In a real and true America, Democrats, Independents, and Republicans would be united...

[kentuck]

...against the attack upon our elections system and our democracy.

But, we are not living in a true and real America. We are living in two opposing realities.

One of the realities does not match up with the facts and the truth. And that is the only way we have to measure "truth". And even those can be subjective at times.

That is the battle between truth and fantasy. (For example, that is like the battle between CNN and FOX, in the media market)

As close as possible, the truth is the north star we must attempt to follow.

Just my opinion.

[Irish_Dem]

1. We would also be united to fight the national emergency caused by the pandemic.

[hibbing]

8. Big + 1

Then they have the gall to say, "I don't know why masks/vaccinations have become a political issue", what a crock.

Peace

[Irish_Dem]

13. The deliberately sabotage efforts to combat the virus, then blame everyone else.

It really is unbelievable. But typical of sociopaths.
Blame their crimes on others.

[drexelkathy]

2. The fracture of the country

Last edited Tue Oct 12, 2021, 09:51 AM - Edit history (1)

Is about as “real and true” as it gets.

There is no desire for integrity.

[kentuck]

5. No one escapes the corruption?

Better no country than what we now have?

We'll deal with the chaos when it gets here?

That seems to be the way many of them think nowadays. If they think at all?

Welcome.

[uponit7771]

3. Only 64% of democrats believe Voter Suppression is a problem (link)

We're not united against Trump because there's not enough people thinking there's a problem

[Lonestarblue]

10. I suspect part of the problem is time.

I’m retired now and reading far too much news, but when I was still working I rarely had mich time for news. Those with full-time jobs and families probably have little time for news and thus are not as aware of issues as we here at DU may be.

With voter suppression, for example, Republicans have made it all about having to show voter ID, and most people think that’s perfectly reasonable so there’s no voter suppression. What fewer of them see, including Democrats, is how Republican gerrymandering perverts results. When 60% of a state votes for Democrats, but Republicans win 70-80% of the seats, that’s voter suppression. When states like Texas, which has closed well over 700 precincts in Democratic areas to make people drive much further to vote, that’s voter suppression but stories like that are not on the news every day. When states deliberately make it difficult to register to vote, that’s voter suppression but I don’t think I’ve seen one article about that, even here in Texas where reporters just say that Texas is one of the most difficult states in which to vote. They don’t seem to bother explaining why.

The idea that Democrats are weak at messaging is real. But I’m not sure we choose the right people to drive that messaging. For example, I would expect Jaime Harrison to be on Sunday morning shows and giving interviews calling out Republicans’ efforts to prevent people from voting and the importance of passing the voting rights bill. I may have missed it, but I don’t think he’s done that. I got a few emails about issues months ago but nothing recently. Democratic leaders just don’t seem to be taking the threats as seriously as many of us do. Why is that?

[uponit7771]

11. +1,

[NoMoreRepugs]

4. I have always had a suspicion that a large segment of our

fellow citizens have all they can handle with the basics of everyday life. The external forces and events that impact them but can’t be seen in front of their noses are simply too much for them to comprehend and understand.

Just the ramblings of a grumpy old man who probably isn’t as smart as he thinks he is.

[kentuck]

6. Makes sense.

This is a very difficult time for people to cope.

Grumpy old men are not always wrong.

[czarjak]

7. One side is right, one side is wrong or they're both wrong. Can't both be right. Alas!

[Wounded Bear]

9. That "real and true America" you cite has always been a bit of a myth...

it was a North Star of sorts that about 1/3 of the nation has always striven to reach for. The other 2/3 are either indifferent or actively opposed to progress. We seem to be in a period when the 1/3 or so who don't really care about politics are in cahoots with the ones who want to burn it down.

Hell, in the American Revolution the split was roughly in 3rds. 1/3 rebels, 1/3 tories, and 1/3 leave me the fuck alone. I'm not sure the ratios have shifted much since then, except for relatively short periods and always temporarily. In the best of times it seems we can only get about 2/3 or the population to even bother to vote, and then we have the problem that many of them are woefully uninformed about what is really going on or what is at stake. Nobody ever really gets a "majority" of the population, just a majority of those who bothered to participate.

On the left, we are perpetually stuck in a mode of trying to attract votes from that indifferent middle, while the right is actively trying to convince or coerce them not to vote at all.

[FakeNoose]

12. My Grandpa was born before 1900

He believed in the America in your description, and he was a life-long Republican. A true-blue loyal American who loved baseball, mom and apple pie. My Grandpa was a little too young to fight in World War I, and a little too old for WWII but he always supported the USA. He lived just long enough to vote for Ronald Reagan the first time, and then he passed.

I'm grateful that he never saw how his Republican party turned evil, since the Reagan years. My Grandpa would have never understood it, he would be totally ashamed of them now.

Maybe I'm blind to the failures and mistakes by the Democratic Party, but I can't help loving the Democrats as I see our earnest efforts to combat the evil, greed and selfishness of the Repukes of today. I never believed Republican myths, so it's easy for me to see the lies they spew. Maybe I'm living in a fairy tale, I don't know. Perhaps my 14-year-old grandson will remember these things now when he gets to his golden years, just as I'm remembering my own Grandpa.

We all must play the cards we're dealt, am I right?