A simple observation about that dreaded attitude called "overconfidence"
Overconfidence can lead to under performing, sure. It is a serious threat in cases where fierce motivation is lacking. When you aren't enthusiastic about giving it your all to begin with, the belief that you don't really need to can be disastrous. That is not us. That is not now.
Think back two years. Fervent anti-Trump, anti-Republican organizing had been ongoing since November 2016. We all sensed a Blue Wave building. We worked for it, we believed in it, and truth be told, we expected it to happen. And it did. Sure we understood that nothing is in the bag until it is in the bag. We weren't overconfident in 2018, but we were overall confident.The scent of victory in the air did not breed complacency. If anything we smelled Republican blood in the water which drove us on. We began to believe that more and more seats lay within reach for Democrats, and we responded accordingly.
For all of the talk about the danger of overconfidence, not enough is said about the downside of insufficient confidence. When polls come out showing Biden leading Trump by ten points, you can almost count on someone responding to that news with the comment "we need to campaign as if we were ten points behind instead." No, we should not. People do not campaign well when they are ten points behind. They make unforced errors. They are plagued by doubts, they daily have to counter the fear that nothing they can do now will be enough, that victory is probably beyond reach, that it simply isn't worth fully committing yourself to a cause you sense is lost. If you have any doubt about the truth of that psychology simply study political fundraising. Money dries up for candidates who are perceived to be falling out of the running.
It is different to be trailing by a couple of points instead. Then it can seem that every dollar raised, every door bell rung, every phone call made, might be critical in turning the tide. Republicans need to believe that Trump is now, or very soon will be, within striking distance to win. That is the preferred scenario Republicans are desperately clinging on to, despite Trump's consistently poor performance ratings, despite an economy in deep recession, despite nearly 200,000 American deaths from a pandemic that clearly was horribly mismanaged. We shouldn't throw them any lifelines.
C'mon folks, we've all seen the old movies. There is a reason why the Scots were led into battle by a brigade of screaming bagpipes. It struck a note of fear into the hearts of their opponents, a belief that something was coming at them that they were powerless to stand up to. Skill, luck and valor defeat an enemy in a contest that is closely matched. But fear will rout an enemy that has come to believe all hope is lost. And many a victorious army has been driven to sweep aside all resistance by a belief in their own bright destiny.
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Not saying ALL who are espousing this pov are Putin trolls, but a small but significant % are operatives.
They are real and exist on all major Progressive websites. It is part of the Putin funded effort to impact Our election process. Some have more then likely been around for a decade or more. (Yes, unfortunately even here. I'm sure the admins get 95% of them eventually, but without trying to scare anyone or putting on tin hats we must admit they exist so we can counter them. Reality bites.
But honestly for informed folks the real long term trolls are fairly easy to spot, counter and avoid. I am very confident these efforts are backfiring this year, as the rational electorate is more engaged then anytime in my 60+ years on this Earth and sees them for waht they really are.
We must continue to be a reality based movement, and fight the temptation to give in to all the anxiety and fear tactics being used everywhere - the fact that the Thugs are going there so heavily means they ain't got nothing else, whereas the left has the momentum, the desire and the will to succeed against all odds THIS year.
GOTV, stay vocal and 'Don't worry BE Happy' and We ARE going to prevail if we keep informed and enthusiastic.
Thanks for the great reality based OP, btw. 