Surprise- we are capable of great things
The courage to be optimistic is strong defense against MAGA madness
Let’s start today with a shocking bulletin, something so rarely talked about and so at odds with the things everyone always talks about that you might not, at first, not believe it. But the data are in, and the conclusion is unavoidable:
America is full of good news, and we are doing well.
Deficit is down by more than a trillion dollars in the first six months of this year. Last year the deficit fell by $360 billion.
Since Biden was elected the economy has produced 7.9 million new jobs
Jobless claims are at a 54-year low
COVID infections are on the rise, but hospitalizations and ICU admissions are not, because of the success of vaccination and booster programs
For many, many years, people have said we should be having a national conversation on race. Since the murder of George Floyd we really have been having that conversation. It is surely the most difficult one any nation can have. Yet in the middle of it, Ketanji Brown Jackson, a Black woman was nominated and confirmed to be a Supreme Court Justice.
When Russia attacked its neighbor in an unprovoked and barbaric show of force, the United States’ stepped up to lead the response, which thus far has not only met the twin objectives of preventing the war from widening into neighboring countries and helped Ukraine defend itself, but also re-established America’s global leadership and NATO’s position as the world’s pre-eminent defensive alliance.
We have embarked on a decade-long rebuild of our roads, bridges, airports, internet, and other critical infrastructure.
These are amazing accomplishments, and in any period of American history but this one, the leaders who delivered these results would be cheered.
I know we have many other challenges to work on. From climate to crime, from inflation to student debt. But these truly impressive achievements should make us optimistic that we have the talent and the resolve to tackle them.
Instead of optimism and gratitude for our good fortune, we live in an era where any possible pain point is exploited to create anger and outrage. This is the existential danger.
We will lose, not only elections, but our entire thriving, pluralistic way of life if we misunderstand this moment. America’s right-wing virus is not a conservative political movement. It is a minority attempt to replace politics with authoritarian rule. To succeed, they have to convince as many Americans as possible that things are going very badly when, in fact, they are not.
Everyone should understand that the power structure, now masquerading as the Republican Party, is not a conservative movement. It has no ideology at all. It is nothing but a vehicle for control. If think I am overstating the case, just consider this. Ideas are translated into action in government through policies. There are great schools, like the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago, that teach young people how to analyze the impact of various policy options. It is a discipline that requires work. Democrats spend a lot of time considering and debating (sometimes too loudly) various policy options. Not so today’s Republicans. If Democrats (and college professors and journalists) are comfortable with something, then the GOP will be against it. That is the sum total of policy analysis work that goes on in the GOP.
If we are for clean energy, they are against it. If we are for full participation of LGBTQ American’s in our society, they are against it. If we are for full voting rights for people of color, they are against it. If we are for freedom to read books, they are against it. There is no policy sense to any of this. Remember, when we proposed tax rebates in Wisconsin, they were against that too. So great is their negative bonding that they were against the vaccines we liked even though Donald Trump helped develop them.
Their opposition is not limited to politics. Being against American society is the powerful bond that unites them. The more they flaunt social norms- see Lauren Bobert, Matt Gaetz, and Marjorie Taylor Green- the more the connect with each other. So powerful is the need to deny the reality the rest of us take for granted, that it has now overwhelmed the connection to facts. This explains the power of Q. It offers an alternative to the world the rest of us inhabit. Repeating the lies and fantasies is a litmus test for membership in the cult.
It will take years to deprogram our fellow citizens and bring the vast MAGA horde back into civil society with the rest of us. But we will not even have the opportunity if we are overwhelmed in the political fights that now engage us. We simply must win.
Don’t be angry. Be engaged. Spread the good news: America is back. We, like everyone else on the planet, face big challenges every day. But once again, we’ve shown that we have the talent, the creativity, the energy, and the will to tackle those problems. If we know this, then little people like Lindsay Graham and Ron DeSantis will not be able to hold us back.
Get up and join the fight. Run for something. Or go to Swing Left and select a race where your contributions can be impactful. Support the Democratic Party in Wisconsin or Michigan where the fight is close and every additional contribution matters.
