General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsI'm seriously asking. How long do we stand on the curb while watching the train wreck?
Wait and see?
Put all our eggs into Mueller's basket?
Call, write, email?
Give the victims of the train wreck a hand up? Our condolences?
Every. Day.
marylandblue
(12,344 posts)Taking back Congress will stop the bleeding.
Ninga
(8,275 posts)beyond our means.
My concern is focused on the now. Perhaps waiting for the 2018 elections draws a consensus.
I do not feel a collective energy. Everyone has their own favorite topic or hot button of the day...which makes the political atmosphere feel disjointed, scattered, unfocused.
Eliot Rosewater
(31,109 posts)old school dems, very liberal liberals (like myself) or progressives.
https://www.indivisible.org/
I worry GREATLY about groups like this causing a split in the vote thus allowing the cons to win or retain seats. So it will very much depend on the local people you work with, shouldn't take long to figure out where they are on the whole thing.
Other than that, never stop talking to anyone who will listen. Remember, 90% of the country has no idea who Roy Moore is, for example.
marylandblue
(12,344 posts)Democrats have always had a fractious coalition, with everyone having their own issues. But overall cohesiveness has increased. I used to know a lot of people who cared about the environment but not economics or vice versa. Now most people I know see how the two issues go together, even if one is still more important than the other for them.
I do think there is a backlash growing against Trump. The 2017 elections showed a new enthusiasm among democratic voters and were very encouraging. Predicting anything with Trump is hard, but if history is a guide, he is on track for a hard smackdown in the midterms followed by either impeachment and removal or a landslide loss in 2020.
RKP5637
(67,107 posts)united focused effort/consensus is getting harder and harder.
ananda
(28,858 posts)post after post saying the 45 and/or family members are
being investigated for this or that crime or treason ..
.. and then nothing happens.
Sheesh! Are AG's, prosecutors, and reporters that easy
to intimidate?
DonViejo
(60,536 posts)It took two and a half years to get rid of Nixon.
YessirAtsaFact
(2,064 posts)Its a slow tedious process.
Its actually a good sign that it didnt get wrapped up quickly.
It means that Mueller is uncovering new information
YessirAtsaFact
(2,064 posts)But the investigation is ongoing.
When Mueller reports to Congress every i has to be dotted, every t crossed. No loopholes.
The worst Mueller could do now would be reporting to Congress prematurely
dgibby
(9,474 posts)would be that the Dems take back the House and then Mueller's report comes out; otherwise, I fear nothing will be done if the rethugs are still in charge of everything.
YessirAtsaFact
(2,064 posts)Or the repugnant goons put the nation ahead of their party...
Guess we need to retake the house
world wide wally
(21,742 posts)CrispyQ
(36,461 posts)RKP5637
(67,107 posts)follows all of this, but a good portion of the US IMO does not follow a lot of stuff. This country has never suffered the consequences of a fallen government and/or dictatorial totalitarian environments, so they are often blah IMO to many things. FFS, looks at how many are continuously duped by Fox News. And those that vote in their own worst interests. And those that voted in tRump. I think the US is on a critical path! There is a lot of STUPID in the US!
CrispyQ
(36,461 posts)They were all fired up after the inauguration. They marched. They wrote postcards. Now, they don't want to talk about it & some of them have made it clear they don't want me to talk about it either. If you follow politics, like most of us do & have for some time, you've been through this. Okay, not this, cuz this is out there like Pluto. But if you were paying attention to the Clinton witch hunt of the 90s, the SCOTUS decision of 2000, the farce of the W presidency, the selling out of the media to push an illegal war, and the mad tea party, then you are at least a little more prepared for the current insanity.
It's wearing thin, though.
Ninga
(8,275 posts)RKP5637
(67,107 posts)around like sheep. This is a ripe country for a dictatorship or something some day if so many remain so complacent.
Eliot Rosewater
(31,109 posts)What? That cant be true? says the uninformed person on the street
Something like that. No clue.
And what percentage do you think has not only no idea how harmful the tax bill is, but that there is a tax bill, period?
RKP5637
(67,107 posts)attempt to understand the implications ...
Eliot Rosewater
(31,109 posts)new information in.
Voting for your party is something democrats do, but for obviously different reasons.
By definition, if they are voting Democratic then they know something the republican voters dont know.
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)People aren't going to really wake up until it's too late.
RKP5637
(67,107 posts)kentuck
(111,089 posts)at least until the next election.
customerserviceguy
(25,183 posts)Unless you think that running on to the tracks while the wreck is about to occur is a good idea.
Let's see what happens after Alabama.
seaglass
(8,171 posts)45.
If that fails we are done.
moda253
(615 posts)The American people are a frog in a pot of cold water on the stove. Some of us might feel the heat but by and large most of Americans have no idea what is happening to them.
If Muller doesn't come through and we don't win the house. America is over. Our democracy is waiting on a well devised hail mary pass.
RKP5637
(67,107 posts)forces at work in this country and many Americans are just so unconcerned. It's hard to get many to even bother to vote ... and then many fall for all the propaganda.
Ninga
(8,275 posts)LAS14
(13,783 posts)This is certainly one of the least glamorous, but potentially most productive things going. Give 'em money!! Get on their mailing list.
LAS14
(13,783 posts)... around ideas for doing things. Bitching is the main energizer.
Ninga
(8,275 posts)100 x more powerful than women's march.
We have the numbers to turn out across the US.
WhiskeyGrinder
(22,329 posts)Ninga
(8,275 posts)Most people seem to think waiting until 2018 elections is enough.
At one time, I thought such a large member forum as DU would be more activist than I have found it to be.
0rganism
(23,944 posts)DU has plenty of active members who will participate with you for the right causes
just remember, it's on you to bring the organization and leadership to your favorite projects
i recommend starting locally, maybe begin with the dedicated state forum for the state in which you live, see if people want to meet up for drinks and organizing efforts, take it forward from there. it's worked before. try it, see what happens.
WhiskeyGrinder
(22,329 posts)Or is it "speaking as one voice" -- which seems to be one you want to agree with you?
Ninga
(8,275 posts)WhiskeyGrinder
(22,329 posts)When you say "taking to the streets," what do you mean? To what end? What would people do and were would they go?
H2O Man
(73,536 posts)And I do so in all sincerity, as I, too, question "what else" we can and should be doing.
Would taking to the streets be in the mode of Martin Luther King's marches and demonstrations? Where people are committed to non-violence? Willing to suffer for their beliefs? Or would it be in anger, with the potential for violent disruptions and confrontations? I ask because "taking to the streets" can imply the second, which would in no way promote positive change.
LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)Arguments, merely for the sake of arguments are the very nature of grade-school petulance.
You'll allege sincerity, no doubt. A handful may buy it.
WhiskeyGrinder
(22,329 posts)I'm saying that people who say things like "when will we take to the streets" actually reinforce their own helpless feelings and outlooks because they set unrealistic, vague or unreachable "goals" -- like "take to the streets" -- that they have no idea how to work toward or achieve. When people start asking themselves sharp questions about the details of whatever they think they want, the answers can walk them toward achievable, scalable actions that move toward change.
democratisphere
(17,235 posts)The redumbliCON's wealthiest American Oligarch welfare tax fraud bill will be paid for by MORE debt and the flat line stagnant wage middle class. The execution of this absurd tax bill will probably be the end of the redumbliCON party once the masses realize they have been f'ed over! Let's see if all the redumbliCONs have decided to become complicit to drumpf and made the choice to sellout our democracy and the country.