Tag: Congress

Is 2018 Our 1968? Next Year May Be A Crucial Year In American History #Resist

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

The thing we have to understand is that because of gerrymandering, The Resistance could win 54% of the popular vote and still lose the House to Republicans. Let that sink in. That’s why if you love the United States as I do, you may have to seriously contemplate getting out of your comfort zone and begin to actively participate in politics in a way you never have.

The 2018 mid-terms are so crucial because House Republicans are so Vichy and callow that if we don’t vote them out of office in a big way, the morphing of the United States into autocracy. Trump is doing real damage to the American Republic and if nothing happens to change the current chronic Constitutional long-jam we’re in, there may be no stopping Trump completely seizing power.

There is an ebb and flow to politics and it was inevitable that Republicans would come back into power. What we didn’t fully appreciate is the hysterical rage caused by the bullshit echo chamber epitomized by FOX News would make the Republicans so bad at governing. So, we have a historical imperative to throw them out of office in at least the House, if not the Senate. If we could flip the Senate, then we could end the appointment of extremely Right wing, extremely unqualified judges to the federal bench. But we’re kind of desperate, so we need the House to flip more than anything else.

A lot of things could go wrong between now and November 2018. Chief amongst them being, Trump could do his failsafe and start a preemptive war against the DPRK. This is a serious possibility that we need to see with clear eyes. We can’t take for granted that Trump will “do the right thing” and not kill a few hundred thousand people by prompting the North Koreans to freak the fuck out. I am of the opinion that they have a vested interest in not starting a war on their own simply for the reason that they know that in the end they will lose, and lose badly.

Regardless, there is a real chance that 2018 will go down as 1968 as a year where the universe changed in a big way. In many ways, 1968 marked the beginning of the modern age and it will be interesting to see of something similar happens in 2018. We face a historical turning point. Either the Republic fails and we become an autocracy, or it bounces back and Trump is destroyed politically.

I am not very sanguine about our prospects. It seems as though the Republic has fallen already and we’re a “managed democracy” like they have in Russia. It’s all over but the shouting, as the say. But we have a small window of opportunity in 2018. It’s possible, just possible that I’m wrong.

One thing is for sure, we need new leadership. We need a new generation of people to fight the good fight. The current crop of leaders is old and out of touch. Trump isn’t going anywhere, but maybe we can mitigate his damage if we manage to flip Congress in 2018.

For The Resistance, Trick Is To Accept The Trumplandia Era Without Normalizing It

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

The fact that the most recent Congressional races have not gone The Resistance’s way, has caused a lot of consternation on the part of its members. There is a lot of finger pointing and a lot people saying we’re doing everything wrong. I believe we should finally accept that this is a new era where the surreal is common place. But I don’t think we should normalize it.

There is a fine line between accepting the Donald Trump era and normalizing it. In other words, if we don’t all take a deep breath and realize we’re in a new normal we’re apt to burn our selves out. We can still rage against all the totally bizarre things going on while still engaging people with opposing views to ours.

Or, to put it another way, we have a long time before the 2018 mid-terms. And it could be even longer than that before The Resistance finally gets its act together through effective leadership. It takes time for leadership to bubble up to the surface and it could be 2018 or 2020 — or even longer — before someone is willing to step up to the plate and give The Resistance the vision it needs to finally overtake Trumplandia.

Part of the problem is, at least for me, that I struggle to make historical comparisons. What, exactly, is Trumplandia? Is it an updated Nixonland? Is it an updated Reagan Revolution? Or is it something even darker? Is this the late 1850s and Trump is John Buchanan? Is an actual Second Civil War on its way in 2020, should a Democrat win? Or could it come even sooner should it become obvious that Trump will be impeached and convicted?

As I have frequently said elsewhere, a president sets the tone of his era and Trump has done a good job of turning half of America in to thin-skinned crackpots just like him. It seems as though there really are two Americas. This has come about for various reasons, including technology and economics. I have suggested in the past that maybe some of it has come from a slow movement towards a technological Singularity. We may have reached a the event horizon of a Singularity that will appear in 20 or 30 years from now.

That would make a lot of sense, given how adept Trump has been in using Twitter. That, of course, raises the issue, yet again, of The Resistance coming up with a Twitter replacement. Something that did much of what Twitter does, but forces longer-length conversations. That, at this point at least, is just an idle daydream because I, personally, can’t do anything about it because I have no money, can’t code and don’t really want to learn. But you’d think someone out there might decide to do it. I know I would use such a service.

Regardless, we have to accept that nothing is going to change politically anytime soon. That’s the key. The Resistance can’t risk burning itself out. I say instead of just flaying around with rage, use your energy productively but engaging people who you disagree with and thinking of creative ways to help the movement. That makes the most sense, at least to me.

I just worry that if we don’t do as I suggest, The Resistance will be totally burnt out when the time comes in 2018 or 2020 to do something that requires a lot of energy.