Again I see more disconnect. Everyone seems to be hoping the Dems will rise to power and make everything alright. How have we forgot what happened when the Dems had power last time? They gave it away with Minority Rule. IF they get back into power (if Russia doesn't hack again) then they have to grow some Balls/Ovaries!
@try_else_if Ah yes, the neoliberals will take all the fun out of a revolution.
Considering the wave of new progressives, most of whom never EVER thought of running before the last two years, are already taking over at the state and local level.
No one thinks it won't happen without a lot of work. Is that the disconnect you're referring to?
@try_else_if I was tempted to type TL;DR but I did.😉
So it boils down to a scholarly exercise in proving, statistically, why ordinary people don't really matter. Interesting viewpoint:
"When a majority of citizens disagrees with economic elites
or with organized interests, they generally lose. [...] even when fairly large majorities of
Americans favor policy change, they generally do not get it."
I would like to think it's completely wrong.
EVERYTHING is "unprecedented" before it happens.
@Yohannon @try_else_if Progress will be slow at times, and we may regress at times, but we will move forward. I go back to what, of all people, former labor secretary/economist Robert Reich had said maybe 2 or 3 years ago when referring to economic inequality / the seeming downward spiral of politics. He pointed out that throughout US history we would always hit seemingly a rock bottom before some sort of major change in the country. And before the next major change we're gonna hit a rock bottom
@try_else_if @J4BB3RW0CK Sorry, going to disagree with you there.
I think a lot's going to be happening in the near future as the world rejects the narrow top 1% world-view. It will happen because, bluntly, too many people, including many who should know better, think it can't.
To paraphrase the Spoon song, they have no fear of the underdog; That is why they will not survive.
@Yohannon @try_else_if And I do think voters and consumers have more power than we give ourselves credit for. I'm watching activists like Bruce Franks Jr in St Louis get elected and start to work for change ... maybe slowly in the state house (but he's winning over some Rs to at least dialogue more). And while he's getting money from state for programs in his district, he's leading voter registration campaigns and protests that shut down malls in richer parts of St Louis.
@J4BB3RW0CK @try_else_if I get the frustration and fear. I've always been thinking way to far in advance of the world; A lot of things in the 70's that didn't make sense to me as a kid (the ways women were [mis]treated, gays, racism, drugs as a universal BAD, and so on... and on...) are FINALLY starting to be dealt with a little more sanely.
I have to remind myself just how short a time we've been working on ALL of it by watching the first episode of the new Cosmos series.
@try_else_if @Yohannon As well as other young rising politicians (again, watching as Jason Kander grows in popularity as he fights for voting rights around the country), and a lot more women getting involved in politics. A progressive women's advocacy group has formed in our very conservative part of the state, and we've already helped put one woman on city council and have one woman running for state rep and another considering running ... these have been uncontested last two elections
@J4BB3RW0CK @Yohannon I am a huge Reich fan (if you couldn't tell). His documentary and book "Saving Capitalism" should be read by everyone right now. Especially those trying to make real change. He has been fighting the good fight for a long time now. I got my ideas from him and think the answer is there somewhere. But it is clearly no in calling, protesting, marching, or even voting. Those days have long past sailed. He said so as well.