on. I "pulled the plug" on some subscribers when the accusations of individuals being Russian assets began to fly. It was interesting to see who piled on to that bandwagon so eagerly. I've since pulled the plug on others for a variety of reasons.
Heather gives us the information and her insight. We go from there. People, like yourself, have continually offered solid, sound information and commentary aimed at shoring up our democracy, both intellectually and practically. This forum is not meant to aid people interested in developing their own cult of personality. They can do that on their own time and on their own dime.
Thank you for pointing out the "flood the zone" factor employed by the professionals. Aside from if/when HCR has a Substack moderator to zap such zone flooders, subscribers nevertheless need to learn to recognize trolling behavior and then have the discipline to respond effectively, meaning to Ignore, do not engage.
I still find it interesting and instructive to read their alternate point of view. Sometimes they even make a good point. Mostly they devolve into faulty logic. The haters love to stir up passions too, then call us emotional and illogical ourselves. So much deflection. Reminds me so much of my x-husband.
Margaret The Artist, It would be impolite not to stop in appreciation of your perspective and humor. I was in no mood this morning for the negative spewing of you know what. Reading subscribers comments in the last few minutes was a boost and a reminder of the varied sources of information and force for good that the Forum represents. Thank you. I'll be back tomorrow in a better frame of mind.
Fern, yes you are correct. Trolls or people that just want to think that they are significant are finding their way to this column. Likely because it's the #1 column on Substack. I'm finding myself less interested in engaging here. I'm getting tired of wading through the bullshit.
The fact that contrarians pay to comment in a forum where they clearly are outnumbered stumps me. Why bother? They must know they are not going to sway us to the other side! I guess 5 bucks a month is a small price to pay to raise people's hackles.
Too, I think it's important to distinguish between those with whom we disagree, those who are utterly devoid of critical thinking skills, and those who continually advocate the righteousness of the ultra conservative faction in the US (and around the globe). No contrarian who has stepped into this space has had the persuasive power to change any of our hearts or minds. And I wonder, do they come here to try and persuade us to another POV or do they come here because they struggle with what they currently believe and want us to persuade them that there is something better than what they advocate?
Peace and good morning to all.
Trolls are simply agents of chaos. They have no higher purpose. Every once in awhile I get hooked, but, mostly I just scroll on by.
From chaos we organize and evolve. Whether it's disruptive technology that propels society forward or stochastic forces in nature that lead to evolutionary jumps, chaos is an important dynamic.
Trolls, however, are mostly just attention whores:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCB-9wMylhU
Good morning, Daria. I, too, wonder why the obvious trolls bother here, other than the possibility that they might find reason to "think", maybe for the first time, that there is another way of seeing the events of the country/world.
It's not at all contrary to examine problems from all angles and try to critically evaluate everything passed ones way. It may be annoying to some, but it's not necessarily contrary.
Further, if we are ever to come together as a country, we need to have a better understanding of everyone's perspectives. Perhaps this forum section would be improved if more conservatives, etc joined the discussion?
I agree with you. 100%. I used the word contrarian to define a person with a POV other than that of the majority.
It was not intended to be ugly. Nor do I advocate banishing, flushing, or sanitizing this forum of those whose opinions do not align with the majority or responding to comments with a monosyllabic euphemism for excrement.
This forum has changed significantly since its beginning. It's a shame.
Thanks! The forum HAS changed - it's very busy ad hard to keep up anymore 😩
Yes.
I think they just enjoy getting our ire up. Poking the bear, so to speak.
I simply do not like their words and camouflaged persuasion on this forum.
Remember, a few weeks ago when a vicious and protracted attack was leveled against Hugh, who was labelled a troll and derided? It was unfair and ugly because he's not a troll but someone who lived in the US decades ago and has a different perspective from ours about our politics and society. Yes, there are trolls who drop into this forum from time to time, I don't like their words either. There are members on this forum who insult the owner continually, yet they are still here despite their ugly words. We don't own this forum, it's Heather's forum. I understand what you're saying Christine, but it is what it is. Like it or not, this isn't a forum of hand-picked participants but one where anyone who pays their $5.00 gets to play.
Understand that totally, Daria and agree. I just don’t like it and struggle with my response to it. Which also lets me see how I am a perfect target for them. Hard to disengage for me. Thank you Daria for ALWAYS taking the time to respond to difficult discourse.
Christine, thanks. It is sometimes difficult for me to disengage too, (as you well know). I'm working on it, though.
Thanks Daria - as I only get a small "window of opportunity" - I miss much of the stuff - (thank heavens!). Some of the stuff -links, I post, are ones that have caught my attention - I certainly don't agree with many of them, but they are worth considering - and I'm impressed with the level of discourse here, but I feel that a few too many tend to reach for their guns (Hey - this is an USA site (grin).
Good morning, Hugh! One of the sad things that's happened in this forum is, as you say, the willingness for some to reach for their guns. What struck me a few weeks ago was the fact that you provided links to the work you were doing and still people continued to throw shade. I know I can be outspoken and abrasive but I generally preface those comments upfront with a "disclaimer". The thread and undercurrent of intolerance that is growing in this forum is alarming. The language that is being used with regard to how dissenters should be dealt with, even more so.
I've been a paid subscriber from the beginning. I have watched as valued members have left or fallen silent. I've watched a new wave of subscribers bully and denigrate other subscribers while others have belittled the host. It's sad and disheartening.
Good afternoon. That’s a great insight, I hope it’s happening!
Don't leave Linda. It's a irritant. I had no patience for it this morning. The Forum is our source of information, inspiration, connection and comradery with a fine teacher in the lead.
Fern, my patience for their BS is waining but not to the point of leaving. I'm afraid you will have to put up with me a bit longer . Lol.
I don't have a problem with a difference of opinion, but I will not tolerate personal attacks on Heather.
They are not about differences of opinion but distraction, diversion, division and poisoning democracies.
Exactly !
I've been dealing with disagreeable trolls online for years. If disagreeable trolls are here, is it because they don't like what Heather writes. Is it because it punches their buttons, deep down inside their souls are hoping they will listen? If there were no disagreeable trolls here, would that be something to worry about?
The hunt for trolls will end up with a quart of strawberry ice cream ;)
Personally, I rather have informed debate versus wading through a bunch of head-nodding, backslapping agreement.
Hope it's at least Ben and Jerry's (grin)
I find the backslapping infuriating - it seems to me to be the antithesis of reasoned and rational discussion (which is why I signed up - as I live in a "community" rather lacking in it).
To answer your question, I don't think so, Sloan. Here's to sanitation!
Be careful what you ask for? Are the sanitation gods selective, or do they simply sanitize? :-)
Sloan, It was a joke as to the toxic garbage that comes from the uninvited on the Forum. Please don't take it to extremes. Was your smile a joke? Thanks.
It's my experience that the sanitization gods sanitize the left and the right and the middle, when they set their minds to it. I'm having some trouble understanding how disagreeable people are uninvited, if this is a public forum? I don't see Heather telling them to bug off. I've often been accused of being a troll by people who didn't care for how I responded to what they put online, mostly on Facebook. I wonder why they put it on Facebook if they weren't expecting responses? I have disturbed the peace of lots of red spectrum folks, and lots of blue spectrum folks.
I discovered Heather the other day when a south Alabama amiga, who minces no words, shared Heather's splendid July 2 post with her Facebook friends, which begins, "Today news broke that Anthony Aguero, who was in the Capitol on January 6 and who is close to Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), joined Republican members of the right-wing Republican Study Committee when they traveled to the U.S.-Mexico border Tuesday night."
I then subscribed to Heather's letters, and I featured her July 2 letter at my blog, post: "Dear Heather Cox Richardson, the South Has Risen Again", https://afoolsworkneverends.blogspot.com/2021/07/the-south-has-risen-again.html
Linda, I've thought about your comment all day: "Trolls or people that just want to think that they are significant are finding their way to this column." I am sad and alarmed that folks on this forum believe they should determine who is and is not significant based on a commenter's political beliefs. I'm tired of wading through the bullshit, too. I'm tired of the current and fairly recent wave of clannish rhetoric designed to pit one group of subscribers against an individual. I'm tired of people kissing a disgruntled, overly entitled curmudgeon's behind despite the fact that he's abusive and demeaning to not only HCR but most of subscribers on this forum. I'm tired of those on this forum who spend time and energy pitting one against the other. I'm stunned that someone wants to sanitize this forum and that some people on this forum actually agree with that. What the hell? I don't believe that is, or was ever, Heather's intent in opening this forum. I don't believe she ever expected a group of "yes men and women". I may be wrong, but I doubt it.
Good morning Daria. I agree. Heather would never want a forum filled to the brim with unquestioning "followers". That is the antithesis of her life's work.
I like to think that this group, in general are educated, or atleast self taught and are open to learning. That was the layout initially. I've been on board here for a while and with any group, I'm seeing changes. As you pointed out earlier, this is Heather's forum, not ours. We cannot pick and chose who comes to play, nor should we. So you know, I use the term "troll" in its current social media vernacular. They do pop up everywhere. I even see them in an online gardening group I belong to.
I am baffled by the fellow contributors that are willing to be drawn in by the certain someone and overlook his constant narcissistic, abusive towards Heather. Is it just to buddy up to him? As a side note, most are men. Is his babble that enticing? Not for me and I know not for you.
I do have to wonder how much longer Heather will continue to produce a daily letter. This has certainly surpassed her initial time frame. The academic semester will start soon and preparation is never ending. I believe I heard that she will be teaching on campus. I am grateful for all she offers to us. Regardless of what an unwielding group we are. 🙃
Enjoy you day, Daria.
Good morning, Linda. I wonder, too, how much longer Heather will continue the daily Letters. It is an important daily read for me but for her it requires a lot of deep thought in order to compile something that can be viewed as a legitimate record of our time.
And you're right, as unwieldy as we are, we are fortunate to have this forum! Enjoy your day too!
Daria, it is part of my daily routine as well. What she does to make it happen is tremendous and the fact that she is able to offer it up in a way that , most everyone understands her intent is noteworthy.
Will you be joining her online history class this afternoon as well? Baring any unanticipated meetings, I will be there as well.
Hi Linda, I'm in a week long, online bookbinding class that conflicts with today's live lecture, so I'll probably have to watch the replay. Enjoy!
This one is quite awkward and obvious. I'm guessing that he/she/it is in training, and not yet good at subterfuge. The response below, with it's righteous indignation, reveals its inexperience. It seems to be concerned about Vlad's evaluation of its skills.
They (The Ploopers) are here because We Are Right and Powerful! Thanks Fern.
Only really DC trying to stir a little currently I think. I he starting to wake up to the repetitious cycle of history perhaps and is surprised that we recognize it as the trumpites cannot seem to. His point aboit the previous president going off into TV Reality dreamland is however a positive sign. I for one would be interested in your comments on Buchanan et al nonetheless.
I will absolutely follow through on Friday or Saturday. Up to +++ with other work. Thank you for your interest in Buchanan and other BIG BUCKS conspirators.
Looking forward to your comments.
Good call Fern. I'm going to sit out today as I have a bunch of errands to run anyway. I'll do a couple obligatory Ploops and then off I go.
I once read an excerpt from some kind of field manual for how to disrupt organizations, and I think a lot of trolls follow the model, which is largely to distract and delay and to debate endlessly or the like. I think the trolls also want to seed doubt and exhaust people.
and what did the field manual recommend for dealing with trolling behavior?
I think it makes best sense, though, to not allow oneself to be distracted or misdirected. Not get drawn into discussions of irrelevant topics. Largely, I think ignoring them as much as possible, not “giving them oxygen,” as folks say now.
Unfortunately, the guide was designed for those doing the sabotage, not for those defending against it. I did search for it, though, and I think this article references the document I was probably remembering…
https://www.businessinsider.com/oss-manual-sabotage-productivity-2015-11?op=1
As the day goes on, you are absolutely right, Fern. Why today, do you think?
Pursuit now on the Forum, just a few minutes, so far, has lifted my spirits in admiration of who you all are. I'll stop here with you and then return to other work. When I first got on the Forum, DC my first spotting. From Heather's laser to DC stopped me in my tracks. You are a bright and brighter light. I saw the tack that you gave Lynell and hope that today's invasion is a dot on the formidable force, which is Heather and LFAA's subscribers. See you tomorrow, Christine. On we go!
Love!
If you get chance later, please read two essays I posted on self esteem and self worth. Have wanted to share for awhile.
You were so spot on in the idea to share… don’t wait so long, next time! :)
Boy, I have completely missed that! What am I overlooking?
David Connor put in his 2 cents. The call to sanitize the forum thus ensued. I am wary of calls to sanitize the forum, it smacks too closely to the word exterminate, which is what one group of people did to another thus resulting in the Second World War.
The way to deal with trolls and other obnoxious creatures is to limit responding to them. Their behavior is maintained by strong emotional responses that show they have riled folks up - it an endorphin hit. Not responding at all or a few responses with a short matter of fact nature deprives them of that hit. Over time, thy will tire and fade away.
Agree. Sometimes we need a sample of their thinking, lack of critical thinking skills, etc.
Today I heard an interview with Nina Lakhani about the conviction of a Honduran corporate official for heading the conspiracy that murdered their most eminent environmentalist, Berta Caceres. Lakhani described the political environment of Honduras as a criminal state - not plutocratic, not authoritarian, which it may be, but as criminal.
This strikes me as an apt description of what Trump wants for the United States - a mechanism to deliver our wealth to HIM, and one that allows him to act with impunity. I would like to use that descriptor going forward, to separate the sheep from the co-conspirators.
Some countries have a shadow government operated by organized crime. The U.S. does not have that, yet, but has a privileged faction, for whom trump was the face, that has wormed its way into power, enflamed a large segment of the populace, and found myriad cracks in the norms of decent government to technically legally exploit to the detriment of democratic process.
One step before the creation of the Putin criminocracy. The Russian government, including Tsarist regimes has always previously operated in a loose alliance with the local criminal gangs; alliance in which it was clear that the head of government gave the orders. The difference with Putin is the level of fusion at the top where the government has adopted fully the gangs structures and operating methods to the extent that it is nolonger certain that it is the politicians that give the orders. Sounds pretty close.
True about nefarious dealings. It would be interesting to read about the difference between "criminocracy" (did you just coin that?) and oligarchy. Got any leads?
Hi Elie, I did just coin it....seemed appropriate. In Oligarchy I would say they don't have to break laws as they have written them to suite themselves and obeying them ensures the solidity, stability and perenity of the oligarchic control group. In a criminocracy I would see a basic but limited governing alliance of criminal gangs with Clan/War Chiefs (as in Afghanistan) and politicians where the only law is actually the rule of the strongest with no need for laws as internal peace isn't maintained by anything other than mutual deterrence. The basic governing principle being each does as he likes in his own sphere of influence and any sign of weakness leads to turf wars. Putin's strength is his ability to make them believe that he can form coalitions against recalcitrant members and thereby threaten their annihilation and thus their life, wealth and power.
Fascinating thinking, Stuart. The “new” word what is behind it.
Mon Dieu! Criminocracy is perfect — aptly describes subversion of democracy by an oligarchy run amok and trust is relegated to ashcan of history.
CRIMINOCRACY! Thank You Stuart!
One such shadow group of operatives is the Federalist Society which creates a list of right wing people who they propose for judicial appointments. Too many Members of SCOTUS owe their ‘seat’ to this group! Any person nominated for a federal judgeship who is not on the list will have their Senate hearing ‘kneecapped’ by mBitch!
And how many know that that group takes Dark money? Not enough IMHO.
This, in a nutshell. Right on Ellie.
So well said, Ellie. Sadly.
Thank you, Judith, for using the word "criminal." I think you are spot on in your assessment. As you suggest, I will try to use that descriptor going forward.
Maybe, just maybe, if we get enough people to vote against them, we can get through this morass. Numbers matter, and we can't take for granted that we'll have enough. They'll have a harder time stealing elections if we have a huge turnout.
Call your local Dem headquarters tomorrow and volunteer. Organize your precinct, if it's not already. Ask what you can do to help.
Organize. Volunteer. Register new voters.
Now is the time to get to work.
If we can follow the example of the black voters in 2020 and circumvent all the new hurdles they are trying to put in place, we can win in 2022. All these new laws are directed at the black and other minorities because that is who they fear most.
don't forget the college students...
And the college students. GOP-led states try to block students from voting.
A group of HCR Substackers has formed a community to turn good discussion here into action and share resources. Walk the talk, like you are! For more info, email:
heathersherd@gmail.com
The idea that legislatures can nullify the vote is horrific. Reprehensible. But believable from this group of people. I am actually amazed that they resisted at the time of the election, but now they’ve made it legal to do, so they will do it.
THAT will be a constitutional crisis.
The Economist magasine has identified this in an editorial as being as or more important than the culling of ethnic voters from the lists. It goes on to suggest that this should be the focus of the Democrat's attention.
I think they deliberately added the “outrageous” in form of legislatures and judges nullifying the people’s vote to their suppression bills, Deb. And will appear to have contrition and back off from these pieces if fiercely contested. And then be satisfied with what goes forward. Just another thug tactic.
Just like this summer in Texas
I’m here in Georgia and that’s the real threat in the new “laws”
Rupurt Murdoch's latest project is to establish FOX Weather channel this fall. Of course, that means misinformation and lies about the climate crisis. This kind of opposition to moving forward rapidly on the climate crisis could be devastating for the world. I think this may be the time for non-violent resistance. Boycott any corporation or entity who advertises on FOX any channel. Complain to the FCC every day until they lose their broadcast license (I know, remote possibility). Expose the politicians who are getting money from Murdoch and other dark money. Any other suggestions? Yes, I'm serious. DTs lies about COVID much of which came from FOX cost hundreds of thousands of lives. FOX tampering with climate change could mean millions of lives.
I just heard about this yesterday. Even listening to the sparring already between The Weather Channel and this possible new Fox entry is ridiculous. I’m filing another broadcasting complaint today. And every day. Because a day does not pass that something egregious is being cooked up and served at the Fox News Channel.
How does one file a broadcasting complaint?
https://www.fcc.gov/sites/default/files/complaints_about_broadcast_journalism.pdf
Cathy posted yesterday. I’m on it.
Ellie, via the FCC website.
I had not heard of this. Wow! Now trying to deny climate change while we’re in the middle of dealing with Hurricane/Tropical Storm Elsa in my neck of the woods is insane. While I hope Floridians wouldn’t be bamboozled, I fear with Faux “News” broadcast in so many households, including the interior area of The Villages, they might just succeed in having folks not believe what they are seeing outside their windows.
There should be laws that protect the public from false declarations!
Cathy, I heard about this yesterday. How appropriate to have a climate denier at the helm of a 24/7 Weather channel. He will be feeding climate change misinformation to those lemmings continually.
I agree with your sentiments, but the planet is quite overpopulated and a changing environment along with diminishing resources will likely lead a population reduction with or without FOX.
In the meantime, "it's always sunny on FOX" is a great ad campaign...
Given the choice….overwhelmingly “without Fox”.
I have been posting some of Heather's letters to my Facebook page; today's letter was one of them. This is a personal message I attached so my "friends" can understand why I'm posting.
The writer, Heather Cox Richardson, is a professor of American history at Boston College, where she teaches courses on the American Civil War, the Reconstruction Era, the American West, and the Plains Indians. She has a great knack of understanding events in the country's past and connecting them to today's political events. I received a degree in history in college and was a reporter for a decade in the1980s. Regardless what I covered, the premise and necessity of delivering unbiased facts to the public was drilled into me and other journalists ad infinitum. And there were editors ready to correct bias in reporters' stories if it occurred. That is why I like Ms. Richardson's daily columns. I have been reading them since last year and have not detected outward bias even once. That is not what she does. Ms. Richardson presents historical and current-day events side-by-side and allows you, the reader, to make your own conclusions. I don't think enough people in this country form opinions based on facts; most rely on biased media reports and propaganda espoused on the Internet, television, radio, podcasts, etc., whether these reports come from so-called right- or left-wing outlets. Ms. Richardson's columns are a way for you to gain a better understanding of the evolution behind some of the political goings-on occurring today. That is why I post them. If you are interested in reading them free of charge, just do an Internet search for "Letters From an American."
Dennis, I have posted Dr. Richardson's letters to my FB page as well. Your description of her work is decidedly on point, commendable, and most certainly, deserving of her scholarship and talents. However, each time you say, Ms. Richardson, it rubs me the wrong way. The proper way to address her is either Dr. or Professor Richardson. After all, she is a university professor with a Ph.D. and deserves recognition as such. Wouldn't you use those terms if she were a man? I don't mean to be rude, because I know you respect her and her work tremendously, it's just that women are still addressed without their titles, which is such a shame.
You are absolutely right. I simply didn't think of it. I won't make that error again. Thanks for pointing it out.
Wow Dennis. Now that’s an example of accepting constructive criticism. 👏🏽
Christine, I have no problem accepting criticism when it is correct. Oversight on my part.
I totally meant that with admiration and a compliment. Your response to Rowshan was extremely gracious. See my remark to him.
her
No, thank you, Dennis, for your open-mindedness!
I wish you'd relay that to my wife. Ho ho.
Wow Rowshan. Now that’s a example of presenting constructive criticism. 👏🏽
Superb summary, and reminder to us all to "form opinion based on fact."
Someone posited on Twitter last night "Why wasn't Trump rushed into a secure location on Jan 6th? Maybe because he was directing the insurrection?"
Any idea that he didn’t know what was going on is ludicrous, the same secret service that protects the VP and was under threat, was protecting him. In the WH they were very much aware of what was happening at the capital. I would like to hang the bastard for treason, at the Washington Monument facing the WH so that the last thing he sees is the place he defiled.
I agree, but then he becomes a martyr to his magates.
Don't hold back, tell us how you really feel! Nothing matters to him but himself. If the end was inevitable, he'd probably pull a Hitler in the bunker moment.
I raised that very same question from the onset of the insurrection. I find that to be very telling.
This making a deal with an authoritarian style of government suggests the depths of insecurity among Americans who refuse to accept diversity. They are so frightened of changes in their world that they would give up democracy in order to feel safe.
I suspect that members of the privileged faction don't think in terms of giving up democracy. Rather, they are narrowly focused on their own self-interests for how to maintain and expand their power and wealth. But however narrow the scope of political philosophy or consequences on the populace, a privileged faction of predominantly white Christian moneyed men has been at the top since the arrival on these shores of the first European colonizers. Capitalists that they were, they did undertake significant risk for greater gain.
And their biggest fear is that some of their gains will be taken away from them or that they will one day not have "enough". I watched the film on the kidnapping of Hearst's grandson the other day and in the film Hearst was asked why he wouldn't pay the ransom? He anwered that he wasn't sure he would always have enough money. When other actor in the scene asked how he could feel more secure, his response was...when I have more!
Even too much is never enough. Hungry ghosts, all.
😔
Correction: predominantly white Christian heterosexual moneyed men
https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/politics/100000007606996/capitol-riot-trump-supporters.html?smid=em-share
Goodonya for posting again Sandy. Readers… this NYTimes Virtual Investigation documentary has been discussed and posted several days on this forum. If you have not watched, today is the day if you can find an hour to do so. You’ll need that much time to get through the 40 minute vídeo. I wasn’t able to watch without stopping a few times to collect myself. The rage that the former president fomented in his followers is stunning and palpable. Therein lies the truth of the lie that has threatened democracy.
Then you need to watch it again because you still can't believe it really happened. It did. They are planning the next one. August...
Thank You, Sandy. FYI, on July 6, 2021, the FBI's Washington DC Field Office released 11 "new" Videos of suspects attacking Federal Officers during the January 6 Attacks. Also, on July 6, the Joint Terrorism Task Force Forcd (JTTF) filed another criminal complaint against an "Oath Keeper" (over 20 cases, so far). I understand a criminal Trial is set in January 2022.
It’s chilling watching it Sandy, the level of rage on display is sobering, watching them attacking up the steps on the back side of the capital under the grand stands I could clearly see a guy with a hammer with a pick on one side like the kind used for prospecting in rocks, he was using it to attack the police, if I had been on the receiving end of that thing I would have shot him dead on the spot, it’s no wonder so many had to be hospitalized that day. I’m still amazed at the restraint the capital’s defenders exhibited……
Chilling. Ty Sandy. Will this be shown on all the networks?
This video was assembled by the NY Times staff and published on June 30th.
Morning, Sandy!!
Looks worthwhile. Thanks.
mind-blowing reality filmed by the insurrectionists
And I don't doubt that those taken in by the "big lie" and other enemies of democracy cheer as they watch this and other January 6 videos. Like their counterparts in that abortive beer hall in Munchen ninety-eight years ago, they will be back. And next time, we must be prepared.
HCRs Letter tonight is a cliff hanger. Hope we don't have to wait too long for the sequel where the heros win the day -- and democracy.
One bit of good news tonight that does give me a wee bit of hope: Just heard on the Lawrence O’Donnell show that Texas Republican members of the legislature are now calling the provision allowing judges to turn over elections piece of the SB7 voting suppression bill “horrendous” and walking it back out of the bill claiming they don’t know how it got in there – at the last minute hoping no one would see it… When we see the actual bill we’ll be able to confirm it. What a victory for Texas voting rights! I have requested a meeting with my Texas Representative which will probably happen within this next week. There's still a lot to talk to him about! Maybe its just the Republicans being exposed, but I hope it is the start of a trend for Texas and then the other Red states. I know there is fighting going on within the Texas Republican party for control of the party. Perhaps this is the first sign the traditional Republicans are breaking through. Then, maybe I'm reading too much into this. We the People, All of Us this time.
I love the reading you are doing, Cathy. Please update after your convo with the Texas representative.
My state representative is the grandson of a former governor of Texas, a Republican but one who thinks through his positions and is willing to listen and discuss why, conservative. I'll let you know how the meeting goes.
Curious, which governor?
40 minutes of NYT Film of January 6th truth for fascist deniers.
It's very well done. I made it halfway through. Need a break before I can stomach any more.
As you lay is out, Heather, and I agree, "the steal" has been in progress for quite a while, and what better way to fuzz it over than claim the stolen from did the stealing.
What I don't see being said straight up in the news or on social media are other public places is the people claiming the 2020 election was stolen from Trump, and other Republicans who lost, think but do not say blacks stole it. Why is that? Look at the Jan 6 capitol riot.
Look at the sea of white people swarming the national capitol. Look at the Confederate flag on top of the Capitol deck. Look at photos of MAGA rallies. Seas of white people. Look at the Charlottesville protests against removing Confederate monuments. A sea of white people, Confederate and Swastik flags.
Looks to me that Americans who do not like the South having risen again need to get very busy encouraging blacks and other non-white minorities and white Democrats and Independents about the South having risen again, and about how to vote in the future, and to vote regardless of how hard red states make it to vote.
Do not forget, ever, that during North Carolina elections in 2020, President Trump told his base to write in their vote, then go to the polls on election day and vote again, and their write in vote would not be counted.
Don't forget, ever, that not one Republican candidate reelected in 2020 claimed it was by voter fraud in his/her favor. All the voter fraud was done by the left, the right says. Not one dead Republican voted even once. Not one live Republican voted twice, or three times, even once. Republicans would never cheat to win elections. Only Democrats do that.
I'm not a Democrat, belong to no political party. I grew up in Alabama during the George Wallace years, when the Democratic Party was the white supremacist party in Alabama.
Copied for posterity. Thank you for your serious, dead on sense of humor.
With an effective get-out-the-vote effort, Democrats can win statewide elections in any state where citizens with non-European ancestors make up at least 30% of the electorate. Ironically, most such states are in the South: Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina. In red states with whiter electorates (Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, Idaho, Oklahoma, Missouri …) putting Democrats in statewide offices is much harder. A monumental effort will be required to avoid autocracy, and most of that effort must be invested in getting Democrats to the voting booth.
Actually there was at least one case of a dead Republican voter voting (and the article also mentions 2 other fraudulent attempts to vote: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/05/04/pennsylvania-bruce-bartman-voter-fraud/
No doubt. That part of my comment was from the Republican perspective: Republicans never engage in voter fraud, only Democrats.
Trump doesn’t get enough credit for being a great teacher. He’s taught us two ugly, dangerous lessons. One is that, if a president is willing to, and his party controls the Senate, he can do whatever he damn well pleases. There are no guardrails, he can be as corrupt and autocratic as he chooses. Our vaunted “checks and balances” have proven to be mostly historical expectations and wishful thinking. Until Trump came along, presidents released their tax returns, presidents didn’t accept campaign help or bribes from foreign governments, presidents didn’t use the DOJ as their personal law office, presidents abided by the peaceful transfer of power. Then Trump showed us that there are no laws saying he has to do these things, so why should he?
Trump taught us that our vaunted “checks and balances” are mostly tissue paper. The only real check on a president is impeachment, overseen by the Senate. Nixon was forced to resign (by Republican congressmen), for crimes far less onerous than Trump’s. It didn’t even come to impeachment, Nixon resigned because he was likely to be impeached. Trump…well you know how his two impeachments turned out. The transitive law holds that, when Trump controls the GOP, and the GOP controls the Senate, Trump controls the Senate.
Trump’s Big Lie is teaching Republicans another lesson. Which is that our democracy is frail and flimsy, not all votes should count, and they don’t have to lose elections. We came closer than we ever would have expected to Trump declaring himself president in January, and staying in the White House for as long as he wants. He won’t miss next time. In 2024, after the votes are counted and the “real” votes are “certified”, Trump (or his clone) will be declared president, and that will be that. That’s what the Big Lie is really all about - Republicans preparing themselves to steal the next election.
Professor Trump taught us that democracy is for chumps. It’s a nice idea, but wouldn’t you rather have power? Trump showed Republicans how they can hold all the power, if they are bold enough, and just ignore precedent and expectations. The party of Trump may never give up power again.
Stuart Attewell.
Thanks. Will correct.