Another powerful statement is, "And citizens, regardless of how they voted, need now to check their attitudes. This is no longer a post-electoral moment. It is a pre-catastrophic moment."
God is invoked as a last resort out of exasperation and not knowing what to do. It seems like we are allowing ourselves to head off a cliff because we MUST inaugurate this law breaking, power grabbing, ill-willed conman. We MUST approve his picks because he's the president and (as Tubereville says) he has to have his helpers. So we say "God help us"... even if we know God, if one exists, isn't going to help us. My mother was a fatalist. I know how she felt. And there are people who go around saying "it was meant to be" ie even if this is bad there is a lesson we have to learn. Some say this as if there is some overarching plan. This is religion ( and why we have it). No, folks the planet is winding down because people are too busy getting and spending, wasting energy, arguing, power seeking. Maybe the end of this experiment on Earth is God's plan. This is the Tower of Babel; we have lost the way to communicate to each other if we had it once ( now that we have more means!) and we (in aggregate) have lost a common sense of what is good and moral versus what is bad and evil, if we ever knew how to battle it.
The biblical tale about Noah tells of a flood to cleanse the Earth.
When we feel stuck, like now, not knowing what to do this kind of thinking arises and hands are thrown up... to God.
I was thinking of going back under the bed myself.
Much appreciated, Professor Snyder. A new website, "lawyersagainstfascism.com," will be online this weekend. Hopefully we can pitch in, with you and lots of others, to help preserve American democracy.
Clear, blunt, harsh and well said. Many years of small steps has prepared MAGA to lower the curtain on democracy. The question is whether your insights and formulations will help Americans to develop a forceful opposition or whether it will take years of pain before citizens feel it in their gut and fight back.
Both. Some Americans, like me and Indivisible, are already working hard on developing a "forceful opposition," while the fools who voted for the turd will soon be feeling the pain of electing a nasty, narcissistic, cruel, incompetent fool to office. He's promised it on day 1 but he's already starting to try to dismantle the structure of government and the safety of citizens.
Ezra and Leah have worked tirelessly to organize ways to fight back. They are practical and hopeful, so I recommend that people who are discouraged watch the kickoff call. I was on that call, as were thousands of other concerned citizens. Join Indivisible! And while you're at it, get onto Bluesky. Get off twitter.
Yes, Philosopher. The call was practical and inspirational. 20K of the 50K who signed up attended. They encourage finding or starting a local group to organize around local priorities, talked generally about what blue, purple, and red areas can do. Senator Elizabeth Warren said a top priority for us is to pressure Democratic Senators to confirm judges for Courts of Appeals and District Courts. She pointed out that lots of cases get resolved there, and that these courts are/can be more balanced than SCOTUS. She also suggested we pressure Democratic Senators to confirm people in agencies that have “term of years,” where Trump can’t come in and fire them. Warren said there’s a list but I am fuzzy on that. Anyone else can jump in if you know.
Ha ha! The official count was 20K on the call. I signed up and had a conflict, but just listened to it and it was practical and inspirational. They are a great resource and quoted Tim extensively:) Indivisible supports local gro
Who is developing "a rhetoric of a better America"? [See Snyder's last paragraph.] I'm more interested in that than forceful opposition. The Far Left has done forceful opposition for decades and look at where it has gotten us.
That wasn't the Far Left. That was humanity expressing their outrage at the continuing oppression of women, blacks, indigenous, and immigrants. And right about now all of us should be in "forceful opposition" mode to show the world most of us in the good ole USA haven't completely lost our minds. And before it's too late.
Critical thinking skills are crucial in citizens of a democracy. I taught a lot of CT as a philosophy professor, and I saw what it meant to some students when they could fight back after bullies tried to squelch their ability to think. Determining which claims are false, and finding evidence to back up claims that are true, are necessary steps to being an informed citizen.
How many people actually voted to destroy the United States, to get rid of the Constitution? Is that a question that could be asked as a way to find some common ground? How many Senators, for instance, want to get rid of the Senate?
Agree about critical thinking skills and citizens of a democracy. Retired school librarian here, Mr. Philosopher. In my state, what were known as Teacher/Librarians [teaching credential AND librarian credential] were required to teach Information Literacy, which includes evaluating sources. It was my favorite subject. I know few adults who have this type of literacy.
You got me thinking, lin, and not just about gut feelings and brains, but also about bodies, including mine. This past year, working on electoral politics, I'll admit that I enjoyed the feeling of "making a difference," or having conversations that mattered, the hope of cause and effect. Now, in the process of recalibrating and trying to figure out how best to apply myself, I realize that good feelings about my own potential impact will be harder to come by and an unreliable measurement of the value of any action. Listening to the Indivisible call linked to elsewhere in this thread, I conclude that my balanced diet of activism needs to include a lot of just showing up for efforts that others have identified without having to put my own personal stamp on it. Aside from the benefit of larger numbers being more convincing to power and better protection against authoritarian backlash as yet to be seen to be believed.
"I conclude that my balanced diet of activism needs to include a lot of just showing up for efforts that others have identified without having to put my own personal stamp on it. "
ThankYou for your significant insight. Exactly. (I like to think of myself as a worker-bee.)
I've said that it is a mistake to treat voting as an individual exercise in personal expression. When it is actually a joint exercise in taking power. Through which we can bring our own lived experience to achieving our shared goals.
(This is what Republicans have done, while many on the Left have preferred purity tests, pipe dreams, and Pied Pipers. And sitting on one's hands don't keep them clean.)
Right wing extremists did not swallow the GOP whole, they ate the elephant bite by bite before spitting it out in their own image - a Trump administration. It took decades.
In 2020 we were able to pull together. This year, considering circumstances, Kamala Harris was able to pull together a remarkable work force. We have so much to build on for good during these next two years. Every personal stance in solidarity - such as your insight - is how we can win.
I found this the most important part of this essay: "Both inside and outside Congress, there will have to be simple defiance, joined with a rhetoric of a better America." I think "forceful opposition" is just more of the same. A rhetoric of a better America is not. This is something we in the pro-democracy coalition need to do. Now.
There’s no reason for shock here. That Trump would attempt something like this was clear at least from January 6th on, if not well before. Those like Senator Susan Collins who refused to vote to convict Trump during his impeachment trial by suggesting that Trump had ‘learned his lesson’ are very much to blame for what’s happening now. They failed in their duty to the Constitution and the country as half of American voters have also done in re-electing Trump.
I’m very tired of all these excuses for Ms Harris’s loss. The first duty of any American citizen is to understand and to protect our Constitutional Republic from those who would break it for their own personal gain. Shirking that responsibility for the price of a dozen eggs (See Ann Telnaes’ cartoon in yesterday's Washington Post) shouldn’t be an option.
I suggest the Persian national epic, The Shahnameh or Persian Book of Kings (translation by Dick Davis.)
It tells of a king who wants to destroy a town, but his vizier says: If you destroy the town people will think ill of you. Instead appoint an ignorant loud mouth as governor and he will destroy it.
It also says: It was a bad time. The rich refused to pay taxes and only fought among themselves.
And relates: Suddenly a new beast appeared on the plains. It attacked the other beasts. Outwardly it was golden and shone like the Sun. But inside it was all corruption.
But I do not think the problem here is genius enemies. Republicans align themselves with our enemies because Republicans are already corrupt and see some advantage for themselves.
Oh the Persians play a long game. It is an astounding and beloved text. And one which exists in amazingly beautifully illustrated editions.
I was in the Metropolitan Museum of Art looking at some illustrated calligraphy sheets from this work. An elderly self identified Iranian man asked whether I knew what I was looking at and as we were speaking, tears came to his eyes that this work was enshrined in a Western museum and that someone such as myself knew something about it.
Tone down the rhetoric? How about Republicans tone down the hatefulness they are still spewing? Your body, my choice? That’s toning down the rhetoric? It seems to me that the Republican electorate is just as, if not more, hateful, and spiteful than ever. But, as ever, when called on it on it, someone blames Democrats. Toning down the rhetoric has to start with the Republicans.
Something constructive I'm going to do: Email every Republican senator with the warnings Prof. Snyder gives here. I will remind them the whole world is watching--including all our enemies (and frien-emies that wouldn't mind picking over the spoils of a destroyed America).
I saw a comment on Bluesky (which I highly recommend) by an older disabled citizen who was SO HAPPY to have an activity that s/he could do. Writing emails and calling Senators gave that voter a sense of efficacy and strength that was remarkable! I applaud that citizen for being so determined that even physical disability would not stand in the way of action for democracy!!
Thanks for reminding me; I have been so angry and in such despair today that I forgot that. I feel alone in my efforts to fight against the turd's attempts to destroy our democracy just because he's not satisfied with the amount of money ad power he has. So many voters are indifferent--and they will be until the chaos and pain begins to affect them.
Philosopher, you have commented several times today. I’m a newcomer to “TA” so don’t know if you do that regularly, but I find your comments to be helpful, informed and mostly positive, and I wanted to thank you for them.
Thanks, Alan: I am a retired philosophy professor and have made it my responsibility to point people to good books and sources, to encourage and exhort others to positive actions, etc. And TO THINK.
There is a phrase, a concept for a type of behavior for doing revolutionary kinds of things called "direct action". Might be worth looking up literature about that. It is a term for economic and political behavior in which participants use agency—for example economic or physical power—to achieve their goals. The aim of direct action is to either obstruct a certain practice (such as a government's laws or actions) or to solve perceived problems (such as social inequality). (from wikipedia)
I see: the nonviolent direct action is what I prefer. With a toddler in control of government, we will need to send him a clear message about what we won't tolerate. It doesn't matter if anyone tries to kiss his ass, as he'd just mock that person as stupid because internally he KNOWS he's a piece of shit. In other works, if anyone tries to kiss his ass, that person will end up with a mouthful of his shit.
Nice idea but I took it one step further. I sent a snail mail letter to every Republican senator after the school massacre in Texas in Uvalde. Not one responded.
Another suggestion call your senator & representative & tell them how disgusted you are with what's going on. It may not do much good but it will be on record so to speak.
We've been doing that. Anyone in Congress monitors constituents' responses because that's what gets them re-elected, so it does have some impact. Specifically demanding that your House Rep get the Ethics Committee report on Gaetz released is a good action, as is calling senators to demand that they not allow the Senate to go into recess after the inauguration (VOMIT) so that the turd can take over the Senate's Constitutionally-mandated role of advise and consent.
I don't understand. If it may not do much good, why do it? What will having it on record do? In fact, it might harm you to have it on a Republican record.
If you want to have self-respect, DO THESE GOOD THINGS. If we stop ourselves from acting against bad actors, we are actually inflicting greater harm on the Constitution. If you decide that your morals are based upon what's good for you, you have no morals.
Volume DOES help! And so does calling the office of Rep. Lloyd Doggett, who is busting his butt to get H.R. 9495 rejected. I've called his office twice to thank him and plan to contribute to his next campaign. THANK THE GOOD ONES.
I disagree. Republicans want to not be reminded of their hatefulness, misogyny, and cult like behavior. Now that Trump will be in office, they want Democrats to fall in line and be good little kids. Screw them. I don’t disagree with you when you say to do constructive things. I just don’t think the two were related.
I was thinking about the Gaetz appointment. Besides everything we know about him don't you think he was selected to slap women in the face AGAIN? You know show the ladies whose boss by selecting a disgusting "jock" type personality to throw in our faces.
This is it. Blitzkrieg has been launched. Those who would "let them have what they voted for" seem to think they can stand separate and wait for the conflagration to burn itself out and then return to their lives. Pundits still talk about Trump only having four years like nothing more than an unfortunate chapter in American politics as usual is going on here. This isn't going to just burn itself out and no one is coming to save us. If I was an adversary of the US I would be telling people we should just let MAGA have what they asked for. I would drive hopelessness. We have to fight that and drive solidarity and resistance. We can't just leave our home.
What worries me is that the planet has expected us to come to the rescue as we did in WWII, but we are not in any position to save anyone else right now. I just hope that Europeans understand that most Americans (the orange turd won LESS THAN 50% OF THE VOTE) are not that stupid and we are fighting. And I agree; this is not just a four-year blip on the radar screen of our history. It's a planned tyranny and end to democracy that will require us to re-earn the right to self-government.
What will happen when he dies is that Vance will assume the presidency, which may be even worse. And then there will be an internal war among MAGAS for power that will be a disaster as the stupid vie with the more-stupid for control. We need to kick maga to the curb.
You would think that Game of Thrones would have prepared us for this. But then...this is real life. It will reach out of the screen and grab you and your kids and your parents and your friends and then...
I am sorry so many let us get here by shifting the responsibility to others. Mueller and Garland come to mind, their small ignoble half and delayed steps. We must pick up the baton they neglected to pass into indictments. https://hotbuttons.substack.com/p/consider-this?r=3m1bs
Add to that the passivity of Joe Biden, whose penchant for bipartisanship blinded him to the fact that the Republicans are not interested in governing.
“We might find bureaucracy annoying; its absence, though, is deadly.”
What a powerful quote and a powerful post. God Bless America!
Another powerful statement is, "And citizens, regardless of how they voted, need now to check their attitudes. This is no longer a post-electoral moment. It is a pre-catastrophic moment."
Perverse, to suggest that the mysticism of “god” would fix what, if actually in existence, allowed current events to exist.
Logic, knowledge and altruism are required.
Look through history. What data supports god blessing anything?
Good quote though….
God is invoked as a last resort out of exasperation and not knowing what to do. It seems like we are allowing ourselves to head off a cliff because we MUST inaugurate this law breaking, power grabbing, ill-willed conman. We MUST approve his picks because he's the president and (as Tubereville says) he has to have his helpers. So we say "God help us"... even if we know God, if one exists, isn't going to help us. My mother was a fatalist. I know how she felt. And there are people who go around saying "it was meant to be" ie even if this is bad there is a lesson we have to learn. Some say this as if there is some overarching plan. This is religion ( and why we have it). No, folks the planet is winding down because people are too busy getting and spending, wasting energy, arguing, power seeking. Maybe the end of this experiment on Earth is God's plan. This is the Tower of Babel; we have lost the way to communicate to each other if we had it once ( now that we have more means!) and we (in aggregate) have lost a common sense of what is good and moral versus what is bad and evil, if we ever knew how to battle it.
The biblical tale about Noah tells of a flood to cleanse the Earth.
When we feel stuck, like now, not knowing what to do this kind of thinking arises and hands are thrown up... to God.
I was thinking of going back under the bed myself.
Much appreciated, Professor Snyder. A new website, "lawyersagainstfascism.com," will be online this weekend. Hopefully we can pitch in, with you and lots of others, to help preserve American democracy.
A website may be necessary, but what is needed is visible resistance on the streets now, everywhere. IMO. Before a sense of doom engulfs too many.
Before the Insurrection Act is signed on 1/20/25 and demonstrations are no longer possible without mass casualties.
I tried to log on today but site was closed Hope it will open
Barry Coburn said they will launch this weekend. The weekend has barely started.
Private Site
This site is currently private. If you’re the owner or contributor, log in
Yes. I got the same message today, Sunday, November 17.
I hope you will notify us here.
Clear, blunt, harsh and well said. Many years of small steps has prepared MAGA to lower the curtain on democracy. The question is whether your insights and formulations will help Americans to develop a forceful opposition or whether it will take years of pain before citizens feel it in their gut and fight back.
Both. Some Americans, like me and Indivisible, are already working hard on developing a "forceful opposition," while the fools who voted for the turd will soon be feeling the pain of electing a nasty, narcissistic, cruel, incompetent fool to office. He's promised it on day 1 but he's already starting to try to dismantle the structure of government and the safety of citizens.
Thank you, Philosopher.
Youtube transcript of Indivisible's kickoff call: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=db-Pvqa5SQE
Link to Indivisible's Worth Fighting For: A Post-Election Community Gathering Guide:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1o1gSdFWIUpw41O5zbaxedVsr6Xik5XpPd9FwqvXYu40/preview?tab=t.0
Also, their homepage contains links to find a local group, create a group as needed, and find or register events. https://indivisible.org/
Ezra and Leah have worked tirelessly to organize ways to fight back. They are practical and hopeful, so I recommend that people who are discouraged watch the kickoff call. I was on that call, as were thousands of other concerned citizens. Join Indivisible! And while you're at it, get onto Bluesky. Get off twitter.
Quit X and got onto Bluesky a few days ago. I will check out Indivisible. Thank you.
me too!
Thank YOU!! Good work!
Yes, Philosopher. The call was practical and inspirational. 20K of the 50K who signed up attended. They encourage finding or starting a local group to organize around local priorities, talked generally about what blue, purple, and red areas can do. Senator Elizabeth Warren said a top priority for us is to pressure Democratic Senators to confirm judges for Courts of Appeals and District Courts. She pointed out that lots of cases get resolved there, and that these courts are/can be more balanced than SCOTUS. She also suggested we pressure Democratic Senators to confirm people in agencies that have “term of years,” where Trump can’t come in and fire them. Warren said there’s a list but I am fuzzy on that. Anyone else can jump in if you know.
I’m one of those 30k who had to just watch it later, best laid plans and all
50K signed up for the kickoff call.
And I think most were actually on it. That's what concerned citizens can do when we work together!
Ha ha! The official count was 20K on the call. I signed up and had a conflict, but just listened to it and it was practical and inspirational. They are a great resource and quoted Tim extensively:) Indivisible supports local gro
That's what I thought: 20k. They are the single best fighting organization working since 2016, I believe.
got cut off then I lost it.....I finished this elsewhere, P.
When the pain sets in and the objections start, they will find that Trump sees them as belonging to the "enemy within."
Who is developing "a rhetoric of a better America"? [See Snyder's last paragraph.] I'm more interested in that than forceful opposition. The Far Left has done forceful opposition for decades and look at where it has gotten us.
That wasn't the Far Left. That was humanity expressing their outrage at the continuing oppression of women, blacks, indigenous, and immigrants. And right about now all of us should be in "forceful opposition" mode to show the world most of us in the good ole USA haven't completely lost our minds. And before it's too late.
Well, humanity wasn't speaking for me.
But did you get my point, that all the outrage expressing got us to a Republican trifecta?
Feeling it in the gut is what got us here. Time to promote using our brains. That is to forgo emotionalism and embrace strategy.
Critical thinking skills are crucial in citizens of a democracy. I taught a lot of CT as a philosophy professor, and I saw what it meant to some students when they could fight back after bullies tried to squelch their ability to think. Determining which claims are false, and finding evidence to back up claims that are true, are necessary steps to being an informed citizen.
How many people actually voted to destroy the United States, to get rid of the Constitution? Is that a question that could be asked as a way to find some common ground? How many Senators, for instance, want to get rid of the Senate?
Agree about critical thinking skills and citizens of a democracy. Retired school librarian here, Mr. Philosopher. In my state, what were known as Teacher/Librarians [teaching credential AND librarian credential] were required to teach Information Literacy, which includes evaluating sources. It was my favorite subject. I know few adults who have this type of literacy.
You got me thinking, lin, and not just about gut feelings and brains, but also about bodies, including mine. This past year, working on electoral politics, I'll admit that I enjoyed the feeling of "making a difference," or having conversations that mattered, the hope of cause and effect. Now, in the process of recalibrating and trying to figure out how best to apply myself, I realize that good feelings about my own potential impact will be harder to come by and an unreliable measurement of the value of any action. Listening to the Indivisible call linked to elsewhere in this thread, I conclude that my balanced diet of activism needs to include a lot of just showing up for efforts that others have identified without having to put my own personal stamp on it. Aside from the benefit of larger numbers being more convincing to power and better protection against authoritarian backlash as yet to be seen to be believed.
"I conclude that my balanced diet of activism needs to include a lot of just showing up for efforts that others have identified without having to put my own personal stamp on it. "
ThankYou for your significant insight. Exactly. (I like to think of myself as a worker-bee.)
I've said that it is a mistake to treat voting as an individual exercise in personal expression. When it is actually a joint exercise in taking power. Through which we can bring our own lived experience to achieving our shared goals.
(This is what Republicans have done, while many on the Left have preferred purity tests, pipe dreams, and Pied Pipers. And sitting on one's hands don't keep them clean.)
Right wing extremists did not swallow the GOP whole, they ate the elephant bite by bite before spitting it out in their own image - a Trump administration. It took decades.
In 2020 we were able to pull together. This year, considering circumstances, Kamala Harris was able to pull together a remarkable work force. We have so much to build on for good during these next two years. Every personal stance in solidarity - such as your insight - is how we can win.
Thank you.
I found this the most important part of this essay: "Both inside and outside Congress, there will have to be simple defiance, joined with a rhetoric of a better America." I think "forceful opposition" is just more of the same. A rhetoric of a better America is not. This is something we in the pro-democracy coalition need to do. Now.
There’s no reason for shock here. That Trump would attempt something like this was clear at least from January 6th on, if not well before. Those like Senator Susan Collins who refused to vote to convict Trump during his impeachment trial by suggesting that Trump had ‘learned his lesson’ are very much to blame for what’s happening now. They failed in their duty to the Constitution and the country as half of American voters have also done in re-electing Trump.
I’m very tired of all these excuses for Ms Harris’s loss. The first duty of any American citizen is to understand and to protect our Constitutional Republic from those who would break it for their own personal gain. Shirking that responsibility for the price of a dozen eggs (See Ann Telnaes’ cartoon in yesterday's Washington Post) shouldn’t be an option.
YUP. All it takes for evil to occur is for good people to do nothing--can't remember who said that but it's true.
Usually attributed to Edmond Burke. My father’s favorite quote.
THANKS for letting me know! Your father is a very smart man.
True. Except I would not call snarky and underhanded opportunists like Susan Collins "good people".
Definitely! I look forward to Collins being primaried.
as always, 100% clear from Timothy Snyder. What a genius stroke by our enemies to get America to decapitate itself.
I suggest the Persian national epic, The Shahnameh or Persian Book of Kings (translation by Dick Davis.)
It tells of a king who wants to destroy a town, but his vizier says: If you destroy the town people will think ill of you. Instead appoint an ignorant loud mouth as governor and he will destroy it.
It also says: It was a bad time. The rich refused to pay taxes and only fought among themselves.
And relates: Suddenly a new beast appeared on the plains. It attacked the other beasts. Outwardly it was golden and shone like the Sun. But inside it was all corruption.
But I do not think the problem here is genius enemies. Republicans align themselves with our enemies because Republicans are already corrupt and see some advantage for themselves.
That's remarkable--thanks! I didn't know about it. Sounds as politically astute as any work on how politics works.
Oh the Persians play a long game. It is an astounding and beloved text. And one which exists in amazingly beautifully illustrated editions.
I was in the Metropolitan Museum of Art looking at some illustrated calligraphy sheets from this work. An elderly self identified Iranian man asked whether I knew what I was looking at and as we were speaking, tears came to his eyes that this work was enshrined in a Western museum and that someone such as myself knew something about it.
Lin, boy that story made my eyes well up a bit!
The Cyrus Cylinder gets me every time.
Yes. Cuneiform. And clay tablets inside of clay 'envelopes'. And the failed experiments to 'open' them. And now using medical imaging technology.
Tone down the rhetoric? How about Republicans tone down the hatefulness they are still spewing? Your body, my choice? That’s toning down the rhetoric? It seems to me that the Republican electorate is just as, if not more, hateful, and spiteful than ever. But, as ever, when called on it on it, someone blames Democrats. Toning down the rhetoric has to start with the Republicans.
"Tone down the rhetoric" translates into "Stop blowing off steam and start doing something constructive."
Something constructive I'm going to do: Email every Republican senator with the warnings Prof. Snyder gives here. I will remind them the whole world is watching--including all our enemies (and frien-emies that wouldn't mind picking over the spoils of a destroyed America).
I saw a comment on Bluesky (which I highly recommend) by an older disabled citizen who was SO HAPPY to have an activity that s/he could do. Writing emails and calling Senators gave that voter a sense of efficacy and strength that was remarkable! I applaud that citizen for being so determined that even physical disability would not stand in the way of action for democracy!!
We're all in this together!
Thanks for reminding me; I have been so angry and in such despair today that I forgot that. I feel alone in my efforts to fight against the turd's attempts to destroy our democracy just because he's not satisfied with the amount of money ad power he has. So many voters are indifferent--and they will be until the chaos and pain begins to affect them.
Connecting with other people made a HUGE difference to me in 2017. We really are stronger together, and we tend to go nuts in isolation.
Philosopher, you have commented several times today. I’m a newcomer to “TA” so don’t know if you do that regularly, but I find your comments to be helpful, informed and mostly positive, and I wanted to thank you for them.
Thanks, Alan: I am a retired philosophy professor and have made it my responsibility to point people to good books and sources, to encourage and exhort others to positive actions, etc. And TO THINK.
There is a phrase, a concept for a type of behavior for doing revolutionary kinds of things called "direct action". Might be worth looking up literature about that. It is a term for economic and political behavior in which participants use agency—for example economic or physical power—to achieve their goals. The aim of direct action is to either obstruct a certain practice (such as a government's laws or actions) or to solve perceived problems (such as social inequality). (from wikipedia)
I see: the nonviolent direct action is what I prefer. With a toddler in control of government, we will need to send him a clear message about what we won't tolerate. It doesn't matter if anyone tries to kiss his ass, as he'd just mock that person as stupid because internally he KNOWS he's a piece of shit. In other works, if anyone tries to kiss his ass, that person will end up with a mouthful of his shit.
I will check it out--thanks!
Nice idea but I took it one step further. I sent a snail mail letter to every Republican senator after the school massacre in Texas in Uvalde. Not one responded.
Another suggestion call your senator & representative & tell them how disgusted you are with what's going on. It may not do much good but it will be on record so to speak.
We've been doing that. Anyone in Congress monitors constituents' responses because that's what gets them re-elected, so it does have some impact. Specifically demanding that your House Rep get the Ethics Committee report on Gaetz released is a good action, as is calling senators to demand that they not allow the Senate to go into recess after the inauguration (VOMIT) so that the turd can take over the Senate's Constitutionally-mandated role of advise and consent.
I don't understand. If it may not do much good, why do it? What will having it on record do? In fact, it might harm you to have it on a Republican record.
If you want to have self-respect, DO THESE GOOD THINGS. If we stop ourselves from acting against bad actors, we are actually inflicting greater harm on the Constitution. If you decide that your morals are based upon what's good for you, you have no morals.
Do it! Most of them won't listen to anything that's not from their constituents (or a wealthy donor, of course), but the volume should help.
Volume DOES help! And so does calling the office of Rep. Lloyd Doggett, who is busting his butt to get H.R. 9495 rejected. I've called his office twice to thank him and plan to contribute to his next campaign. THANK THE GOOD ONES.
I disagree. Republicans want to not be reminded of their hatefulness, misogyny, and cult like behavior. Now that Trump will be in office, they want Democrats to fall in line and be good little kids. Screw them. I don’t disagree with you when you say to do constructive things. I just don’t think the two were related.
I was thinking about the Gaetz appointment. Besides everything we know about him don't you think he was selected to slap women in the face AGAIN? You know show the ladies whose boss by selecting a disgusting "jock" type personality to throw in our faces.
Who is saying tone down the rhetoric? Not Snyder.
No, not Snyder. I was responding to another reply that has since been deleted.
OK. Thx for clarifying.
This is it. Blitzkrieg has been launched. Those who would "let them have what they voted for" seem to think they can stand separate and wait for the conflagration to burn itself out and then return to their lives. Pundits still talk about Trump only having four years like nothing more than an unfortunate chapter in American politics as usual is going on here. This isn't going to just burn itself out and no one is coming to save us. If I was an adversary of the US I would be telling people we should just let MAGA have what they asked for. I would drive hopelessness. We have to fight that and drive solidarity and resistance. We can't just leave our home.
What worries me is that the planet has expected us to come to the rescue as we did in WWII, but we are not in any position to save anyone else right now. I just hope that Europeans understand that most Americans (the orange turd won LESS THAN 50% OF THE VOTE) are not that stupid and we are fighting. And I agree; this is not just a four-year blip on the radar screen of our history. It's a planned tyranny and end to democracy that will require us to re-earn the right to self-government.
which is why they shouldn't be allowed to take office at all.
Just so.
Hopefully, the old golfer who’s hardly capable of climbing onto a garbage truck will soon be history 🤭
He will. Unfortunately, this is bigger than him.
And the old dude is obviously not getting any younger 😉
Or any more stable.
He’s already off the deep end.
What will happen when he dies is that Vance will assume the presidency, which may be even worse. And then there will be an internal war among MAGAS for power that will be a disaster as the stupid vie with the more-stupid for control. We need to kick maga to the curb.
You would think that Game of Thrones would have prepared us for this. But then...this is real life. It will reach out of the screen and grab you and your kids and your parents and your friends and then...
None of Trump’s choices will be to my liking. To be expected as my values are so far from GQP MAGA 😸 #NotGoingBack!
Vance will be sent to play on with his sofa 😀
If only . . .
and the likes of his VP is Traitor on steroids.
I am sorry so many let us get here by shifting the responsibility to others. Mueller and Garland come to mind, their small ignoble half and delayed steps. We must pick up the baton they neglected to pass into indictments. https://hotbuttons.substack.com/p/consider-this?r=3m1bs
Add to that the passivity of Joe Biden, whose penchant for bipartisanship blinded him to the fact that the Republicans are not interested in governing.