Know Your Opponent - Know Yourself

Some thoughts about Republicans and how to deal with them going forward.

I realize these concepts are probably obvious to anybody who pays attention. But there’s so much confusion and wishful thinking out there that sometimes it seems necessary to repeat the obvious.

First of all, 

They want One-Party Rule - with them as the one party.

They’re not the slightest bit interested in sharing power. I wish it were not so. But it’s true. They do not want to compromise. They don’t care about doing the things necessary for the democratic process to work. They want to rule, period. Completely. It’s not just that they have tendencies in that direction. They’re committed to it, fully conscious and with eyes wide open. You can see this when you look back over their behavior, from the personal disrespect and insults to Obama to the obstruction of his every move - to the refusal to even vote on a supreme court replacement, which was their constitutional duty to do –  to the interference of a Republican FBI director and Russian hackers on behalf of the Republican candidate in this election - to their consistent violations of norms and traditions with increasing frequency as time goes on.

Second,

They don’t share our same values.

They just don’t. It’s not even close. This is a hard one to understand, because many of them are friends and family members. But no one who votes for a Trump with his obvious disdain for democracy and basic lack of decency and respect for others can really be said to share very many political and social values that I would recognize as mine.

So, understanding this, we should acknowledge that we have been complacent.

We tend to assume that our side is the logical and reasonable side. We often sit back and let facts, reason and logic speak for themselves, assuming the other side will eventually see the light. We point and laugh at their inconsistencies and contradictions, and we think we’ve done enough.This has been a great mistake. We should stop assuming that facts and logic will win in the end when these days there is no consensus on what facts even mean.

It sounds harsh, but we should assume in many cases that the other side is not persuadable. While it’s important to try to come together on some things, if we can, we should not allow ourselves to be sidetracked or taken advantage of because of some quixotic need to search for common ground that no longer exists. We all believe the facts and truth are on our side. But facts and logic are not enough. From now on, passion, energy, unity, unremitting effort, momentum and courage are what is going to win this game.

Letter Fom Red Country

Women's March January 21, 2016, Coos Bay, Oregon

I’m an Oregonian who had just moved from the Portland Area back to the rural County in which I was born just in time to see trump receive nearly 60% of the vote in that County in the 2016 presidential election. Every Democrat, save one, was trounced.

I awoke the next morning feeling as if I’d been fist run over by railroad train and then backed over by the same train.

Once my body and mind stopped aching, I thought, “well, if I’m down here in the heart of Trump country, I might as well take a stand here.” And it turns out that many other people have had the same feelings and thoughts as I’ve had. It has been an energizing moment. We realize that we in reddest Oregon have a key role to play.

Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo is right about this If stopping Trump happens,

“it will happen because of grassroots organizing in red states and the red parts of blue states. The cities are already overwhelmingly Democratic. The fight is really outside the major cities. Nor is it just geographical. Trump's power will be broken most on issues like health care - some mix of Medicare, Obamacare repeal, etc. These are issues that cut across the urban/rural divide.

So, a few questions. Who is starting to crisscross the country now recruiting candidates? Are they candidates that can win marginal districts? What people or groups in the political realm are creating databases of people likely to be affected by Obamacare repeal for political mobilization? What is the message?”

The national upsurge against Trump we’re now seeing in our cities is great and necessary to stopping Trump, but it will not be enough without a rising of progressive voices in these areas where we have lately been subdued. We must make ourselves known where we’ve been unknown, visible where invisible.  We in the red counties of Oregon and in all the red counties across this country can be the crucial fighters in this battle. It will be won or lost here.

Get a hold of Yourselves

It seems that some of us have been so psychologically traumatized by Trump’s election that we are letting pessimism and reverse magical thinking get the better of us.

We ascribe super human powers to Trump.

For example, I’ve read more than a few commenters assert, completely unironically, something to the effect that “if the economy is good under trump, then that will be good for Trump, but if the economy is bad under Trump, why then that will play into his hands, too.

So, no matter what happens, good, bad or indifferent, if it rains or shines, freezes or burns, it’s all just a part of Trump’s unstoppably brilliant, grand master plan!

We need to snap out of this. No American president has ever not been blamed for the economy tanking under his watch, and Trump isn’t going to miraculously be the exception to that rule. And that goes for all the other scenarios of endlessly unfolding doom we can think of in our darkest hours. It’s O.K. to not be complacent. It’s definitely smart to avoid underestimating somebody like Trump. But, Jesus. Get a hold of yourselves, and let’s fight.