It's not hyperbole or cheering

[angrychair]

There are lots of things going on right now to strike fear and uncertainty and doubt in the heart of even the most stalwart politico. The thing that we all must do is to not loss faith in ourselves or become jaded or apathetic or think we are powerless.
Some have let set in that “that’s just the way it is” or “my vote doesn’t matter” or that “they are in control” but the deep secret is that nothing is further from the truth and this midterm election has proven that.

This notion that we cannot do anything, that we are powerless, is ridiculous and dangerous. By saying “we can’t change that” is giving up control of our government as citizens and voters.
We, the citizens, are in control, no matter how hard they work to make us think the opposite, it is no less still true: we are the government.

If enough people care about something than not only will it change, it has to change. At the end of the day our government is nothing more than a reflection of its citizens, for good or bad, in any nation, no matter the type of government they have in place. Any government can be changed, all it takes is citizen involvement and effort.
We are, after all, “a government of the people, by the people and for the people...” we are “the people” that President Lincoln was talking about and as long as we remain so, we, “shall not perish from the Earth.”

[ck4829]

1. K&R and be sure to read Gene Sharp

https://www.aeinstein.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/FDTD.pdf

[angrychair]

2. Very cool

Thanks for the link...I’ll read it tonight!

[violetpastille]

3. I love your post.

We also vote

with our attention
with our boots
with our clicks
with our consumer decisions
with our words

Even with our thoughts.

You matter. It matters. Everything matters.

[zipplewrath]

4. The hill is steep

It's not that it can't be done, but structurally, the hill is steeply sloped in the opposition's favor.

[angrychair]

5. The "hill" is an illusion

Oppressors use propaganda and gaslighting and other psychological warfare tactics as well as religious doctrine to keep a population under control.

All of it is a paper tiger.

True power has and always will lie with us, the citizens, all power, everywhere and anywhere in all the multiverse, is derived from the governed.

We give that power and we can take it back anytime we want. Where there is a will there is a way, even the impossible is possible.

[zipplewrath]

6. Structure of the Senate

The structure of the senate and of the EC make it such that we have to be vastly more successful in order to make the necessary changes.

[angrychair]

7. Maybe

But that same structure passed the “New Deal” gave us the EPA, the Civil Rights Act and the ACA.
While yes, the system is setup to give disproportionate influence to smaller population states, we only care because we have large population states.

The problem is not the Senate or the EC, it is not an infrastructure problem, it’s a people problem.

Racism, bigotry and misogyny are not infrastructure problems, they are people problems.

The government is not broken, we are...at least some of us.

Being a citizen is hard work that requires active participation and real commitment.
We are not going to fix our problems by liking tweets and watching YouTube videos (it doesn’t hurt either, ideas have to come from somewhere).

We have to stop blaming “them” and “they” and “it” and start organizing and working for world we want to live, not the world we only wish we lived in.

[zipplewrath]

8. Well, it's demonstrable

Whether it is the fact that democrats generate a vast majority of votes more than the GOP, and yet do not get majority control of either state level congressional representation, or the fact that roughly 30% of the population has put the GOP in control of the senate, not to mention the recent number of "minority" presidents we've had in the last few decades, it's hard to say that their isn't a steep hill.

Change may take decades, if no the better part of this century.