I’m sad for Biden, who did so much good for our country. But I’m relieved we can stop dithering and push re-set. Things are changing fast, so we’ll change with them. I was all for Biden and now I’m all for Harris. I just want to win.
I hope you gave yourself a break during the Republican National Convention. There’s no way watching Hulk Hogan and the other MAGA nuts making fools of themselves was going to make us feel better. And we need to get ourselves in shape for a busy August. We have work to do.
All last week I ignored the newspapers, the headlines, and social media, and, man, it felt wonderful. I can see the attraction, the temptation, to just tune out and ignore the whole mess. And it’s odd—as the days went by it became easier and easier to think of all the dreadful events as fictional. All those dramatic happenings and unexpected plot twists—it’s just like Game of Thrones—scary but fun to watch from a safe distance, nothing that affects me in the real world. It was an eye-opening lesson in realizing how most Americans are able to ignore the turmoil and think of politics as a mini-series they’re just too busy to watch right now. Maybe later.
But if we all tune out of the drama now, on next January 20th we’ll have a very rude awakening. Winter is coming, indeed.
Now that I’m back on-line, everywhere I look there’s a swirling vortex of Democrats saying things like “I’m filled with fear, I’ve lost confidence, what can we do, what can we do?” And it saps my courage and drains my enthusiasm.
We can win, that’s what we can do.
But winning will take all of us uniting to spread hope. We have to stop posting gloom and retweeting our doubts. We need to encourage those who are so filled with despair or apathy or exhaustion that they won’t bother voting at all. If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it a dozen times, especially from college students at voter registration events: “I don’t do politics.” But those of us who are paying attention know that if you don’t do politics, politics will do you. Not voting is a vote for Trump, for evil, for despair.
So it’s up to us to counter apathy, to excite the jaded, to be the rocket fuel that will propel our new candidate. And more depends on us than ever before.
There’s an increasing pattern of information suppression on social media. I can’t say it better than Jessica Craven, an activist who has a Substack called Chop Wood, Carry Waterthat I highly recommend:
“I wanted to let you know how unbelievably difficult it’s become to get basic information up on TikTok, the nation’s biggest social media platform—the one where a huge majority of young people are getting their news. There are countless “forbidden” words—words that TikTok’s AI will pick up and flag, and suppression of abortion-related content is well known. Last month I made a video highlighting Biden’s success on lowering the crime rate. Despite repeated attempts, I was never able to edit it to TikTok’s satisfaction—to this day it has only 3,000 views.
“We are in an information war on many fronts, folks. It’s not just that the mainstream media isn’t talking about the issues that matter in this election cycle. It’s that the social media platforms to which people are turning for their news are manipulating which content people get to see. TikTok’s leadership, of course, despises the Biden administration. They are also at least partially controlled by an authoritarian government that has a vested interest in seeing Trump re-elected. Their desire to de-prioritize content touting Democrats’ successes, then, as well as to downplay videos highlighting Trump’s many lies and liabilities, is real. Such suppression IS happening.
“All of this is to say that our job as messengers is more important now than it’s ever been. The information environment requires each of us to add our voices to the mix, to become well-versed in what a second Trump administration would look like, and to become walking billboards for Democrats’ accomplishments, so we can share all of that where it can be heard: at our book clubs, at the grocery store, at work, over family dinners, and everywhere else we encounter Americans who can vote.
“We. Are. The. Message.”
This week on Chop Wood, Carry Water she posted a quick list of the Biden Administration’s accomplishments. This is what can happen if we turn out to elect Democrats. Glance over this and let it lift your heart just a little, untie one of the knots in your stomach. And then spread the word.
· Jobs Created: 15.5 million (more than the past two Republican Presidents)
· Lowest Unemployment: Unemployment has been below 4 percent for the longest stretch in over 50 years
· Affordable insulin, prescription drug costs lowered.
· Infrastructure Law: Rebuilt roads, bridges, and expanded high-speed internet.
· Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson: Appointed first Black woman on the Supreme Court.
· Student Debt Relief: Approved billions in loan forgiveness.
· Plummeting crime rate
Dear Friends,
Are you being driven insane by the election of 2024 and wondering what to do about it? I hope you’ll continue to check out The Optimistic Activist.
Every week I post some ideas for doing something. How to get out the vote, spread the word, and support progressive candidates. Ideas for simple but effective activism. As easy, as practical, as do-able as I can make them.
Together, I think, we could really make a difference.
“Optimism is a strategy for making a better future.”
--Noam Chomsky
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