I have been a left leaning Independent for years. I have been astonished that Democrats have no interest in welcoming me to the fold. I am a fiscal conservative because I see the dangers of printing money to support social justice causes. If
supporting every disadvantaged group means creating unsustainable debt for this country, we have to prioritize and
shrink some programs as well as taxing the rich. If you have a budget, and you consistently spend more than you bring in, eventually your credit is no good.
Increasing taxes on the wealthy can work to a point, but eventually they move their companies or their residences overseas.
Most Independents feel the same way. They want fiscal responsibility in our government. They see Democrats as a hodgepodge of
self-interest groups who really only care about their own
grievance, and not the welfare of the country.
I know that I care very much about compassion and tolerance, but I believe that we have to keep our country fiscally healthy in order to be able to give everyone opportunity to succeed. I have been donating exclusively to certain Democrats because I believe Republicans are destroying our constitution. But I am not donating the way I could because Democrats have no interest in opening their umbrella to include Independents like me. They are almost as much a part of the problem as the spineless Republican majority. I see Republicans as greedy, short-sighted hypocrites, and Democrats as self-centered and short-sighted. Both parties choose terrible candidates and no politicians seem to actually care about our country. I think I speak for a lot of people when I say STOP THINKING ABOUT YOURSELVES AND START THINKING ABOUT HOW WE CAN SAVE OUR COUNTRY FROM DESTRUCTION BY THOSE IN POWER!
L B Bowen, I am very similar to you in my positioning and in my feeling that both parties established politicians seem to forget those who must vote them in — perhaps because their donors can provide them enough money to assure their re-election. Where we ay differ is in our treatment of the wealthy. The disgustingly huge differences in annual income, especially if you consider ALL sources of remuneration, and the immense numbers of tax “loopholes” the wealthy can apply, sicken me. If 20 times your average emplloyee is not enough, either your not paying your employees enough OR you’re just greedy. Unregulated capitalism is one of the major reasons we are in this fix, IMO. Without all that extra money to buy influence, maybe our country could practice its ideals.
This recalls the final moments of the interview of Liz Cheney by Rachel Maddow when Cheney wrapped up by saying (grossly paraphrased) Let's get through this threat we agree is dangerous so we can get back to disagreeing on everything else (said with a grin).
At this point I just want them to admit they fucked up and apologize. Any MAGA expressing remorse I can probably forgive in time. I don't hold grudges, but without true accountability there is no way forward. If you can't see and admit Trump is an evil man destroying the soul of the nation then I cannot trust your judgement in the battles to come. Some MAGAs have woken up, my mother shockingly is one of them, but she wasn't a die hard cultist, just fell for propaganda. This Epstein stuff is an opening for the opposition but I have no faith in the dems to capitalize on it. Colbert has done more to harm the Trump agenda than Pelosi and Schumer and just paud the price for it. When late night comedians have more courage than the elected opposition, you know the nation is fucked.
"What is 'The nation'? It is the political process the society agreed on and engages in" - this is a quote from one of Prof Timothy Snyder's lectures on Ukraine, when he talked about the disputes, over the years and centuries, concerning "What is actually this thing, 'The Ukrainian nation'?".
Your article, Mike, is pretty much an elaboration on the quote above.
Prof Snyder noted that the quoted above definition was arrived at fairly recently (the 20th century), after other definitions of "the nation" were, in the Ukrainian context, empirically shown to be lacking. For the Ukrainians a dodge, "the Ukrainian nation is simply the people living within the system of the Ukrainian state" was not available - there was no Ukrainian state most of the time.
I'll stop here. But I think much more should be said within this framework, it really clarifies the grand picture.
There's nothing particularly novel about what I'm saying here. The notion is as old as democracy itself. But every generation apparently needs to re-learn it.
Exactly, "every generation apparently needs to re-learn it". For myself personally that definition was new and operationally very useful, I knew only other definitions like "common heritage" - which can be twisted into various dysfunctional sectarian visions. Obviously, I think what you write is what is VERY needed to be written and discussed.
I will only point to one aspect - current administration policies, and the ideology preceding it for about a generation, are destroying "the nation" as defined here. Which is important to understand, as this administration is otherwise very engaged in flag-waving.
Definitely how I'm looking at it and urging my friends and followers to do the same -- put ideological purity to the side to protect democratic solidarity
100%. Saving the foundation of Democracy is more important than individual battles -- right now. We can always debate as long as we're allowed to and have a chance of making an impact.
Mike this must be the core message. How to make it the message simple and repeated over and over and over from the voices who understand and can make it go viral? Heard this from Norm Eisen today - John Lewis on the first impeachment: impeach with love, love for the constitution
I joined a new local Indivisible group in March and got outwardly active in this fight for the first time in my life. There were 20 of us at that second meeting, up from 8 and by No Kings we had 1500 attendees. Then a group of well known activists from other groups got involved, couldn’t agree on what the priorities were - some wanted to push renters rights, some wanted it to be about Palestine, some trans rights, others wanted the emphasis to be reproductive rights - they all had their agendas and priorities. And they tore that group apart from the inside, wrote emails to the state leaders asking the person who started to the group to step down because he refused to scatter our focus from “just” fighting fascism, and refused to stop having actions in our small city that might “dilute” bigger city actions. I am absolutely furious that their coup succeeded and the group is now under a new “steering committee” that can’t focus on one goddamn united thing, so I’m out. This is perhaps the biggest issue we have and aim glad you wrote about it.
It's difficult for anyone with strong ideological convictions to set them aside in the name of a project that they know will lead to a state of affairs in which not all those convictions will be realised (but where some can be realised) when it would be so much nicer if they could just co-opt the existing state of affairs instead and turn it toward their own policy ends.
Sorry to say the Republicans I personally know firmly believe blowing up our governing system is the only solution. Although I am 100% with you, I could approach 99% of my Republican friends and family with these tenets but I will get nowhere.
The same standard applies across the spectrum, no exceptions, no favorites, no "thumbs on the scale.," no justification for "we're doing to them what they did to us."
There's a question I have about your premise. Is the problem the resistance of those opponents to come together on what they can agree on, that goes deeper than the surface opposition? I see some marveling about how enemies are agreeing about more fundamentals than what they fight over.
The challenge is to create a coalition. Some auspice is needed that isnt a saviour, because it's up to us now, but is powerful enough to call the coalition into being. It's a subject I write about. We need to move from being gadflies to becoming a force. Maybe just A Force for Human Survival.
This is the sermon America needed but forgot how to hear.
We’ve spent so long sharpening our ideologies that we forgot the blade cuts both ways. While we duel over purity, the autocrats are building bonfires out of the Constitution and roasting marshmallows over the ashes of our institutions.
Solidarity doesn’t mean we like each other. It means we remember the rules that kept us from strangling each other.
Democracy isn’t a vibe. It’s a discipline. And if we can’t link arms with the ones we side-eye across the aisle, we might wake up in a country where there’s no aisle left.
Blessed be the weary peacemakers who stand in the breach.
What is missed by so many is the concept of TRIAGE. When you are in the military or in the ER, you focus on those people who will die if you do not address their needs in a timely fashion. If we do not focus on what is soon to kill Democracy in the US, we won't have any option to discuss renter's rights or gender issues. What triage is there before is quite simple:
• Do you believe that Kindness is logarithmically more important than Retribution, Self-Aggrandizement, Ego and Greed?
• Do you believe that adherence to the Rules of Law is unquestionably in the top 3 concerns that human interaction must master or would you rather have some delegate/dictate to you and your children that which is right vs wrong?
• Do you believe that continued assaults on people who differ from you based on epidermal pigmentation or based on net worth is more important than human rights?
This does not ignore other crucial issues like climate, poverty, education, etc. It puts at the top of our priorities that which is critical to the survival of a life and culture that made America a desirable place to live. You don't polish your car and ignore a tire that is about to have a blow-out. That's what we seem to be doing. That is what is wrong with the Democratic Party when it tries to tackle every issue under the sun, and not prioritize. It ain't all that difficult a concept.
I am a physician, and I make a very healthy income. I agree with most of your criticisms of the Democratic Party.
• I do not want to fund non-citizens unless they are accurately vetted and shown to be here for political asylum. The Democratic Party did a crap job with immigration.
• All I get is a non-stop request for donations from those in the Democratic party.
• I cannot believe that there was not more resistance from the Democrats in Congress to some of the lunatics and dangerous threats to Democracy selected by Trump
• I believe that both parties have vision regarding the needs of this country's citizens and that both parties bloat the bureaucracy with waste.
▶︎ This said, the GOP is a danger to what was once America. The Trump administration is a flagrantly fascist one that has eroded the Constitution. One Constitutional violation has followed another.
▶︎ There is no comparison of the incompetence of the Republican Party vs the Democratic Party. If this were a medical metaphor, the GOP would end up killing the patient, whereas the Democratic Party would leave the patient with a multitude of adverse side effects.
▶︎ Both have failed this country, but one is far worse and more dangerous than the other.
▶︎ Don't count on there being Midterms, or if they do occur, be on the lookout for a rigged election. Remember, Trump cannot help but project.
Regarding your comment on taxing the rich, those earning more than $10 million a year can certainly afford a higher tax rate. The reality is that for the super-rich, no amount of income is ever enough. I have always paid my taxes, but I resent how the money has been squandered. DOGE took that mishandling to an outrageous extreme, throwing out the baby with the bathwater. If billionaires like Bezos, Musk, and others are getting away with paying no taxes, that is pure BS. With all this said, you can find many others who feel how you feel but need reminding that there is no comparing the corruption of the GOP with the boyscout behavior of the DNP. Our system is broken, but the GOP is pathological.
I have been a left leaning Independent for years. I have been astonished that Democrats have no interest in welcoming me to the fold. I am a fiscal conservative because I see the dangers of printing money to support social justice causes. If
supporting every disadvantaged group means creating unsustainable debt for this country, we have to prioritize and
shrink some programs as well as taxing the rich. If you have a budget, and you consistently spend more than you bring in, eventually your credit is no good.
Increasing taxes on the wealthy can work to a point, but eventually they move their companies or their residences overseas.
Most Independents feel the same way. They want fiscal responsibility in our government. They see Democrats as a hodgepodge of
self-interest groups who really only care about their own
grievance, and not the welfare of the country.
I know that I care very much about compassion and tolerance, but I believe that we have to keep our country fiscally healthy in order to be able to give everyone opportunity to succeed. I have been donating exclusively to certain Democrats because I believe Republicans are destroying our constitution. But I am not donating the way I could because Democrats have no interest in opening their umbrella to include Independents like me. They are almost as much a part of the problem as the spineless Republican majority. I see Republicans as greedy, short-sighted hypocrites, and Democrats as self-centered and short-sighted. Both parties choose terrible candidates and no politicians seem to actually care about our country. I think I speak for a lot of people when I say STOP THINKING ABOUT YOURSELVES AND START THINKING ABOUT HOW WE CAN SAVE OUR COUNTRY FROM DESTRUCTION BY THOSE IN POWER!
L B Bowen, I am very similar to you in my positioning and in my feeling that both parties established politicians seem to forget those who must vote them in — perhaps because their donors can provide them enough money to assure their re-election. Where we ay differ is in our treatment of the wealthy. The disgustingly huge differences in annual income, especially if you consider ALL sources of remuneration, and the immense numbers of tax “loopholes” the wealthy can apply, sicken me. If 20 times your average emplloyee is not enough, either your not paying your employees enough OR you’re just greedy. Unregulated capitalism is one of the major reasons we are in this fix, IMO. Without all that extra money to buy influence, maybe our country could practice its ideals.
This recalls the final moments of the interview of Liz Cheney by Rachel Maddow when Cheney wrapped up by saying (grossly paraphrased) Let's get through this threat we agree is dangerous so we can get back to disagreeing on everything else (said with a grin).
At this point I just want them to admit they fucked up and apologize. Any MAGA expressing remorse I can probably forgive in time. I don't hold grudges, but without true accountability there is no way forward. If you can't see and admit Trump is an evil man destroying the soul of the nation then I cannot trust your judgement in the battles to come. Some MAGAs have woken up, my mother shockingly is one of them, but she wasn't a die hard cultist, just fell for propaganda. This Epstein stuff is an opening for the opposition but I have no faith in the dems to capitalize on it. Colbert has done more to harm the Trump agenda than Pelosi and Schumer and just paud the price for it. When late night comedians have more courage than the elected opposition, you know the nation is fucked.
Brilliantly said, thank you.
"What is 'The nation'? It is the political process the society agreed on and engages in" - this is a quote from one of Prof Timothy Snyder's lectures on Ukraine, when he talked about the disputes, over the years and centuries, concerning "What is actually this thing, 'The Ukrainian nation'?".
Your article, Mike, is pretty much an elaboration on the quote above.
Prof Snyder noted that the quoted above definition was arrived at fairly recently (the 20th century), after other definitions of "the nation" were, in the Ukrainian context, empirically shown to be lacking. For the Ukrainians a dodge, "the Ukrainian nation is simply the people living within the system of the Ukrainian state" was not available - there was no Ukrainian state most of the time.
I'll stop here. But I think much more should be said within this framework, it really clarifies the grand picture.
There's nothing particularly novel about what I'm saying here. The notion is as old as democracy itself. But every generation apparently needs to re-learn it.
Exactly, "every generation apparently needs to re-learn it". For myself personally that definition was new and operationally very useful, I knew only other definitions like "common heritage" - which can be twisted into various dysfunctional sectarian visions. Obviously, I think what you write is what is VERY needed to be written and discussed.
I will only point to one aspect - current administration policies, and the ideology preceding it for about a generation, are destroying "the nation" as defined here. Which is important to understand, as this administration is otherwise very engaged in flag-waving.
Definitely how I'm looking at it and urging my friends and followers to do the same -- put ideological purity to the side to protect democratic solidarity
100%. Saving the foundation of Democracy is more important than individual battles -- right now. We can always debate as long as we're allowed to and have a chance of making an impact.
Mike this must be the core message. How to make it the message simple and repeated over and over and over from the voices who understand and can make it go viral? Heard this from Norm Eisen today - John Lewis on the first impeachment: impeach with love, love for the constitution
I joined a new local Indivisible group in March and got outwardly active in this fight for the first time in my life. There were 20 of us at that second meeting, up from 8 and by No Kings we had 1500 attendees. Then a group of well known activists from other groups got involved, couldn’t agree on what the priorities were - some wanted to push renters rights, some wanted it to be about Palestine, some trans rights, others wanted the emphasis to be reproductive rights - they all had their agendas and priorities. And they tore that group apart from the inside, wrote emails to the state leaders asking the person who started to the group to step down because he refused to scatter our focus from “just” fighting fascism, and refused to stop having actions in our small city that might “dilute” bigger city actions. I am absolutely furious that their coup succeeded and the group is now under a new “steering committee” that can’t focus on one goddamn united thing, so I’m out. This is perhaps the biggest issue we have and aim glad you wrote about it.
Leftists can be tedious, yes.
It's difficult for anyone with strong ideological convictions to set them aside in the name of a project that they know will lead to a state of affairs in which not all those convictions will be realised (but where some can be realised) when it would be so much nicer if they could just co-opt the existing state of affairs instead and turn it toward their own policy ends.
Sorry to say the Republicans I personally know firmly believe blowing up our governing system is the only solution. Although I am 100% with you, I could approach 99% of my Republican friends and family with these tenets but I will get nowhere.
The same standard applies across the spectrum, no exceptions, no favorites, no "thumbs on the scale.," no justification for "we're doing to them what they did to us."
There's a question I have about your premise. Is the problem the resistance of those opponents to come together on what they can agree on, that goes deeper than the surface opposition? I see some marveling about how enemies are agreeing about more fundamentals than what they fight over.
The challenge is to create a coalition. Some auspice is needed that isnt a saviour, because it's up to us now, but is powerful enough to call the coalition into being. It's a subject I write about. We need to move from being gadflies to becoming a force. Maybe just A Force for Human Survival.
Great essay. And important point made about solidarity. You seem to be on the same page as Anand G in his 20 minute video “rant” this week.
This is the sermon America needed but forgot how to hear.
We’ve spent so long sharpening our ideologies that we forgot the blade cuts both ways. While we duel over purity, the autocrats are building bonfires out of the Constitution and roasting marshmallows over the ashes of our institutions.
Solidarity doesn’t mean we like each other. It means we remember the rules that kept us from strangling each other.
Democracy isn’t a vibe. It’s a discipline. And if we can’t link arms with the ones we side-eye across the aisle, we might wake up in a country where there’s no aisle left.
Blessed be the weary peacemakers who stand in the breach.
What is missed by so many is the concept of TRIAGE. When you are in the military or in the ER, you focus on those people who will die if you do not address their needs in a timely fashion. If we do not focus on what is soon to kill Democracy in the US, we won't have any option to discuss renter's rights or gender issues. What triage is there before is quite simple:
• Do you believe that Kindness is logarithmically more important than Retribution, Self-Aggrandizement, Ego and Greed?
• Do you believe that adherence to the Rules of Law is unquestionably in the top 3 concerns that human interaction must master or would you rather have some delegate/dictate to you and your children that which is right vs wrong?
• Do you believe that continued assaults on people who differ from you based on epidermal pigmentation or based on net worth is more important than human rights?
This does not ignore other crucial issues like climate, poverty, education, etc. It puts at the top of our priorities that which is critical to the survival of a life and culture that made America a desirable place to live. You don't polish your car and ignore a tire that is about to have a blow-out. That's what we seem to be doing. That is what is wrong with the Democratic Party when it tries to tackle every issue under the sun, and not prioritize. It ain't all that difficult a concept.
I am a physician, and I make a very healthy income. I agree with most of your criticisms of the Democratic Party.
• I do not want to fund non-citizens unless they are accurately vetted and shown to be here for political asylum. The Democratic Party did a crap job with immigration.
• All I get is a non-stop request for donations from those in the Democratic party.
• I cannot believe that there was not more resistance from the Democrats in Congress to some of the lunatics and dangerous threats to Democracy selected by Trump
• I believe that both parties have vision regarding the needs of this country's citizens and that both parties bloat the bureaucracy with waste.
▶︎ This said, the GOP is a danger to what was once America. The Trump administration is a flagrantly fascist one that has eroded the Constitution. One Constitutional violation has followed another.
▶︎ There is no comparison of the incompetence of the Republican Party vs the Democratic Party. If this were a medical metaphor, the GOP would end up killing the patient, whereas the Democratic Party would leave the patient with a multitude of adverse side effects.
▶︎ Both have failed this country, but one is far worse and more dangerous than the other.
▶︎ Don't count on there being Midterms, or if they do occur, be on the lookout for a rigged election. Remember, Trump cannot help but project.
Regarding your comment on taxing the rich, those earning more than $10 million a year can certainly afford a higher tax rate. The reality is that for the super-rich, no amount of income is ever enough. I have always paid my taxes, but I resent how the money has been squandered. DOGE took that mishandling to an outrageous extreme, throwing out the baby with the bathwater. If billionaires like Bezos, Musk, and others are getting away with paying no taxes, that is pure BS. With all this said, you can find many others who feel how you feel but need reminding that there is no comparing the corruption of the GOP with the boyscout behavior of the DNP. Our system is broken, but the GOP is pathological.