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Dear Democrats: [1]

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Date: 2022-11-13

It's not a game

Dear Democrats:

We dodged an atomic bomb aimed at our democracy in the recently concluded midterms. I was told I was being melodramatic when I started predicting that America would become the next great fascist nation in the late 80s, but many of us felt that we were a whisker away from losing our democracy on November 8, 2022. Now it looks like Democrats will retain control of the Senate and may keep the House, and the hand-rubbing glee of the MAGA mob has temporarily evaporated as they have heard the voters’ voice. Still, “control” is by a vote or two, and who knows what will happen in 2024? Nevertheless, in the immediate aftermath I heard two people I like and trust -- one a lesbian activist, the other a longtime progressive warrior-grandma -- say the same thing: “I voted for him, but I don’t really like John Fetterman. I don’t like some of the things he’s done.” This is the same John Fetterman who fought back from a stroke to defeat one of the most egregious right wing celebriticians, TV’s Doctor Oz. After fascism was dodged by a couple of candidates, this was the first opinion my friends cared to offer.

It has long been said that Democrats fall in love and Republicans fall in line, but I would take the criticism of Democrats a step further and say that Democrats seem to scorn the concept of teamwork. They talk a big game about community and community building, but at ground level they seem to be incapable of pulling together. Even when the future of our democracy is at stake, they act like a group of balky, opinionated jackasses.

This is a luxury we can no longer afford. Yes, I want more candidates who look like Val Demings and fewer who look like MItch McConnell, but we have to get there from here. Not from some fantasy of “how it ought to be,” but from here. That is, from 21st century racist, sexist, homophobic, oligarchic, consumerist America. We have to keep going with the gains we have made and accelerate those gains so that we have some chance of addressing climate change, wealth disparity and the worldwide struggle between democracy and totalitarianism before it is too late. Donald Trump did us the enormous, terrible favor of pointing out that one out of three Americans supports white supremacy and Christian nationalism, is against bodily and spiritual autonomy, and pays thoughtless yet violent fealty to an economic system that punishes all but the very few. We have to organize NOW, to press our slight advantage NOW, so this regressive minority doesn’t continue to play such an outsize and destructive role in our nation’s politics and culture. This is not a game; it is existential. The other side knows this, and has acted on this knowledge repeatedly, from cheating on Supreme Court nominees to cheating on voting rights to cheating on journalism on our federally controlled, public airwaves.

John Fetterman is a human being, which is to say, imperfect. It doesn’t matter HOW imperfect he is, and you don’t get any points for pointing out his imperfections. He is a bona fide public servant who supports a woman’s right to bodily autonomy, who supports the right of workers to make a living from an honest day’s work, who supports the right to healthcare and who supports democracy. There were no other candidates in this race – it was Fetterman or the TV doctor. “Yes” or “No” were the options. “Yeah, but,” was not on the ballot.

I have been a politician and I can tell, you, it’s not easy. The hardest part for a Democrat, though, is not dealing with your opponents, it is dealing with your friends and supposed allies. Every Democrat imagines themselves to be a world class individual political athlete, but politics is a team sport. The lesbian? She’s a know it all who talks over you. The progressive grandma? She’s also a know it all who talks over you. Neither has run for office, but they’re full of complaints about those who do. They’re both smart and their hearts are in the right place, but it doesn’t matter that their complaints are valid – yes, John Fetterman has said and done some problematic things. But we have to get there from HERE, with the flawed, human (and VICTORIOUS) candidates we have. We should be lifting up and encouraging our champions to do better in the future, not climbing on their backs to point backwards at their ignorant, selfish or cowardly mistakes of the past. We also need to build up our young candidates, who are in the midst of their ignorant, selfish and cowardly years, not by demanding (unattainable, intimidating) perfection, but by offering guidance and support.

Humanity needs to embrace sustainability, quick, if we want our great grandchildren to inherit a livable planet. Part of sustainability is understanding your resources and not living beyond your means, even when it’s unsatisfying or short of your dreams. Although they scream about the national debt (when it suits them), the other side doesn’t believe in sustainability, whether for capitalist or Christian or cynical reasons. And it seems, when the rubber hits the road politically, Democrats don’t really, either. We’d rather self-destruct than work with impure people.

We can no longer afford to indulge in the fantasy of perfect candidates, by which I mean candidates just like you, with all of your issues front of mind at all times. Republicans made huge short-term gains and are now reaping the long-term whirlwind of screaming to their single-issue voters’ single issues – abortion, immigration, taxes. Democrats at least have an ideal of pluralism, but in practice it is multiple ingredients combined in JUST the way your grandma did it – and if you leave any part out the whole recipe is ruined. We can no longer afford such perfectionist fantasies – the country can’t afford it and the planet can’t afford it. JFK, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama were wonderful, charismatic politicians who inspired generations. But FDR and LBJ, one a scion of the old, corrupt, aristocratic order, and the other a sexist, racist, vulgar product of the good ol’ boy South, accomplished more through legislation than any of them. If you want to change the system, first you have to gain control of the system. The Republicans have proven they are willing to gain that control through lying, cheating and stealing. They’re tolerant of murder, too, as long as it’s people who don’t look like them. Democrats have the numbers and hold the moral high ground, but they also continually plant the seeds of their own destruction by saying, “I held my nose, but I voted for him!” Poop stinks; everybody poops; quit fertilizing failure because you don't like the smell of poop! Hold your nose all day every day if you’re that squeamish, but vote Democrat and do it with pride! You are saving the nation, the planet and the species! We can’t afford to aim for anything less!

I LOVE John Fetterman. I’m PROUD of John Fetterman. I look forward to seeing what comes in the future from John Fetterman’s half-immigrant, half-brown children and all the other multi-cultural, female, minority, gay and gender-fluid children who are able to compete in the democratic world that John Fetterman will help to preserve and improve, in his imperfect way. I will continue to oppose fascism wherever I see it, and I look forward to waging this fight alongside John Fetterman and all the other reasonable, loving and flawed human beings who we elect to the forward-looking, freedom-loving, democracy-defending and WINNING team of 21st century Democrats!

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/11/13/2135874/-Dear-Democrats

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