(1st picture) "If you can reach & grab some of the snacks.. then we can share them and I'll let you stay up half an hour past your bedtime while we'll watch cartoons!" - Moses 😊🐾
Why hasn’t the press been going after a medical report of TFGs injury! Eric said he didn’t need stitches so why the ear Kotex? Maybe some smart reporter will go dig it up.
The Dems must go hard at the horrific prospect of a President JD Vance. To do that, they need a strong, energetic, convincing, exciting new nominee. Biden, who will now be slowed even further..if that is possible.. by his covid infection must step aside. Now.
Vance saying that fentanyl deaths looked like intentional acts on the part of Democrats is one of the most outrageous things I have ever heard. He knows how incendiary that remark will be. People in the U.S. still want to believe their leaders will tell the truth. Ha!
I love your work Charlie. Please consider not promoting Trump's dishonest branding.
You don't have to promote it as "Truth Social" when you well know that it's pretty much the opposite. You can say "on social media", "on his social media site", or if you feel a need to be more specific "Trump Social ".
You might also encourage Americans not to call the actual steal attempt "stop the steal".
Thank you for everything you are doing. My best wishes to you.
I am having a tough time watching the GOP drivel and BS every night. I just get so PO'd at all of the crap they pump out as "truth". But one thing is very clear, this is NOT the Republican party I grew up with and voted for in the past. The other thing I find fascinating is how they square some of these positions with their electorate and supporters.
So, I listened to Tara Palmeri on her Somebody's Gotta Win podcast with Donald Trump’s political director, James Blair. I'm trying to figure out if the Republicans truly are scared of running against anyone other than Joe Biden or not. Blair seemed to indicate that they are laser focused on beating Biden and would be totally screwed if it wasn't Biden. Would they be screwed or are they playing with us? I find it hard to believe that they are being coy here. I think they are admitting that they are screwed with anyone other than Biden.
Just one more consideration that Joe needs to take into account.
Oh I don't think republicans care, they are banking on that money shot of a bloody faced t***p with his fist raised being enough. Every criticism of t***p and his policies will be treated as a call for violence by democrats and yet the rhetoric of MTG and Vance and their ilk will continue to be praised.
Yesterday I wrote a letter to Ms. Pelosi asking for help to get President Biden off the ticket. Could possibly everyone on this site take a minute and write her if you believe we need another option. I can tell you like I told her I will not contribute any more money to what I know is a losing ticket. If Biden runs, we are all committing political suicide when all the elements out there is for winning. We have abortion on many states that will get out the vote if we have a strong candidate. Say it nicely, firmly, scream loudly if you need to but we need to start a groundswell before it is too late. This campaign is dead right now and this may be our last chance to save our country. We are getting dangerously close to a very bad future, and I have my first grandchild on the way, and this is not what I want for her. Do something everyone right now. I urge everyone here to use your voice before we do not have one.
Biden’s current state of being defiantly dug in is a little worrying/-ok, a lot worrying. Mona Charen and Will Saletan put out a solid podcast on this. I wanted to support Joe. I thought it the best option. But he has now been vanquished by the media and his own refusal to consider the situation. He doesn’t discuss the situation or mount a plausible defense he just gets his back up, and that is not helpful. Perhaps it is time for Wes Moore or Josh Shapiro. They could garner a lot of enthusiasm. I would happily vote for either. After working for months on the Hillary primary and election, I don’t think the U.S. is sufficiently advanced to elect a woman. Naturally I think that is lunacy, but voters were clear at the time that they weren’t ready for a woman in the Oval Office. Personally, I do not find Kamala Harris compelling. And she had no foreign policy experience. She would do a decent job despite that, but she needs to get people really excited. Poor Joe. I hate this media feeding frenzy. Go after Trump. He hates sharks.
Some reporters at CNN are evidently JD Vance fans. They love his difficult childhood and his book. I will have to find a channel that fact checks those sorts of things before they start fawning. I am terribly disappointed in the network. In their favor, however, they have Sarah Longwell on fairly often and Jonah Goldberg.
If you look at Amazon under Hillbilly Elegy, there are several books refuting his Elegy", saying he only represents himself, not reality for others and in general.
I loved his book and story as well. But as Mona Charen pointed out on Tuesday, he's become a total jerk and sycophant of Trump. They were talking this AM somewhere about the fact that people are waiting to see how long JD lasts before Trump views him as a threat and silences him by exiling him to Alaska or somewhere remote because he dared to out shine the Orange God.
P.S. Thanks for the dogs. The pics always remind me of what is really important. Even Justice’s dog made the Convention a tiny bit better. The owner was saying outrageous things. He doesn’t deserve the love of a good dog.
What, pray tell, is wrong with childless cat ladies? Those facts do not stop them from being surgeons, judges. astronauts, President. No wonder Vance is so Project 2035 no abortion, no birth control, no IVF, no important jobs to distract you from having white babies. Just call him Janus. Then hear his theme song-/Rent by The Pet Shop boys. He really gets under my skin. But he likes the limelight too much. Soon he will anger Trump. Yale Law School hasn’t mentioned his fantastically quick ascent. Perhaps they are embarrassed? If he doesn’t support the Constitution, he should be disbarred. If he is a Putin fan, the Marines should disavow him. I have seldom, if ever, held such a low opinion of someone.
Alexandra, you raise some thought-provoking points about the role of personal choices and political stances. How do you think we can ensure that diverse personal lifestyles are respected in professional and political spheres?
Excellent question. I would like to think that we could become the kind of country that realizes differences make us stronger. Cookie-cutter citizens are what dictators in North Korea and China would like to have. The Soviet Union tried to make people equal by satisfying basic needs. Studying poetry, literature and music as a common cultural background was a source of unification. But not to be continued. The past could be controlled—the future was more worrying. But these controlled societies are full either of miserable people whose imaginations are not stimulated. This cuts two ways—it keeps the government stable but probably hurts any chance of a glorious future. It seems to me, therefore, that celebration of the individual makes for what we aspire to in a democratic state, but also gives us the best chance for invention, creativity, and a better future for all of us. People who have little education, or little hope for the future, often like strong man types of leaders, because a pledge of fidelity means their basic needs will be met. And Trump has tapped into that feeling. He has made his followers want to avoid being different. And I am sure there is a feeling of community which can be uplifting in the short term. If we look at Stalin and top-down economic planning, we can see the results of such thinking. Workers were paid wages for achieving results, but not necessarily those the government had outlined. A monthly plan might be left unfulfilled until the last few days by which time it would be impossible to make three sizes of nails, so you put your resources into turning out lots of nails in one size. The nails may be of horrible quality. Then the builder will find that they don’t have the right nails, but they get paid for production—so they put up a building knowing it is not made properly and will shortly collapse.
I would suggest two or three (possibly four?) areas on which to focus. We need significantly better public education. Property taxes will never produce a level playing field in that area. Have a uniform baseline and then go above it if you can. We need to put back reading and the arts which have been cut extensively. Those are the things that introduce us to people who are different from us, or let our imaginations soar. With everyone on social media more things are alike, not different. Often social media suggests how we ought to be in the eyes of a few influencers. Not good. And not everyone needs to work on computers. I am very wary of AI. Anything that makes us lazy must be questioned. And I think it is necessary to have a common understanding of how our nation works. A civics class would be a start. Everyone should have a sense of the value of their vote. Further, they should understand that involvement can lead to national office—-you too can help to run the country.
Donald Trump stirs up fear in his followers. They will be left on the economic periphery. Migrants will take their jobs. They don’t have enough qualifications for competing in the job market. Even JD Vance with a Yale Law School degree claims there is a threat (less of an issue if you are backed by Peter Thiel). Women will take your jobs. Women will divorce you and walk away. Anyone not heterosexual is going to corrupt and undermine your family. Project 2025 is all about saving some version of a 1950s Father Knows Best mythos in which men run a world that is built around them and only them. They are white, Christian, and heterosexual. That world never existed, nor should it ever. We know cultural differences between immigrant groups have made us a stronger, more productive, better Country. Project 2025 was written by emasculated white men who can’t handle competition from anyone, Their plans are cruel, unacceptable, and economically unsound. On the last point, if you take women out of the work force and put them back in homes where they are legally battered without recourse to divorce, and forced to have multiple children without acccess to contraception, the Country’s economy will collapse. It is a vicious program, and its authors should be excoriated.
Final point—billionaires must be taxed, and taxed fairly. The gap between wealthy and poor cannot be sustained. If you get rich thanks to living here, you have an obligation to make it a better place for all. I think we need legislation to restrict people like Elon Musk from having so much power that he can keep Ukraine online or not, underwrite politicians with huge amounts, etc. Money should not give you unlimited political power. There must be a form of restraint. Everyone should be bound by the same laws on political contributions, etc.
You ask all the hard questions! For the sake of equity in education, it may be necessary to federalize financing. If a task force of qualified people came up with a base operating budget for all schools (realizing that their own children or grandchildren would be in such a system), then some portion of property taxes plus some federal assistance should ensure that every student can master the material that would earn you a Regents’ diploma in NY: 3 years high school math, 3 years science, English, social studies/history, and a foreign language. This should be augmented by things like art, shop, music, and sports. We should also put back in place the extra tracks that led to professional development in construction, auto shop, hairdressing, etc. But the latter should only be options for those who have no strong interest in academics after they have received a solid background. Then they can make truly informed decisions. I would further lower the cost of community colleges, but keeping them strong enough to be feeders for public universities. Once it was even possible to work and study simultaneously to put yourself through a state university. At least costs should not saddle people with horrible debt. I do think if you choose to go to a college or university that costs a great deal, you should then expect to have to repay your loans. (The public university would have been an affordable choice.) I did not like Biden’s approach to wiping out student debt. It meant lots of people who had worked hard to pay off their burden would not be helped. Nor would the policies help students in the future. To single out one block of students and help them but only them is unfair.
I will just add another two cents and say Congress should not have free rein to go after universities. Freedom of speech in academia is much more complicated than the Republicans made it sound. Most institutions of higher learning have rules about intimidation, certainly against violence, and against speech which intimidates or otherwise impinges on another student’s right to education. If you want to make a political point, shackle yourself to College Hall. And then be prepared if there are legal consequences. If you believe in something very strongly, you should be willing to pay that price. If you do not interfere with the rights of other students, then the university really should not take punitive action. After all, being chained in situ ain’t fun.
It seems to me that taxation of billionaires at the same rate as everyone else (without dozens of loopholes) is the only justifiable stance the government can take. Perhaps billionaires could opt to put that amount into philanthropic organizations instead. Part of the issue we currently face arises from a failure to trust bust—-to go after monopolies. To me, Amazon breaks every rule in the book. Xerox and IBM, even Bell Telephone didn’t get away with wild behavior. More worrying is Musk’s Starlink program being used in a country at war. Deals like that at such scale really need to be worked out and managed by the State Department. You can’t rely on an individual who may pull support in a whim. Trust busting, taxation and supporting start-up competition would go a long way to keeping people like Musk dialed back. And we should have industries which cannot be controlled by one private individual. I suppose one could consider Boards of Advisors appointed by the government to oversee developments with major worldwide ramifications.
I believe that voters do not make adequate use of our legislators—particularly those in Congress. I do a lot of canvassing for politicians. In return, they should be willing to hear me out. How many of us meet with our Senators or Representatives? They have no right to turn us away. So I would urge more interaction. Participation in the political process at all levels provides some degree of efficacy. Working on the primaries for Hillary and then Pete Buttigieg gave me ample opportunity to read their many, detailed policy statements. (Pete had a great one on single mothers.) The policies were posted, and I believe feedback was genuinely solicited. Hillary had lots of surrogates come through—high level folks like Valerie Plame and Cecile Richards, and I think their conversations with us, if substantive, would have made it back to the candidate herself. I know I am an idealist, but a realistic one. I think that if you believe in something, you need to put your money where your mouth is and work on it. I got angry hearing neighbors say the 2024 race was too depressing, so they didn’t listen to the news. That kind of head-in-the m-sand mentality is how things like Project 2025 come to be. At least donate to good causes (Lincoln Project, Sarah Longwell’s PAC, whatever. Wear T-shirts that invite people to ask questions. Listen, don’t lecture. Those are my thoughts for today.
You’ve covered a lot of important ground here. Your vision of a country that values differences and individual creativity is inspiring and necessary for a thriving democracy. Improving public education, reinvesting in the arts, and fostering a common understanding of civics are all crucial steps towards this goal.
Your points about the dangers of homogenized societies and the need for a diverse, well-educated populace to drive innovation are spot on. It’s alarming how fear can be used to manipulate people into supporting regressive policies, and your critique of Project 2025 highlights the risks of such a backward-looking agenda.
Your call for fair taxation of billionaires and restrictions on their political influence is is ensuring that wealth doesn’t equate to unchecked power is fundamental for a fair society.
Given these insights, how do you think we can practically implement these changes in education, taxation, and political influence? What steps can individuals and communities take to move towards this vision?
Please call Schumer! I'm a life long Democrat desperate to keep Trump from being re-elected. With the great news that Adam Schiff is asking Biden to step aside, maybe there is hope for an electable candidate to take his place. I just called Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's office (for the 2nd time) to urge him to press Biden to step aside. I said that, in addition to Biden losing the White House to Trump, if people are too disgusted with the Democratic party to turn out to vote, it will hurt Democratic voter turnout for dozens of congressional and governor races. Please, everybody, call Schumer - and be polite, staffers' jobs are not easy.
That feeling you had that trump might change? Musta been the really bad sushi you had for dinner.
Lol!
(1st picture) "If you can reach & grab some of the snacks.. then we can share them and I'll let you stay up half an hour past your bedtime while we'll watch cartoons!" - Moses 😊🐾
Why hasn’t the press been going after a medical report of TFGs injury! Eric said he didn’t need stitches so why the ear Kotex? Maybe some smart reporter will go dig it up.
Moses was magnificent and majestic. 😊🐾
The Dems must go hard at the horrific prospect of a President JD Vance. To do that, they need a strong, energetic, convincing, exciting new nominee. Biden, who will now be slowed even further..if that is possible.. by his covid infection must step aside. Now.
How about Eli and Auggie on a unification ticket!
Vance saying that fentanyl deaths looked like intentional acts on the part of Democrats is one of the most outrageous things I have ever heard. He knows how incendiary that remark will be. People in the U.S. still want to believe their leaders will tell the truth. Ha!
It's human nature, after all.
I love your work Charlie. Please consider not promoting Trump's dishonest branding.
You don't have to promote it as "Truth Social" when you well know that it's pretty much the opposite. You can say "on social media", "on his social media site", or if you feel a need to be more specific "Trump Social ".
You might also encourage Americans not to call the actual steal attempt "stop the steal".
Thank you for everything you are doing. My best wishes to you.
Great post Charlie. Loved the dog pic.
I am having a tough time watching the GOP drivel and BS every night. I just get so PO'd at all of the crap they pump out as "truth". But one thing is very clear, this is NOT the Republican party I grew up with and voted for in the past. The other thing I find fascinating is how they square some of these positions with their electorate and supporters.
So, I listened to Tara Palmeri on her Somebody's Gotta Win podcast with Donald Trump’s political director, James Blair. I'm trying to figure out if the Republicans truly are scared of running against anyone other than Joe Biden or not. Blair seemed to indicate that they are laser focused on beating Biden and would be totally screwed if it wasn't Biden. Would they be screwed or are they playing with us? I find it hard to believe that they are being coy here. I think they are admitting that they are screwed with anyone other than Biden.
Just one more consideration that Joe needs to take into account.
Oh I don't think republicans care, they are banking on that money shot of a bloody faced t***p with his fist raised being enough. Every criticism of t***p and his policies will be treated as a call for violence by democrats and yet the rhetoric of MTG and Vance and their ilk will continue to be praised.
As a Canadian conservative, I feel like I’m living in an apartment living above a meth lab. :(
Yesterday I wrote a letter to Ms. Pelosi asking for help to get President Biden off the ticket. Could possibly everyone on this site take a minute and write her if you believe we need another option. I can tell you like I told her I will not contribute any more money to what I know is a losing ticket. If Biden runs, we are all committing political suicide when all the elements out there is for winning. We have abortion on many states that will get out the vote if we have a strong candidate. Say it nicely, firmly, scream loudly if you need to but we need to start a groundswell before it is too late. This campaign is dead right now and this may be our last chance to save our country. We are getting dangerously close to a very bad future, and I have my first grandchild on the way, and this is not what I want for her. Do something everyone right now. I urge everyone here to use your voice before we do not have one.
Biden’s current state of being defiantly dug in is a little worrying/-ok, a lot worrying. Mona Charen and Will Saletan put out a solid podcast on this. I wanted to support Joe. I thought it the best option. But he has now been vanquished by the media and his own refusal to consider the situation. He doesn’t discuss the situation or mount a plausible defense he just gets his back up, and that is not helpful. Perhaps it is time for Wes Moore or Josh Shapiro. They could garner a lot of enthusiasm. I would happily vote for either. After working for months on the Hillary primary and election, I don’t think the U.S. is sufficiently advanced to elect a woman. Naturally I think that is lunacy, but voters were clear at the time that they weren’t ready for a woman in the Oval Office. Personally, I do not find Kamala Harris compelling. And she had no foreign policy experience. She would do a decent job despite that, but she needs to get people really excited. Poor Joe. I hate this media feeding frenzy. Go after Trump. He hates sharks.
Some reporters at CNN are evidently JD Vance fans. They love his difficult childhood and his book. I will have to find a channel that fact checks those sorts of things before they start fawning. I am terribly disappointed in the network. In their favor, however, they have Sarah Longwell on fairly often and Jonah Goldberg.
If you look at Amazon under Hillbilly Elegy, there are several books refuting his Elegy", saying he only represents himself, not reality for others and in general.
I loved his book and story as well. But as Mona Charen pointed out on Tuesday, he's become a total jerk and sycophant of Trump. They were talking this AM somewhere about the fact that people are waiting to see how long JD lasts before Trump views him as a threat and silences him by exiling him to Alaska or somewhere remote because he dared to out shine the Orange God.
I was wondering the same thing. If Mr. Vance gets too much attention, then, in my opinion, he will certainly be silenced.
P.S. Thanks for the dogs. The pics always remind me of what is really important. Even Justice’s dog made the Convention a tiny bit better. The owner was saying outrageous things. He doesn’t deserve the love of a good dog.
What, pray tell, is wrong with childless cat ladies? Those facts do not stop them from being surgeons, judges. astronauts, President. No wonder Vance is so Project 2035 no abortion, no birth control, no IVF, no important jobs to distract you from having white babies. Just call him Janus. Then hear his theme song-/Rent by The Pet Shop boys. He really gets under my skin. But he likes the limelight too much. Soon he will anger Trump. Yale Law School hasn’t mentioned his fantastically quick ascent. Perhaps they are embarrassed? If he doesn’t support the Constitution, he should be disbarred. If he is a Putin fan, the Marines should disavow him. I have seldom, if ever, held such a low opinion of someone.
Alexandra, you raise some thought-provoking points about the role of personal choices and political stances. How do you think we can ensure that diverse personal lifestyles are respected in professional and political spheres?
Excellent question. I would like to think that we could become the kind of country that realizes differences make us stronger. Cookie-cutter citizens are what dictators in North Korea and China would like to have. The Soviet Union tried to make people equal by satisfying basic needs. Studying poetry, literature and music as a common cultural background was a source of unification. But not to be continued. The past could be controlled—the future was more worrying. But these controlled societies are full either of miserable people whose imaginations are not stimulated. This cuts two ways—it keeps the government stable but probably hurts any chance of a glorious future. It seems to me, therefore, that celebration of the individual makes for what we aspire to in a democratic state, but also gives us the best chance for invention, creativity, and a better future for all of us. People who have little education, or little hope for the future, often like strong man types of leaders, because a pledge of fidelity means their basic needs will be met. And Trump has tapped into that feeling. He has made his followers want to avoid being different. And I am sure there is a feeling of community which can be uplifting in the short term. If we look at Stalin and top-down economic planning, we can see the results of such thinking. Workers were paid wages for achieving results, but not necessarily those the government had outlined. A monthly plan might be left unfulfilled until the last few days by which time it would be impossible to make three sizes of nails, so you put your resources into turning out lots of nails in one size. The nails may be of horrible quality. Then the builder will find that they don’t have the right nails, but they get paid for production—so they put up a building knowing it is not made properly and will shortly collapse.
I would suggest two or three (possibly four?) areas on which to focus. We need significantly better public education. Property taxes will never produce a level playing field in that area. Have a uniform baseline and then go above it if you can. We need to put back reading and the arts which have been cut extensively. Those are the things that introduce us to people who are different from us, or let our imaginations soar. With everyone on social media more things are alike, not different. Often social media suggests how we ought to be in the eyes of a few influencers. Not good. And not everyone needs to work on computers. I am very wary of AI. Anything that makes us lazy must be questioned. And I think it is necessary to have a common understanding of how our nation works. A civics class would be a start. Everyone should have a sense of the value of their vote. Further, they should understand that involvement can lead to national office—-you too can help to run the country.
Donald Trump stirs up fear in his followers. They will be left on the economic periphery. Migrants will take their jobs. They don’t have enough qualifications for competing in the job market. Even JD Vance with a Yale Law School degree claims there is a threat (less of an issue if you are backed by Peter Thiel). Women will take your jobs. Women will divorce you and walk away. Anyone not heterosexual is going to corrupt and undermine your family. Project 2025 is all about saving some version of a 1950s Father Knows Best mythos in which men run a world that is built around them and only them. They are white, Christian, and heterosexual. That world never existed, nor should it ever. We know cultural differences between immigrant groups have made us a stronger, more productive, better Country. Project 2025 was written by emasculated white men who can’t handle competition from anyone, Their plans are cruel, unacceptable, and economically unsound. On the last point, if you take women out of the work force and put them back in homes where they are legally battered without recourse to divorce, and forced to have multiple children without acccess to contraception, the Country’s economy will collapse. It is a vicious program, and its authors should be excoriated.
Final point—billionaires must be taxed, and taxed fairly. The gap between wealthy and poor cannot be sustained. If you get rich thanks to living here, you have an obligation to make it a better place for all. I think we need legislation to restrict people like Elon Musk from having so much power that he can keep Ukraine online or not, underwrite politicians with huge amounts, etc. Money should not give you unlimited political power. There must be a form of restraint. Everyone should be bound by the same laws on political contributions, etc.
So—just a few thoughts. Thanks for the question.
You ask all the hard questions! For the sake of equity in education, it may be necessary to federalize financing. If a task force of qualified people came up with a base operating budget for all schools (realizing that their own children or grandchildren would be in such a system), then some portion of property taxes plus some federal assistance should ensure that every student can master the material that would earn you a Regents’ diploma in NY: 3 years high school math, 3 years science, English, social studies/history, and a foreign language. This should be augmented by things like art, shop, music, and sports. We should also put back in place the extra tracks that led to professional development in construction, auto shop, hairdressing, etc. But the latter should only be options for those who have no strong interest in academics after they have received a solid background. Then they can make truly informed decisions. I would further lower the cost of community colleges, but keeping them strong enough to be feeders for public universities. Once it was even possible to work and study simultaneously to put yourself through a state university. At least costs should not saddle people with horrible debt. I do think if you choose to go to a college or university that costs a great deal, you should then expect to have to repay your loans. (The public university would have been an affordable choice.) I did not like Biden’s approach to wiping out student debt. It meant lots of people who had worked hard to pay off their burden would not be helped. Nor would the policies help students in the future. To single out one block of students and help them but only them is unfair.
I will just add another two cents and say Congress should not have free rein to go after universities. Freedom of speech in academia is much more complicated than the Republicans made it sound. Most institutions of higher learning have rules about intimidation, certainly against violence, and against speech which intimidates or otherwise impinges on another student’s right to education. If you want to make a political point, shackle yourself to College Hall. And then be prepared if there are legal consequences. If you believe in something very strongly, you should be willing to pay that price. If you do not interfere with the rights of other students, then the university really should not take punitive action. After all, being chained in situ ain’t fun.
It seems to me that taxation of billionaires at the same rate as everyone else (without dozens of loopholes) is the only justifiable stance the government can take. Perhaps billionaires could opt to put that amount into philanthropic organizations instead. Part of the issue we currently face arises from a failure to trust bust—-to go after monopolies. To me, Amazon breaks every rule in the book. Xerox and IBM, even Bell Telephone didn’t get away with wild behavior. More worrying is Musk’s Starlink program being used in a country at war. Deals like that at such scale really need to be worked out and managed by the State Department. You can’t rely on an individual who may pull support in a whim. Trust busting, taxation and supporting start-up competition would go a long way to keeping people like Musk dialed back. And we should have industries which cannot be controlled by one private individual. I suppose one could consider Boards of Advisors appointed by the government to oversee developments with major worldwide ramifications.
I believe that voters do not make adequate use of our legislators—particularly those in Congress. I do a lot of canvassing for politicians. In return, they should be willing to hear me out. How many of us meet with our Senators or Representatives? They have no right to turn us away. So I would urge more interaction. Participation in the political process at all levels provides some degree of efficacy. Working on the primaries for Hillary and then Pete Buttigieg gave me ample opportunity to read their many, detailed policy statements. (Pete had a great one on single mothers.) The policies were posted, and I believe feedback was genuinely solicited. Hillary had lots of surrogates come through—high level folks like Valerie Plame and Cecile Richards, and I think their conversations with us, if substantive, would have made it back to the candidate herself. I know I am an idealist, but a realistic one. I think that if you believe in something, you need to put your money where your mouth is and work on it. I got angry hearing neighbors say the 2024 race was too depressing, so they didn’t listen to the news. That kind of head-in-the m-sand mentality is how things like Project 2025 come to be. At least donate to good causes (Lincoln Project, Sarah Longwell’s PAC, whatever. Wear T-shirts that invite people to ask questions. Listen, don’t lecture. Those are my thoughts for today.
You’ve covered a lot of important ground here. Your vision of a country that values differences and individual creativity is inspiring and necessary for a thriving democracy. Improving public education, reinvesting in the arts, and fostering a common understanding of civics are all crucial steps towards this goal.
Your points about the dangers of homogenized societies and the need for a diverse, well-educated populace to drive innovation are spot on. It’s alarming how fear can be used to manipulate people into supporting regressive policies, and your critique of Project 2025 highlights the risks of such a backward-looking agenda.
Your call for fair taxation of billionaires and restrictions on their political influence is is ensuring that wealth doesn’t equate to unchecked power is fundamental for a fair society.
Given these insights, how do you think we can practically implement these changes in education, taxation, and political influence? What steps can individuals and communities take to move towards this vision?
I LOVES me some Cat Ladies!
They aren't childless. They are child-free!
Please call Schumer! I'm a life long Democrat desperate to keep Trump from being re-elected. With the great news that Adam Schiff is asking Biden to step aside, maybe there is hope for an electable candidate to take his place. I just called Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's office (for the 2nd time) to urge him to press Biden to step aside. I said that, in addition to Biden losing the White House to Trump, if people are too disgusted with the Democratic party to turn out to vote, it will hurt Democratic voter turnout for dozens of congressional and governor races. Please, everybody, call Schumer - and be polite, staffers' jobs are not easy.