I liked #51, Get Off Your Ass. Too many of us consumers of great Substack content like yours, David, get bookish, complacent, and we(meaning I) nerd out on how much MAGA sucks, and feast on wonderful insights such as yours(and the whole DSR gang), but lose sight of what we must do, like Linda Hunt's portrayal of journalist Billy Kwan in 1965 Jakarta in Peter Weir's The Year of Living Dangerously, who cries "What then must we do?!!" "What then must we do?!" when faced with the murderous duplicity of the Sukarno regime in Indonesia. Intellectualizing this dark phenomenon is an important step, but, indeed it mustn't be the only one. In the belly of the beast in MAGA Florida, I have resolved to get involved in my local(and tiny) Democratic Party, and(as I did up in CT) monitor elections as an elections official(vote counter at a voting place). Many of us are non-confrontational, yes, alas, but we must all pitch in however we can. You're damn right. #51. Or, Get Up Offa That Thing, as James Brown would say.
You won't solve the problem in the US till you try to change your political system. It is not a democracy where you can only have 2parties and where money plays an important campaigning role. Furthermore, and it is a problem in Europe as well, it is not "healthy" that anybody can vote. We need some sort of independent and scientific selection for voters and candidates.
I want to say, in addition or as an aside, there is tremendous value in simply identifying the problem. I refuse to bully anyone into coming up with "so what do you do about it," when they raise an issue. This is not a playground. I believe our public square requires truth to linger, to seep into the American consciousness for fruitful action to arise. I see David's Substack as an essential in resetting the Overton Window, so to speak, with facts and uncomfortable truths at the center.
We, Americans slide into avoiding the truth of the moment, the pain of that truth -- sometimes with activities, sometimes with both-sides-ism, sometimes with praise for efforts underway. All of that is necessary, but, too, can be quite mollifying. We should not feel helpless or hopeless, but, too, we should not find any contentment in anything that has been tried to date to stop Trump & cabal. We have to stay uncomfortable, unsettled, maybe unhappy, but also undeterred and unrelenting in "calling a thing a thing," and resisting.
Such a great new call to action! I've found community, energy, and excellent strategic guidance to be implemented in creative and loving ways - in my case Indivisible East Bay. I do want to note that it's hard to make signs while reading articles, and so I was delighted to find the option to listen to this on Substack (it was in the ... in the upper right of my screen).
The amendment process is too slow and political to get all of the necessary reforms into the Constitution in the 21st century. It will take a private assembly, by invitation only to keep put the dark money, politicians and others who would otherwise take control and thwart any real effort at reform and giving the GOVERNED the Recall, Veto and Direct Constitutional powers to prevent and defeat corruption and misconduct. The last 240 years assure me of that.
I'm in TX--all but my state senator are Rs. But...I call my Cong. rep and my two US senators 4-5 times a week. They are in my contact list. I try to do this while running errands as I can do with Apple Car Play when driving OR as I'm walking--truly adds no minutes to my day. Senator calls ALWAYS go to VM, but my US rep's office answers much of the time, and it's great to offer my complaint of the day AND urge them (the staff member) to consider their role in this mess.
I’m returning from Thanksgiving with family via a long road trip. I’ve made 2-sided postcards that I’ve left in every place we’ve stopped. Feel free to use—pages 1-2 if you’re in Texas, pages 2-3 if another state.
These are great! FieldTeam6 has had remarkable success registering voters with, among other strategies, postcards with QR codes to their registration site (great for tracking what happens with those new registrants).
Thank you for this reminder! I will revisit FT6 website. Texas presents some unique challenges, as you may know. A new group I'll be working a lot with is ntxvotes.org, which is focusing on North Texas. It is nonpartisan, but that also lets us get in with several events we could not otherwise. We already have several events scheduled this coming week. Thanks, Susan.
Your post has pushed me to consider making a coffee date with the leader of our local Indivisible group. I was raised by a woman who became the perennial president of the Republican Women's Club in my home town in far west TX. As soon as I was 18, I registered as a Democrat. Never looked back. Have voted in every election since. Not gonna stop now!
This is an excellent list of action items. I support welcoming principled GOP members Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, for their extremely important contributions to the Jan. 6 Committee. We can hash out political differences when (or if) we regain a fully functional democracy. I also welcome reformed former GOP members like Joe Walsh and Stuart Stevens. They show that it is possible to leave the GOP and land elsewhere. I agree, of course that hard core MAGA cannot be reached.
Extremely helpful list. I too have been chomping at the bit to stop all their brutality NOW, not later, and it's so hard to figure out how (though I keep at it and have also tried to do some things you suggested including writing about it)--since the Maga goons have so much power behind them. The absolute end for me (though I've felt like we're at a breaking point for some time now) was the cruel and violent murder of the two fishermen hanging onto their boat and their lives (plus all the others Trump & Co. has murdered), their dreams and their families taken from them in such a hateful, completely unnecessary and horrible way, by the Secretary of "War"(disgusting name I won't use again) who, with Trump, seems to be like a six-year old playing with toy boats and guns, and doesn't care about these being real live humans who, even if they just needed extra money to carry drugs for someone else in order to feed their families, felt extreme terror and pain as they tried hard to survive, and it's shameful for the US to have done such a thing--but that's how it is all the time lately-Trump makes us look like a horrible country. We look to the world as if the whole country has lost its mind when in fact it only made the awful error of letting these monsters get into power.
The other end, for me, has been the purely racist behavior of ICE and the racist plans of Trump to tear up or destroy the lives of many more thousands of immigrants including legal ones--it seems anyone who isn't a white Christian--and the barbaric ways the administration's been getting away with treating people who, even if they were criminals (and of course very few are), by law, deserved due process. The whole thing stinks to high heaven, as does this entire utterly mean and cruel dictatorship, and I'm sure I'm not alone in not being able to sleep often because of it. So I hope many people read your list because the thought of letting the suffering and death of so many for one day more is unbearable. I hope we don't have to wait till 2026 to stop as much of this as possible. And yes, it's very Nazi-like, and since I lost many ancestors to them, it's a total nightmare.
The Democratic Party needs to promote fair immigration reform as an important part of our agenda. Deporting people living peaceful and productive lives serves no national purpose. There needs to be a pathway to citizenship. the Dreamers should have already been granted citizenship. Having seen the horror and the cruelty of ICE and Border Patrol will hopefully make people ready to finally take that much needed step.
Strongly agree with this. A candidate that underscores how important immigration is to our country and embraces our immigrant communities (while emphasizing fixing our system to ensure transparent humane legal processes) will do well. If they happen to also go after people in the Trump Admin who promoted policies that violated US and int’l law…all the better.
If this were a foreign war, there would be a declared enemy, a consensual patriotic frame of reference, whole-of-government mobilization of resources alongside civil society alignment and participation, a theory of victory, with war aims, strategy, operations, tactics, etc. flowing therefrom.
Now consider where the analogy breaks down and make adjustments accordingly. It’s a shortcut to thinking, speaking, and acting with a semblance of clarity and effectiveness.
Sane and patriotic Americans have been analyzing and debating every picayune aspect of current events to death and resurrection. It is a constant cacophony of reactions with a stunning lack of broadly agreed and pervasive elite, institutional, and collective discourse guiding a counteroffensive.
The single most important move in this dire context is to define and state who WE are — we, the American people. Next comes who THEY are, the declared and undeclared enemies of the nation we form, and the institutions we give ourselves collectively to govern it.
Now comes the rest of the framing: WHAT are THEY doing to US, and WHAT shall WE do to them? WHO leads us? HOW do we act collectively? What are our AIMS?
It will immediately appear that the concepts of treason, coup d’état, civil war and revolution are brought into play. It will become clear that malign actors have been sapping the foundations of this constitutional, liberal, and democratic republic for decades, supplanting legitimate power centers, warping structures, trends, and outcomes, hijacking and redirecting resources to profit themselves and similar actors beyond our borders.
The conclusions that need to be drawn are very unpleasant. The full realization of the betrayals affecting everything and everyone we cherish is shocking. Most of these betrayals are ones of omission, distortion, and abstention, and can be perceived the way one perceives the shape that molded a hollow, a concavity. Overall, these betrayals neutralize any intellectually and politically effective — as opposed to symbolic and ultimately misguided or misleading — response to the ongoing onslaught.
If we are living through a coup involving all three branches of the federal government, with significant domestic and foreign support, we need to see the shape of what is missing and react to that massive structural anomaly as a vital priority. It is no accident that the United States is missing both a real opposition leader and a real opposition party. Every line of argumentation that skirts or denies this central reality strengthens the hands of this country’s mortal enemies, foreign and domestic.
I liked #51, Get Off Your Ass. Too many of us consumers of great Substack content like yours, David, get bookish, complacent, and we(meaning I) nerd out on how much MAGA sucks, and feast on wonderful insights such as yours(and the whole DSR gang), but lose sight of what we must do, like Linda Hunt's portrayal of journalist Billy Kwan in 1965 Jakarta in Peter Weir's The Year of Living Dangerously, who cries "What then must we do?!!" "What then must we do?!" when faced with the murderous duplicity of the Sukarno regime in Indonesia. Intellectualizing this dark phenomenon is an important step, but, indeed it mustn't be the only one. In the belly of the beast in MAGA Florida, I have resolved to get involved in my local(and tiny) Democratic Party, and(as I did up in CT) monitor elections as an elections official(vote counter at a voting place). Many of us are non-confrontational, yes, alas, but we must all pitch in however we can. You're damn right. #51. Or, Get Up Offa That Thing, as James Brown would say.
You won't solve the problem in the US till you try to change your political system. It is not a democracy where you can only have 2parties and where money plays an important campaigning role. Furthermore, and it is a problem in Europe as well, it is not "healthy" that anybody can vote. We need some sort of independent and scientific selection for voters and candidates.
Thank you. 🙏🏻
Ban Fox News!
This is a great list, and only a start.
I want to say, in addition or as an aside, there is tremendous value in simply identifying the problem. I refuse to bully anyone into coming up with "so what do you do about it," when they raise an issue. This is not a playground. I believe our public square requires truth to linger, to seep into the American consciousness for fruitful action to arise. I see David's Substack as an essential in resetting the Overton Window, so to speak, with facts and uncomfortable truths at the center.
We, Americans slide into avoiding the truth of the moment, the pain of that truth -- sometimes with activities, sometimes with both-sides-ism, sometimes with praise for efforts underway. All of that is necessary, but, too, can be quite mollifying. We should not feel helpless or hopeless, but, too, we should not find any contentment in anything that has been tried to date to stop Trump & cabal. We have to stay uncomfortable, unsettled, maybe unhappy, but also undeterred and unrelenting in "calling a thing a thing," and resisting.
A thousand likes.
Don't let a handful of people take your republic away.
Be as courageous as you can.
Such a great new call to action! I've found community, energy, and excellent strategic guidance to be implemented in creative and loving ways - in my case Indivisible East Bay. I do want to note that it's hard to make signs while reading articles, and so I was delighted to find the option to listen to this on Substack (it was in the ... in the upper right of my screen).
The amendment process is too slow and political to get all of the necessary reforms into the Constitution in the 21st century. It will take a private assembly, by invitation only to keep put the dark money, politicians and others who would otherwise take control and thwart any real effort at reform and giving the GOVERNED the Recall, Veto and Direct Constitutional powers to prevent and defeat corruption and misconduct. The last 240 years assure me of that.
I'm in TX--all but my state senator are Rs. But...I call my Cong. rep and my two US senators 4-5 times a week. They are in my contact list. I try to do this while running errands as I can do with Apple Car Play when driving OR as I'm walking--truly adds no minutes to my day. Senator calls ALWAYS go to VM, but my US rep's office answers much of the time, and it's great to offer my complaint of the day AND urge them (the staff member) to consider their role in this mess.
“Use every available platform.”
I’m returning from Thanksgiving with family via a long road trip. I’ve made 2-sided postcards that I’ve left in every place we’ve stopped. Feel free to use—pages 1-2 if you’re in Texas, pages 2-3 if another state.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OhZaxqnBE3YRJUHj668hvza6J5ntGfF0/view?usp=sharing
These are great! FieldTeam6 has had remarkable success registering voters with, among other strategies, postcards with QR codes to their registration site (great for tracking what happens with those new registrants).
Thank you for this reminder! I will revisit FT6 website. Texas presents some unique challenges, as you may know. A new group I'll be working a lot with is ntxvotes.org, which is focusing on North Texas. It is nonpartisan, but that also lets us get in with several events we could not otherwise. We already have several events scheduled this coming week. Thanks, Susan.
You and your group are a keystone of democracy, Cathy. Thank you!
Please enable a PayPal option. I will subscribe. ✌🏻💙🇺🇸
Your post has pushed me to consider making a coffee date with the leader of our local Indivisible group. I was raised by a woman who became the perennial president of the Republican Women's Club in my home town in far west TX. As soon as I was 18, I registered as a Democrat. Never looked back. Have voted in every election since. Not gonna stop now!
Yes, Indivisible!
This is an excellent list of action items. I support welcoming principled GOP members Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, for their extremely important contributions to the Jan. 6 Committee. We can hash out political differences when (or if) we regain a fully functional democracy. I also welcome reformed former GOP members like Joe Walsh and Stuart Stevens. They show that it is possible to leave the GOP and land elsewhere. I agree, of course that hard core MAGA cannot be reached.
Extremely helpful list. I too have been chomping at the bit to stop all their brutality NOW, not later, and it's so hard to figure out how (though I keep at it and have also tried to do some things you suggested including writing about it)--since the Maga goons have so much power behind them. The absolute end for me (though I've felt like we're at a breaking point for some time now) was the cruel and violent murder of the two fishermen hanging onto their boat and their lives (plus all the others Trump & Co. has murdered), their dreams and their families taken from them in such a hateful, completely unnecessary and horrible way, by the Secretary of "War"(disgusting name I won't use again) who, with Trump, seems to be like a six-year old playing with toy boats and guns, and doesn't care about these being real live humans who, even if they just needed extra money to carry drugs for someone else in order to feed their families, felt extreme terror and pain as they tried hard to survive, and it's shameful for the US to have done such a thing--but that's how it is all the time lately-Trump makes us look like a horrible country. We look to the world as if the whole country has lost its mind when in fact it only made the awful error of letting these monsters get into power.
The other end, for me, has been the purely racist behavior of ICE and the racist plans of Trump to tear up or destroy the lives of many more thousands of immigrants including legal ones--it seems anyone who isn't a white Christian--and the barbaric ways the administration's been getting away with treating people who, even if they were criminals (and of course very few are), by law, deserved due process. The whole thing stinks to high heaven, as does this entire utterly mean and cruel dictatorship, and I'm sure I'm not alone in not being able to sleep often because of it. So I hope many people read your list because the thought of letting the suffering and death of so many for one day more is unbearable. I hope we don't have to wait till 2026 to stop as much of this as possible. And yes, it's very Nazi-like, and since I lost many ancestors to them, it's a total nightmare.
The Democratic Party needs to promote fair immigration reform as an important part of our agenda. Deporting people living peaceful and productive lives serves no national purpose. There needs to be a pathway to citizenship. the Dreamers should have already been granted citizenship. Having seen the horror and the cruelty of ICE and Border Patrol will hopefully make people ready to finally take that much needed step.
Strongly agree with this. A candidate that underscores how important immigration is to our country and embraces our immigrant communities (while emphasizing fixing our system to ensure transparent humane legal processes) will do well. If they happen to also go after people in the Trump Admin who promoted policies that violated US and int’l law…all the better.
If this were a foreign war, there would be a declared enemy, a consensual patriotic frame of reference, whole-of-government mobilization of resources alongside civil society alignment and participation, a theory of victory, with war aims, strategy, operations, tactics, etc. flowing therefrom.
Now consider where the analogy breaks down and make adjustments accordingly. It’s a shortcut to thinking, speaking, and acting with a semblance of clarity and effectiveness.
Sane and patriotic Americans have been analyzing and debating every picayune aspect of current events to death and resurrection. It is a constant cacophony of reactions with a stunning lack of broadly agreed and pervasive elite, institutional, and collective discourse guiding a counteroffensive.
The single most important move in this dire context is to define and state who WE are — we, the American people. Next comes who THEY are, the declared and undeclared enemies of the nation we form, and the institutions we give ourselves collectively to govern it.
Now comes the rest of the framing: WHAT are THEY doing to US, and WHAT shall WE do to them? WHO leads us? HOW do we act collectively? What are our AIMS?
It will immediately appear that the concepts of treason, coup d’état, civil war and revolution are brought into play. It will become clear that malign actors have been sapping the foundations of this constitutional, liberal, and democratic republic for decades, supplanting legitimate power centers, warping structures, trends, and outcomes, hijacking and redirecting resources to profit themselves and similar actors beyond our borders.
The conclusions that need to be drawn are very unpleasant. The full realization of the betrayals affecting everything and everyone we cherish is shocking. Most of these betrayals are ones of omission, distortion, and abstention, and can be perceived the way one perceives the shape that molded a hollow, a concavity. Overall, these betrayals neutralize any intellectually and politically effective — as opposed to symbolic and ultimately misguided or misleading — response to the ongoing onslaught.
If we are living through a coup involving all three branches of the federal government, with significant domestic and foreign support, we need to see the shape of what is missing and react to that massive structural anomaly as a vital priority. It is no accident that the United States is missing both a real opposition leader and a real opposition party. Every line of argumentation that skirts or denies this central reality strengthens the hands of this country’s mortal enemies, foreign and domestic.